There are no ifs here.
When we get to the dining room, Nox is already there. His nose is still buried in a textbook as old as the Draven bloodline itself, the way it has been since he found out about Oli’s gift. I knew he’d be this way, that he’d research and track every little part of her power until he’s absolutely sure of what we’re dealing with.
I wish him good luck, because I’ve never heard of a Soul Render like her before.
We take our usual seats and start to fill our plates, the usual spread laid out with fish and lobster as though my Bonded were still here to enjoy it. I fill my plate with it just to feel some sort of connection to her, like a fucking sap, but no one says a word to me about it.
When the doors open again and Gabe joins us, he looks as though he’s been dragged through the mud. There are dark circles under his eyes and some streaks of blood down his throat and chest, peeking through the holes in his shirt. He’s been down at the shifter fight clubs again, biding his time and working some of the frustration out, but he’s obviously getting sloppy with his wins.
I don’t mince my words. “You look like shit.”
He shrugs and slides into his usual seat, his brows tugging together as he glances at Oli’s empty seat. When he scrubs a hand over his face, his knuckles are bloodied and dirty too. “I don’t give a shit.”
There isn’t a whole lot of information that can be found at the shifter fight club, but if it’s keeping him out of trouble and getting some of the aggression out of his system, then I’m all for it. There’s not a huge amount he can do for the search here until we have a location.
Then, we’ll all be going after our Bond and killing anyone responsible for keeping her away from us.
As the door to the kitchen opens, the others arrive for dinner. Sawyer walks into the room with a laptop open in his hands, his eyes glowing white as he works through the very classified and incredibly above his clearance-level data that North has him working through. Sage and Felix follow behind him, both of them looking exhausted and frazzled. It seems no one in the house is sleeping well. That’s also soothing somehow, that we’re all a little lost without my Soul Render Bonded.
Felix gets one look at Gabe and reaches out to heal him, until Gabe stops him with a curt, “Don’t.”
Felix gives him a wry look back, his hand still hovering in the air between them. “Punishing yourself with bleeding knuckles and scratches is just stupid, Ardern.”
Gabe shakes his head at him, his eyes on his plate still. “Oli doesn’t like us being healed by anyone but her. If it’s not life threatening, just leave it.”
Felix’s face drops and he glances over at Sage ruefully, obviously regretting saying anything, but she just takes a breath and says, “Oli always let Felix heal her. She wouldn’t mind it if it were him doing it, Gabe. We both know it.”
He just shrugs and tucks back into his plate without another word. The table falls silent again, only the sounds of cutlery scraping on plates and the clicking of keys on the laptop to be heard. It’s stupid, and I know I shouldn’t, but I try to reach out to Oli again, not to speak to her but just to feel that she’s okay. I can tell she’s alive. We’d all know if she died, but there’s a lot of bad shit that can be happening to a girl without killing her.
I try not to think too much about that because my bond starts acting up about it otherwise.
Sage clears her throat and then steels herself to speak to North, “Is someone going to let Atlas out of his cell sometime soon? We all know he’s not a Resistance member.”
Nox scoffs and lifts his glass of whiskey to his lips. “Do we? Because he’s a Bassinger. Nothing here makes more sense than him being part of that scum.”
It’s like watching Sage grow a spine in front of my very eyes. I’m careful to take in every second of it so I can share it with Oli later. Soon. I’ll share it with her soon.
“I watched him dote on her for months. If I was going to believe anyone in her Bond was trying to hurt her, it would be you, Draven.”
Oof.
I share a look with North, expecting him to come running to Nox’s defense, but he just looks back down at the transcripts we’ve found of the experiments on the IW.
The Resistance records of the torture sessions of my Bonded.
Nox smirks back at Sage, oblivious to the nightmare that his brother is sifting through, and says, “And that’s how the Resistance keeps winning, by putting on a kind and loving face to win simpering women over.”
Gabe slams his knife and fork back down onto the table, and Sawyer shoves his laptop away from himself with a snarl. There’s clearly about to be a brawl. Nox just smirks and his eyes flash black as he prepares to get them all off of his back with his creatures but instead, he stiffens for a second, and then he snaps at North, “She’s given the creature to Kyrie. He’s not hers to just give away.”
North’s eyes snap up at him, but then Nox curses under his breath and mutters, “She handed him off… for protection in the camps. She knows what happens to the women there.”
There’s quiet for a moment and then Sage throws a hand at him in a cutting gesture, snapping, “What a terrible, ‘simpering’ woman she is, running off to save people! Even when she’s trapped in one of those fucking camps, she’s thinking about others. So you go right ahead and tell me what idiots we both are for believing Atlas, because your word means nothing to me. Nothing, Draven! You’re just a bitter, twisted man who needs a fucking therapist and to sober the hell up.”
Still, North does nothing to intervene.
Whatever is going on between the brothers, I’ve never seen them act this way before. Never. North has protected, cared for, coveted, and coddled Nox through his teenage years. He has never let him fight his own battles like this without stepping in and throwing his gift into the mix.
Gabe ignores Nox and turns instead to North to snap, “Are you going to speak to him or are we just… leaving him in there to rot until we get Oli back? Is there a plan here, or are we just hoping he disappears?”
Nox shoots me look from the other end of the table, but I don’t want to talk too much about it in front of the others. Sawyer glances around at all of us and leans back in his seat as he waits for an answer, shifting closer to his sister protectively.
North chooses his words carefully but doesn’t back down. “He’s proven that he has knowledge that only someone with connections in the Resistance would have. He’s lied to us, or at the very least, omitted the truth.
Gabe shrugs in that very youthful way of his. “Oli did too. None of you are suggesting we lock her up when she gets home.”
North’s eyes narrow back at him. “Oleander is not a part of this discussion, and she was taken by the Resistance. She’s a victim, not a possible conspirator.”
Sage stares at him and then lets out a breath and butts in, “Oli would be pissed, and you all know it. There’s nothing I can do to get you guys to let him go, but I’m warning you, she’ll go eight different levels of terrifying Bond on you all when she finds out—”
North interrupts her, “He’s in isolation. He’s in his own room, being fed three square meals a day, with access to all of his usual amenities, except for his phone and the internet. He is in no way suffering, and I can assure you that when Oli is home, I will speak directly to her about it. I’ve taken her thoughts and feelings into consideration, don’t doubt it.”