Tragic Bonds (The Bonds that Tie Book 5)

I feel the moment that Atlas’ bond changes.

It takes over his body in a wave of power that ripples out to slam through everyone around us, intoxicating and terrifying. There’s no mistaking what it is, because my bond wakes up with it, pushing at my skin as it strains towards him. I glance over to see the black rings around North’s irises, the dark stain on Nox’s fingers, and the clench of Gabe’s jaw as he holds the shift back, his dragon fighting to come out. The only reaction I can see in Gryphon is the tight curling of his fists at his side as he stares at the destruction of Atlas’ god-bond.

There’s no time to attempt to hide what’s happened to him from the TacTeam personnel here.

There’s no way for Gryphon to use his abilities to shut everyone down, not without causing serious damage to them, and I find myself standing there as still as I can, praying that I’m wrong even as I can feel what has occurred here deep in my bones.

My own bond forces my head up to look at Atlas, straight into the voids that have taken over his irises instead of the bright white light I’m used to seeing there.

He looks down at me, and his face is that same blank slate that all of the bonds’ are when they take over. When he sees me and recognizes me as his Bonded, his arms tighten around my waist. From the corner of my eye, I can see Gabe freaking out, but I lean in further to Atlas’ side.

If there’s anything I’m sure of, it’s my safety around these men and the gods that live inside of them. Even the new ones. I know that I can trust them as much as I know that my own heart beats in my chest.

It simply is.

His eyes look into mine, searching. I stare back at him, unsure of what it is that he’s looking for and hoping he’s finding it. He slowly lowers his head to bring our faces closer together, not quite kissing but still breathing the same air, a whisper away from our skin on each other. My bond yearns for him, strains in my chest with a desperate ache, and I know then that it’s been waiting for this bond.

It’s been waiting for them all.

There’s movement around us, but Azrael shifts to grow at my feet, reaching my waist before he snarls at whoever was dumb enough to approach us right now. Once he’s sure they’re no longer moving in, he sits at my feet as though he’s protecting us, both of his lips curling back on his sharp teeth as he growls soundlessly.

“Mine,” Atlas’ bond whispers against my lips. I nod my head just a little, my lips brushing against his. The next wave of power that bursts out of him flows through me as seamlessly as the shadow creatures would.

I’m afraid, for a second, that he is hurting the TacTeam personnel around us by accident, seeing them as a threat that they’re not. Then I hear Gabe curse viciously under his breath, a shocked sound, not horror, and I jerk my head away from Atlas’ bond to get a look at what’s happened.

The Resistance outside of the shield have been torn in half.

Every last one of them is dead, and it’s not the clean and painless death of their souls being torn out or the horrifyingly violent death of me triggering their souls either.

No, this is visceral and bloody and horrifying. The mangled bodies before us look as though they’ve been hacked apart with a chainsaw or simply ripped into two by a giant.

North and Gryphon are twin images of shock, but Nox’s eyebrows are drawn low as he mumbles something under his breath, turning back to look at Atlas, but his bond only stares down at me.

It’s fixated on its Bonded.

I can tell everyone around me is already freaking out, so I press my palms to his cheeks, drawing him down to me so I can speak slowly and soothingly to him. “It’s okay. Everything is okay. We’re safe. The shield is in place, and no one can get to me here. You can give me Atlas back now. Okay? Give him back to me.”

I’m not lying. There’s no sign of Resistance survival amongst the corpses of his bond’s wrath, and none of the TacTeam around us would dare to attempt to harm me. The only danger here is what will happen within my Bonded Group if the bond doesn’t give Atlas back. North and Gryphon can get a little jumpy, a little protective, and I don’t want a fight breaking out right now.

The problem is that now that the Resistance is all gone, it doesn’t want to let go. It wants me.

I nod, humming under my breath in a soothing sound. “I know we can be together soon. Once it’s safe here for us to be together, I’ll let you have my bond as well. Okay? Right now it’s not safe for us to be together.”

Whether it understands my words or only what I want from it, the bond does slowly slip away until Atlas is blinking down at me. His green eyes are cloudy for a moment before they clear, and his lips part in shock as he feels the being living within his skin. It takes up more room and has more opinions than his bond had ever had before.

I already know how unpleasant that feeling is at the beginning.

“What the fuck was that?” he whispers, and I can only think of one thing to say back to him.

“The gods live among us.”

He blinks at me for a second and then curses under his breath, jerking his head around to look again at the destruction his bond had wrought on the bodies just past the shield. There’s absolutely no horror in him at the sight of the gore, only satisfaction that he did that. He took out our enemy with no hesitation when they came calling for us.

I’m proud of him too.

