I'm incredibly proud of them both, and I find myself walking with my head held high, mimicking Nox’s haughty attitude as I stare people down. It’s not hard to do, but the results can’t be argued with.
I’m happy to see that most of the TacTeam personnel don't look aggressive or as though they are judging Atlas. Mostly they’re just curious, which I guess I can't blame them for. It's unheard of, at least in our generation, to think that somebody could change their bond. The concept is clearly scary enough that while there might be passages written about the gods in history books, it isn't a general folklore.
It’s as though the generations past have tried to forget that the gods ever walked the earth, even with history repeating over and over again.
Sage and Kieran meet us halfway over there, both of them looking relieved to see us. Kieran meets Nox’s eye and gives him a curt nod before his eyes flick over the rest of us. They linger a little on Atlas, but it’s more like he’s checking in on my Bonded, a protective sort of thing rather than a judgment. If Kieran wasn’t already one of my closest friends, it would win him major brownie points.
Sage ducks in close to give me a hug as she murmurs into my ear, “Seriously, can anything else go wrong in this place?”
I chuckle quietly under my breath and mumble back, “I don't know, being able to cut people in half is definitely going to come in handy at some point. We might’ve just been given our best trump card yet.”
She chuckles again and then we head off together towards the command tent.
When we arrive, I stare at it for a second as though it is an opponent all on its own, but Atlas just tugs me forward. “If we're gonna do this, Bonded, then we're doing this. We need to get rid of Silas Davies, once and for all.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Oli
I wake two hours before dawn to the sound of rustling around me as my Bonded get up and get ready for the day ahead of us.
Everyone, including Gabe and Atlas, is already awake. When North sees me sit up, he comes to kneel at my side, already dressed in his Tac gear.
“There’s been a change of plans. We've made the call to go in first, as a small group. Kieran is going to transport us, and we have a very specific target. We tried to let you sleep in as long as we could, but we need to leave in the next five minutes.”
I nod, a little confused as I struggle to my feet, but I’m quick to start pulling on my own uniform and weapons as quietly as I can. The plan had sounded solid yesterday. We were going to go in in the early hours of the morning in sets, each team having a different area of the camp to clear out. It was the best chance at getting prisoners out alive and for the big hitters to be taken out.
Something must have happened for this to change.
I feel both exhausted and like I’m buzzing with energy, ready to make the big moves that my Bonded have strategized for today without question. We’re all ready for this to be over with.
Gryphon catches my hand and gives it a squeeze as I move past him, his eyes darting across my weapons as though he's double checking that I have everything. He's not doing it as an insult or because he thinks I truly might have forgotten something, more that it's a habit of his to take care of me no matter what else is going on around us.
He gives me a nod of approval as though he's satisfied with the job I've done, and then as a group, we all step out of the tent together, our feet as silent as we can make them. Kieran is already waiting out there, dressed and ready for the mission. I check the sky, but there’s no sign of the sun’s arrival yet, and the air around us still feels very nocturnal.
Gryphon does a bunch of hand gestures to Kieran, which the Transporter nods at, their own form of silent communication. Luckily, I don't need to know it to be able to speak to my Bonded, because they might as well be waving at each other for all I can understand.
Our aim here is to weaken their defenses in our first wave. We've already taken out their strongest Transporter, so if we can take out a few key players now and have the rest of our offensive groups move in shortly after, they won't have time to bring in any Top Tier Gifted to save themselves, North says, and I nod along. So do Gabe and Atlas, so I guess they’re learning all of this now too.
Is there anyone in particular that I'm aiming for or that I need to know about, or am I just going after power?
North takes a deep breath and glances at Nox, who is calling all of his shadow creatures back into himself so that they can travel with us without interruption. I double check that Azrael is still hanging out behind my ear, and he's tucked there securely.
Nox sent one of his creatures out this morning for recon. Davies has already left the camp, but he left behind his Bonded, Lydia, in his stead. Killing her takes out one of the big powers of the camp, and it will also weaken Davies. That's your target, Bonded.
I swallow roughly and nod again. I'm not sure that I have enough power to take that woman out, but the last time I’d faced her myself, I was Unbonded and fighting with the god that lives inside of me. Now, I have all five of my men and peace within myself, complete acceptance at what I'm capable of.
Hopefully it's enough.
While Gryphon and Kieran finish their hand gestures, Nox glances over at me and then speaks directly to me, blocking everyone else out.
I want to try something. Are you open to that?
I try to stop myself from reacting so that no one else knows that we’re talking in case this is something personal. It’s the only reason I can think of that he’d block everyone out of hearing it.
Of course. What do you need from me?
He glances around at each of the men we’re standing with, slow and critical as he judges them all, but it’s not going to give away the conversation we’re having inside of my head.
He always looks at them like that.
Open up your mind to me. Let me in.
Easier said than done.
I have to let down the wall of my mind just for Nox, and I'm still a novice at keeping the walls up in the first place. I feel him reach out to me and press against the wall himself, sitting there at the edge of my mind and coaxing it down himself so gently that I almost struggle to believe that it is him doing it and not Gryphon or North.
I know that the rest of my Bonded Group has realized that there's something going on between Nox and I with how still we have both gone, but North covers for us with Kieran to buy us some more time.
It takes me another minute or so, but eventually I'm able to let him in my head. It feels crowded with both myself, my bond, and Nox in the space, but it only takes him a heartbeat to do what it was he came to do. Clearly, he’s had time to practice or at least figure out the mechanics of it.
He opens his mind to mine, and I instantly have the entire plan laid out for me as sure as if I were the one sitting in on the meetings with North and Gryphon instead of Nox himself. I'm not sure if this is an after effect of the soul-bonding or if this is possible for me to do with any member of our Bonded Group, but as he slips back out of my mind, I feel immensely grateful and a lot more grounded in my knowledge of the situation now.
He's not going to leave my side.
None of them are.
I open my eyes back up and look at North, nodding my head slowly, and that’s all he needs to see before he's clapping Kieran on the shoulder quietly. And just like that, we're moving.