“Which they are,” Sage pipes in helpfully, glaring at one of the council members who dares to get a little too close to her.
She's being protective of Oli because we all know how much the council has rallied against my Bonded, but Oli’s too busy staring down a table full of our ex-classmates from Draven, the only ones with the guts to point and whisper openly at us all.
Idiots.
I will probably regret it later when North reams me for it, but I use a finger to tip Oli's head back and press my lips to hers. “I don’t give a shit about petty jealousies, Bonded. Let them gossip and whisper all they like. It still doesn't change the fact that none of them could survive without us doing all the hard work.”
She hums happily under her breath, and we approach the large opening to the kitchens. It’s set up like a buffet, except that the doorway is large enough that we can see into where the chef is cooking. Oli brightens as she leans forward in my arms, away from me. I would be a little more bothered about it except then I see why.
“Holy shit, you look like death, Ardern,” says Kyrie as she slides a huge, hot plate of chicken wings onto the buffet and pulls a rag out of her pocket, wiping her hands as she walks around to us.
She's covered in flour and grease from the kitchens but has a big grin across her face. I can tell she has found her happy place in the Sanctuary. She always did love running the cafe, so I'm not surprised that this is where she has come to contribute here.
“I ate something that isn't agreeing with me,” I say with a smirk and a wink, listening to the sounds of disgust from the tables behind us with an evil cackle.
Atlas rolls his eyes at me, but Oli laughs along with me before pulling a face. “Yeah, they're not exactly tasty. Well, their souls aren't, at least. I've never tried the rest of them before.”
Kyrie blows out a breath and shakes her head as she looks up towards the ceiling. “It’s going to take some getting used to listening to you lot talk socasuallyabout that sort of thing. No wonder everybody around here looks like they're going to blow a fuse.”
Oli looks around with a playful smirk before shrugging. “Hey, I brought the nice Bonded in with me today. If I was really planning on ruining everyone's lives, I would have brought one of the other three.”
Atlas scoffs under his breath before murmuring, “You'd have brought Nox, and then we would get to see just how quickly everybody here would change their fucking tunes.”
More tables start to discreetly vacate around us, and Kyrie shakes her head at our antics.
“It’s definitely weird to see the two of you getting along. But I have to say, I'm glad. You guys were stressing my brother into an early grave. I also won a good amount of money off of Black for that, so I owe you a drink. Just don't tell North I was supplying booze to his underage Bonded,” she says again, cackling.
Oli just grins back at her, batting her eyelashes as she snarks back with all of her trademark sass. I enjoy the sound of it all, but the smell of the wings finally hits my nostrils and makes my stomach clench and turn. I'm both hungry and sick to my stomach. I'm not sure anything I eat will actually stay down, but goddammit, if I'm not willing to give it a try.
Kyrie turns on her heel and grabs a takeout container, shoveling mounds of chicken into it before stabbing a fork into the mess and waving it in my direction. “Eat this before you pass out. I’ve spent enough time around TacTeam operatives to know what hangry looks like, and I'm not going to be picking you up off of this floor anytime soon. Hell, I don't think I could manage it.”
Oli giggles and ducks out from underneath my arm to free it up, and I scowl at Kyrie for taking her away from me. But as the smell hits my nostrils again, I can't deny that I need it.
I clear the entire tub in under a minute.
Felix's eyebrows hit his hairline, ever the physician as he starts mumbling to me about indigestion problems and the ramifications of scarfing this down so quickly. Sage pretends to make gagging noises behind her hand.
“At least take a breath in between bites,” she grumbles.
I barely listen to any of them as I stalk back over to the buffet and refill the takeout container. Oli laughs along with something that Kyrie has said and walks over to join me, as though she can't stand to be any further away from me than I want her to be, grabbing more to-go containers and filling them up for the rest of our Bonded Group and our friends.
Felix grabs bags to start packing away the containers in, but all I can think about is shoveling more food into my stomach, the sickness finally easing away. When I get to my fourth helping, I finally start slowing down a little, still eating but taking breaths in between each forkful.
Kyrie raises an eyebrow in my direction. “Do I need to go and put another flock of chickens on for you? Or are you almost full, kid? Who would have thought that eating the enemy could make you hungry instead of filling you up?”
I shrug and take the bottle of water that Oli offers me, draining it in one go before I answer. “It was probably the two-day nap I took that cleared the mountain, but really, who's counting?”
When we get back to the Benson's house, I notice the tension in the air straightaway coming from Sage’s newest Bonded. I don't remember Wick growing up near us, but he was one of the Lower Tier families anyway, so it makes sense. My parents weren't particularly concerned about where people ranked in our society, but the fact of the matter is that if you weren't invited to the same parties and your kids didn't go to the same schools, there just wasn't much opportunity for mingling.
He's polite enough to Oli, though he looks at Atlas and I just a little too calculatingly for my liking, as though he is assessing our every move. He's lucky he's doing it behind Oli’s back or her bond would have come out by now to shut that shit right down. I share a look with Atlas, but he only shrugs, unconcerned about doing anything about it right now. He's right though, if it's not affecting our Bonded, it's just not worth chasing. If it was affecting Sage, she would have told Oli by now, I'm sure.
Sawyer and Gray both come to the table to thank us for bringing them food before getting enough for their Bonded and the small boy sitting on the couch and heading back down there to eat. There isn't enough room for all of us at the table anyways, and they all seem very comfortable in their little bubbles.
I suppose sharing a house like this has taught them how to live in close quarters without being involved in every little thing together. I am so fucking grateful we don't have to deal with that. Oli reaches out through the mind connection to see if any of the other Bonded wants something to eat, to join us or to have her deliver to them. North and Gryphon both answer her almost immediately to say they will meet us back at the house for dinner later instead.
Nox doesn't reply.
When Oli doesn't seem too concerned about it, I guess that he did so privately with her instead of to all of us, something I assume he does more often than not. Things might be going well enough between the two of them now, but Nox has never been one to be open about where he is and what he's up to. I doubt that will ever change.