“We need to move now. We need to run damage control,” Gryphon says as he steps over to us both. Azrael ignores him, pressing his big head against my belly for a scratch. I give it to him almost mindlessly.

North starts calling out commands and directing people around us, walking ahead of us, his shadow creatures moving along with him obediently. I’ve never seen him in such harmony with them before, the tension he usually carries with them is gone completely.

A lot has changed in our Bonded Group.

When we make it back, the entire camp is buzzing with the rumors of Atlas’ change. The news of it moved faster than even we did, dozens of eyes following us as we head straight to our tent. Atlas’ hand shakes a little in mine, the toll of his bond’s power shift is already setting in with him.

He’ll need to sleep it off, and fast.

All of the TacTeam who were present are staring at Atlas as though they’re questioning themselves about what they saw, but there’s no question that his Gift had changed. The mangled bodies of the Resistance just outside of the shield is testament enough to that.

He passes out the second his body hits his sleeping bag.

North is careful about getting us away from the public eye until he can decide how to proceed. By nightfall, the situation has gotten out of hand. Gryphon decides to push his Gift further than he ever has before, stripping out of his thick jacket and sitting on an overturned crate by the fire as his eyes shift to white.

We all held our breaths for a second until they did.

Kieran drops off the provision boxes of dinner that we’re allocated, and I sit with Gabe to eat while I watch Gryphon work. His eyes stay white the entire time, no matter how hard I stare at him.

He hacks into the brain of every man and woman in the camp. It would be a very tall ask to wipe their memories entirely, especially when we’re preparing for our offensive move in the next few days, so instead, Gryphon plants good feelings.

He argues with Nox over it, mostly because my most damaged Bond doesn’t like the idea of forcing people to comply. At first, I think that this is an ethical thing, or perhaps trauma, but then Nox snaps, “If they’re going to turn against us, we should get them out, not give them good feelings and potentially leave a snake in our nest!”

I can’t disagree with that.

North is quick to point out the problem with that approach. “We don’t have enough resources to be picky right now. We have to work with what we’ve got, and what we’ve got is an entire camp of people who are questioning their leaders, for better or worse.”

Gabe groans again and rubs a hand over his face. “I don’t understand what happened! We were talking and everything was fine and then he just— what even was that?”

Surprisingly, it’s Nox who answers him in our mind link.

The god that lives inside him woke up. Seeing what the Resistance did to his parents, no matter how he felt about them, triggered it. Then finding them all standing there so close to his Bonded after what they had just done, it woke it up.

Gabe shakes his head. How are you saying that so calmly? What part of your research told you that this was going to happen?

I’m glad the conversation has moved into our heads when Nox replies, Oleander and I found dozens of references to gods over the last millennia. There was a reference to the ability to Soul Rend, the shadow creatures, the Neuro ability, and the dragon. There was also the ability of a man who could tear his enemies in half while none of them could touch him. The more I look at it, the more of us that I can see. North and I aren’t the only ones carrying gods. We’re just the only ones whose gods have been awake so far. Bonding with Oli started the process, and each of you have had a trigger so far. Everyone except Gryphon.

I cringe and rub my hand over my eyes. Gryphon’s eyes shifted the other morning when we had sex. I told him, but he said he didn’t feel anything… that nothing had changed in him. I think… I think maybe his bond took over for a second and then went back to sleep, maybe? It all happened so fast, and because he didn’t feel anything and dismissed it, I didn’t say anything. I’m sorry—

North cuts in before I can start rambling. It’s not your fault, Oleander. None of this is your fault. As Nox said, he doesn’t think that you’re changing anyone, only that they’re waking up.

I let out a breath, some guilt that I had been feeling melting away a little. It’s a relief to know that I’m not doing something to my Bonded without their permission. Taking away options from them is unthinkable to me, and the idea of it sickens me.

When we finish eating, I help clear everything away and then strip off my weapons to attempt to get some sleep. Gryphon is still busy, his eyes staying that same brilliant white, and I don’t really want to sleep while he’s up working.

North is immovable about forcing me to rest. “We have to be up in six hours for a debrief and final plans to move out. Get sleep while you can. Gryphon will be fine. He’s trained for this.”

I find my sleeping bag has moved to be wedged between Atlas and Gabe’s. When I fuss about getting into something more comfortable to sleep in, North is quick to shut me down.

“I will get Gryphon to knock you out if I have to,” he says as he catches my arms and pulls me into his body for a tight hug. I lean forward to press my face against his chest, overwhelming my senses with him to try to block some of my anxiety out, anxiety over everything except the work we have to do tomorrow.

The work to deal with this camp and finally bring Silas Davies to his knees. It’s been a long time coming, and that’s the one part of all of this I’m still eager for.

