She’s been awake a lot longer than us.
While learning to blend in with the humans around her, it’s clear that she’s killed the vessel and is in full control. She slipped through our fingers with ease, because there was no battle going on beneath her flesh, no secondary being to flag with our sweeps of the area.
There’s a pop sound as the Transporter leaves us all behind, taking the vulnerable Gifted with him, and my Bonded shifts a little closer to the Death Dealer at her side, murmuring quietly to him as the shadows creep up his arm. The dog-like forms at their feet all stare forward without blinking, watching the threat before us with an unerring vision. They’re all still standing a little to the side where the Shield had cut her off from us all. I can see my vessel’s memory of the moment, the panic he’d felt and the instant relief as the Corvus had shifted through his shadows to get to her.
My vessel didn’t know he could do that.
It’s a standoff, all of us waiting to see who will truly make the first move. Whatever those Gifted could do, the god-bond was expecting a lot from them, and she definitely hadn’t taken the Cleaver into account. No, she’d waited on the sidelines and watched my Bonded funnel us energy and hoped that would weaken her enough to kill her, at the very least.
She has drastically underestimated the strength of my Bonded and those devoted to her.
She purses her lips at us all as though she’s disappointed with the way her Gift is merely bouncing off of us before she lifts a hand, her palm turning black as she calls on her power. The shadows all move at once, darting towards her like storm clouds rolling in, but she Transports out before they can tear out her throat.
As she disappears into nothingness, she leaves behind her parting words, a warning to us all.
“Until we meet again. Next time, I won’t come alone. Next time, I’ll wipe you from the face of the earth.”
CHAPTERONE
Oli
I wakeup as my feet hit the ground at the Sanctuary, my stomach churning horribly as my head spins. Bile burns a path up my throat, and I choke as I fight to keep it down.
Why does it always have to feel this way?
I wait for Gryphon to ease the discomfort, but when his hand doesn’t come up to cup my neck, I’m forced to slap a hand over my mouth instead.
A strong arm bands around my waist, hauling me back onto a broad chest as North snaps, “Are you going to give Gryphon back so that he can help her or not?”
I don’t understand what he means by that, and I’m too busy gagging to figure it out. Then Gryphon’s palm finally slides around my throat and his Gift flows into my body, flooding me and chasing the sickness away. It’s only once my head clears that I realize the room around us is silent, the kind of silence where a million things are floating around us unsaid, and that Gryphon’s hand isn’t cupping the side of my neck like it usually is.
He’s gripping my throat the same way that he would when we’re alone, when he’s whispering filthy demands and observations into my ear as his hips drive his cock into my body.
I glance up to find his bond staring back at me.
Blank face, black void eyes, I’m meeting the god within him properly for the first time. I’m suddenly very aware of all of the eyes on us both.
Kieran has brought us back to one of the training rooms underneath the Tac Training Center, smart decision, as always, and he’s already backed right away from this clusterfuck of a situation. He’s hovering by the door, close enough to help out the moment we need him, but he’s also perfectly aware that if our bonds are out, he’s more of a hindrance than a help.
I’m the only one who can really deal with them.
A quick glance is all it takes to know that none of my other Bonded are happy about his hands on me like this. Not the bond, because they might trust Gryphon to the ends of the earth, but they don’t trust the god that had lived hidden beneath his skin.
We all remember the warnings that Jericho had said.
The bonds kill their vessels.
Gryphon’s bond stares at me, unblinking as he reads me like a book. “I would never harm you. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. You’remine. Nothing changes that.”
I’m not sure if he can just tell what I’m thinking by the look on my face or if he’s able to get past my defenses, but I nod slowly anyway, a slow sigh eking out from between my lips. His fingers flex around my throat, tightening just a little, and there’s murmurs of displeasure around us from the rest of our Bonded Group.
I should really focus on getting him to let go.
“No. You should tell them all to leave us alone. It’s been a very long time since I was with you last, Bonded.”
Oh, God.
Definitely reading my mind then.
