Forced Bonds (The Bonds that Tie Book 4)
Forced Bonds: Chapter 21

Despite what I’ve told the other council members, we do have TacTeams out in the Wastelands at the moment, trying to shut them down. There’s one in Virginia that’s so big it has swallowed up an entire town, and I’m not going to waste resources there.

It’s too far gone.

I have no doubt that it will end up being one of the main battlegrounds that we will be forced to fight on, and I’ve been monitoring the fighting there closely.

However, there are three smaller Wastelands that we have attempted to get to soon enough to shut them down before they get out of hand. Gryphon was the obvious choice, his team being the strongest and most experienced, but with only just completing the Bonded Group, I didn’t want to split us up so soon.

The matter might have just been taken out of my hands.

The call comes in that one of our TacTeams has been wiped out, with a handful of prisoners taken, just as I’m about to leave the office for the night. I’ve had a fucking terrible day between dealing with the non-Gifted community summit fallout and Gryphon sending through the images of Oleander discussing her time at the camps. I’m not really all that interested in dealing with anything else, but to have an entire TacTeam wiped out is catastrophic.

The fact that Unser had gone along with them is an especially devastating blow.

I immediately send a message to Gryphon to come to my office so that we can figure out a plan of action, and then I make the call to Vivian to let him know the situation.

It’s bad, but not as bad as having to call Adella to let her know what’s happened to her Bonded.

It’s always the worst part of losing men out in the field, and losing someone who is a close friend to my Bonded Group makes it even more devastating.

“He’s not dead. I can still feel him.”

I rub a hand over my face and try to figure out the best way to explain the predicament of that to Adella. I go with just being honest with her. “That means that they have two Triggers, and that we have none. On a personal level, I am devastated, but it is also my responsibility as Councilman Draven to think about this from a strategic point of view.”

Adella is a no-nonsense sort of woman, someone who has dealt with having two TacTeam leaders as her Bonded her entire adult life, raising their children alone most of the time, and still maintaining perfect relationships with them both.

After losing my own parents’ Bonded Group at a young age, they were definitely the sort of people that I looked up to, and hoped that my own Bonded Group would look something like. I still have that hope today.

“I understand what you’re saying, and so I’m telling you that you need to go and replace him. He’s alive, and it is a threat for him to not be with us. The same way that if the Resistance got their hands on you, or your brother, or your Bonded, it would be a threat to us all. There are certain people that we need to protect. He’s one of them, North.”

She’s got me there, not that I need any encouragement to go after her Bonded… I just don’t want her getting her hopes up.

“I will leave Vivian here in charge with my Bonded, but I will personally go and replace him. One way or another.”

She makes a tutting noise under her breath. “He’s not going to like that. You know that he will want to go after Unser himself.”

Despite the shitty situation, I replace myself grinning at her tone. “Like you said, there’s certain people that take precedence. If anyone is going to be able to bring him home, it’s me.”

The elevator doors open and Gryphon steps into the office, Nox trailing closely behind him with a savage look on his face, a book tucked under his arm, and a bottle of whiskey in his other hand.

He hadn’t taken the news of switching his sleeping patterns very well, mostly because I think he saw through my reasoning for it easily. I had been forced to explain it to him in no uncertain terms. If he’s not willing to go back to therapy and figure out how to coexist peacefully with our Bonded, then this is the next best choice for him.

I turn my computer screen around so that they can both read it while I finish up the conversation with Adella. “I’ll get him back. One way or another. You just need to stay here and take care of Vivian and those kids. You’ll have your hands more than full, I’m sure.”

She chokes out a tearful sort of chuckle, strong as ever, but still clearly worried about her Bonded. “The youngest one has already asked why the age restrictions on TacTeams haven’t been lifted yet. I hope you’re ready to face what we have brought into this world, because I’m not sure you’re ready for my boys.”

The smile stays glued to my face, genuinely happy to hear it, and I sign off by saying, “They certainly can’t be any harder to train than we were, and Vivian did a great job of that.”

The moment I hang the phone up, Nox says, “We need to leave now. If they get him back to one of the camps and we can’t figure out which one, we’re done for. One Trigger is bad enough.”

He’s not saying anything that I don’t already know, but a ripple of irritation runs down my spine.

“We’re going to need to take everyone,” Gryphon says, and I shake my head.

“We can’t take everyone. It’s not safe to have all of us in one place at the same time. We need to stick to the rules of one of us being here at all times. Oleander is still resting after the Bond being completed, so we can’t take her. Her bond is volatile at the best of times.”

We both pointedly don’t look at Nox, and I shrug back at Gryphon. “You, Atlas, and I are the only ones who have bonded and found our power increases. Everyone else should stay here.”

Nox reacts immediately and exactly the way I know he will. “There’s no way I’m staying here. If there’s a fight to be had, I’m going.”

I shake my head, not entirely sure why I’m fighting him when I know he’ll never back down. “You’re in the same boat as Oli, you need to let the bond settle.”

“Fuck that. Bassinger and the little poison Bonded both fought the Resistance when they came here the day after they had bonded, so don’t feed me that bullshit as an attempt to get me to stay behind. I’m going, and I’m replaceing Unser.”

I already know that it’s going to be pointless to try and convince him otherwise. He doesn’t have any particularly strong ties to the Trigger, but we all understand the significance of the Resistance taking him hostage. They know that Oleander has found her Bonded Group and they are doing what they can to shore up their defenses for when they have to face her. Silas Davies having two Triggers at his disposal, one of them with a huge range and the other able to regenerate at the drop of a hat, it’s definitely dangerous for us all.

“Fine. The three of us will go. Oli, Atlas, and Gabe can stay behind.”