I lie down with Gabe and fail to sleep, lying there quietly so that no one calls me out on it. It takes until midnight for Gryphon to finish wiping the bad feelings out of the entire TacTeam personnel that we’ve brought with us.

Nox and North both decide against going to sleep themselves, instead they pore over one of the strategy maps that North brought from the command tent back to ours, and they murmur quietly between themselves.

No matter how much Gabe coaxes me, I can’t go to sleep. Eventually, he tucks me into his arms as he tries to lull me into slumber. It takes a long time, thanks to the anticipation crawling under my skin, but with his arms around me, I fall asleep.

Atlas wakes up feeling better but still uneasy about the new abilities of his bond.

Gabe, Nox, and I stay in the tent with him to try to get a handle on it before he heads out with us for the afternoon debrief. North and Gryphon have made the call that we are moving out on our mission tomorrow morning, so we’re running on limited time.

“We can’t wait around here for much longer now that they’ve already made two moves against us. One of their Transporters came and saw the bodies. She transported a couple of pieces back to the camp, so it’s only a matter of time before they start bringing in reinforcements.”

My stomach is a pile of knots at the thought of what reinforcements North might be talking about, but we always knew that this was going to happen. Right now, the only thing I can do is to help Atlas get control of the bond.

It’s a bit of a steep ask, considering mine still does whatever the hell it wants.

“Well, what does yours feel like, Ardern? We already know that Oli’s is stronger than any of the rest of ours. She’s the Central Bond, and her god has been awake for years. How do you keep yours in line?” Atlas asks in frustration when he tries and fails for the third time to get his bond to even speak to him.

Gabe shrugs and scratches at the back of his head, looking awkward. “Mine doesn’t really speak. It’s more of a… feeling. The way you’d imagine an animal would be like inside their minds. The only time it ever really talks is to Oli, and that’s just when it’s declaring its devotion to her.”

My cheeks heat a little and I grin at him, trying to find some lightheartedness in this moment.

I do have another perspective on the god bonds, but I don’t want to discuss Nox’s history with them, so I keep my mouth shut. Luckily, Nox is determined enough about wiping out the Resistance and figuring out what’s going on within our Bonded Group that he’s quick to offer his own perspectives. “Don’t fight it. Fighting with your bond is only going to cause you years of misery like North’s did. There’s no way to get rid of it or force it into submission, so you need to learn how to work with it. It will always protect you, first and foremost.” He stops and tilts his head a little. “It’ll protect Oleander first. Then you.”

Atlas stares at him for a second before he nods. “Well, I guess that’s not a bad thing. I can definitely live with that. What do I do if we get there tomorrow and it doesn’t come out to play and I’m just useless? I don’t really have time to make friends with it.”

Nox shrugs. “We never accounted for this ability in our plan, so it doesn’t change anything. No one’s expecting you to know how to control it or use this stronger Gift tomorrow. We haven’t even factored Gabe’s dragon into the mix because it doesn’t always play along.”

Gabe looks irritated at this, and I reach over to press my palm against his cheek. “My bond doesn’t listen to me either, don’t worry about it. The best I can ever hope for is that it will stick to killing the right people from now on.”

My throat closes up a little to even admit that much, and Gabe nuzzles into my palm a little before he turns back to Atlas. “I’m not worried about my dragon tomorrow. There’s going to be so many of the Resistance running around everywhere that it’s inevitable, I think. Your bond didn’t even like the Resistance being that close to Oli when there was a shield in-between them. You really think it’s going to allow her to walk into the camp without showing up to the fight? No chance.”

Atlas blinks at him for a second before he smiles, punching Gabe affectionately in the shoulder. “You’re a lot smarter than any of us give you credit for, Ardern.”

Gabe smiles back at him. “It’s not my fault that none of you can see past my pretty face.”

By the time we step out of our tent and head towards the command tent for the official debrief and communication on what tomorrow holds for us, Atlas is calmer and secure in his skin once more. It’s a good thing, because everybody stares at us as we make our way over there.

Nox takes the lead and spends a lot of the walk staring people into submission. They scurry off like terrified little beings at the very sight of a grumpy Draven. It’s almost comical to watch fully grown men, armed to the teeth and trained to kill, turn on their heels and practically run away from him as though the hounds of hell are on their asses. The women are a little more staunch, most of them just gulp and avert their eyes.

He’s the perfect buffer between Atlas and the world.

If you had told me only a few weeks ago that this would be our reality, I would have laughed in your face, because Nox Draven has never liked Atlas. Even after Atlas had proven himself to the rest of the Bonded Group, Nox had refused to believe he would be anything other than loyal to his family.

The name ‘Bassinger’ was all that Nox needed to know about him to make that call.

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.”