We make the decision to leave Kieran behind as well, as an extra set of eyes on the Sanctuary. He’s still extra jumpy, thanks to Sage’s mind abduction, and we’re not sure how long we will be gone, as it is a recovery mission.

I replace myself as leery about leaving my Bonded as I am about replaceing Unser dead.

Oli doesn’t take the news of us leaving well, not that she shows it, but we can all feel the inner turmoil inside her as she ducks her head and nods. I hate it. I would do anything to fix it for her, but the compulsion to keep her away from Davies for as long as I possibly can is stronger than anything else, especially with the Bond being so newly complete.

Someday soon, she’s going to be as close to invincible as any mortal will ever get. Until then, I’ll be her first line of defense.

“What if you need a power pick-me-up? What if you run out while you’re out there?” she says, and while Nox keeps his back to her as he pulls his Tac gear on, I can see that she has his interest.

I already knew that he’d been interested in the power exchange from a philosophical point of view. I get it, I’d never heard of a Bond being able to do something like that before. I know that he had doubled his research on Soul Renders once I had told him what had happened when the Resistance had shown up here and she had funneled all that power through to me.

“I’m not going to need the power. The Wasteland we’re going to is still brand new. Between the three of us, we’ll be able to have it dealt with. We have done it before, before you came home to us, and we all know how to do our jobs. Just trust me, Bonded.”

She huffs a little under her breath. “It’s not about trust. It’s about wanting you all to come home.”

Gryphon stands in the doorway and checks over his weapons one last time, that same obsessive tic that he has as a ritual each time he goes out on a job, as though touching each of his guns and knives in a certain order will ensure his safety. I can’t really give him too much shit about it.

He has always made it back.

We’re standing in the supply area sectioned off just for our Bonded Group, mostly so that we can have privacy when conversations like this need to happen, and while I was expecting Nox to get dressed and disappear like he always does, he hasn’t made a move yet to leave us. There’s something about our conversation that he is particularly interested in. Oli seems to think it’s a good sign, but I’m not so sure.

I don’t think my brother can be saved.

I feel a little bit of shame in admitting that, especially since I have been the one to rally so hard to keep him alive and with me, but part of that is my own selfishness and not wanting to lose the last member of my family. William’s death had rocked me to my core, and I replace myself even more desperate to keep Nox alive now because of it.

He has thrown that fact in my face more than once in his drunken ramblings in my office, and I have no choice but to stand there and let him, because it’s true.

What could it be about this conversation that has caught his interest so much?

“We’ll be back soon, Bonded. Don’t worry. I haven’t needed to draw on your power yet, and I have still found no limit to what my Neuro powers can do. Let’s just trust North and Nox to get the job done.”

She nods and glances down at Nox again. “They’re not going to know what’s hit them, two Death Dealers and the Neuro with powers that rival Davies’. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

It’s the closest she’s come to acknowledging that Nox is in the room, not because she is rude or showing favoritism, but because he’s proven that he doesn’t want any of her attention. In fact, if she shows him any, then he’ll lash out and do everything he can to tear her down.

I hate it.

I understand it.

I hate that I understand it.

He stands and tightens the straps on his vest one last time. “Are we going, or are we going to stand here and talk meaningless shit for a bit longer? Unser’s fate isn’t going to be secure with us here.”

Gryphon’s face sets like stone, but Oli nods her head as though it’s all fine. “You’re all going to go and I’m going to be fine. When you get back, I’m sure Gryphon will have a lot to say to you about your manners when it comes to saying goodbye.”

He sends her a dark look back and walks out of the room without another word.

I groan and shove a hand over my face, but Oleander pushes herself against my side to force her way into my arms. Not that she has to, I would rather stay here with her than deal with this mess, and I have no hesitation in telling her so.

“Unser is important to us all. I might not be friends with him the same way that you guys are, but I understand what it means to lose him from a community point of view… Just promise me you guys won’t do anything stupid.”

She’s perfection. “Of course not, Bonded. I don’t know the meaning of the word.”

She scoffs at me and then reaches up onto her tiptoes to give me a quick peck on the cheek. Not the goodbye that I was hoping for, but I’ll take it, nonetheless.

“If I kiss you on the lips, we both know that it will be even harder for you to leave, so come home to me if you want a proper one,” she says, her voice full of sass, before she tugs away from me and does the same to Gryphon.

He gets a handful of her ass and pulls her body in closer, stealing a proper kiss from her, even as she squeals and struggles against him playfully. There’s a pain in my chest at the sight of them, but we’re running on Unser’s borrowed time here.

We need to get out of here.

I’m not a fan of the Transporter that we have to use, but he does the job well enough, moving our small team to the combat zone in one effective pop. The area is only a few miles wide and a few more miles long, but the Shields that surround it are strong, strong enough that there are dozens of people inside that are unable to get out.

They’re not strong enough for us though.

As the other TacTeam members spread out, ready to move as one inside the perimeter, Gryphon’s eyes flash to white as he hacks into the brains of every last one of the Shields, turning their Gifts off and rendering them immobile.

I let my shadows fall from my body as I move forward, a gun already in my hand because the Wastelands are not a place that you walk into without every possible option of defense, and Nox stays close to my side as we move together.

He’s usually happier working alone.

But when I glance at him, there is a ring of darkness around his irises, his bond is sensing something. I check in with mine in my chest, but it’s just that same nervous adrenaline that I always have when we’re about to enter a fight. I’m not sure if it’s because he has a better relationship with his bond, or if it’s more sensitive, but I slow my pace a little as I scan the area.

There’s nothing I can replace.

I share a look with Gryphon, but he shrugs, not hearing anything that could tip us off. Whatever it is, Nox is the only one feeling it. We don’t have time to just stand around on a whim.

But the moment we breach the perimeter, I finally feel it too.

It’s a trap.