Forced bonds the bonds t.., p.1
Forced Bonds (The Bonds that Tie Book 4), page 1
Forced Bonds
The Bonds that Tie #4
J Bree
Copyright © 2021 by J Bree
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Also by J Bree
About the Author
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Prologue
Prologue
Gryphon
The taste of a lie is like nothing else on Earth.
Like ash on the tongue but more acrid, with the promise that if it were a smell, it would be pungent and putrid and every other disgusting adjective you can think of.
An unspoken truth is a very different beast.
It’s not a taste or a smell. It’s not something you can really put your finger on, not something I can see on someone just by looking at them.
It’s a feeling, deep in my gut, that something is missing.
When I walk into the security room, I find Sawyer Benson sitting behind a computer in his underwear with a gouge above his eye and blood still running down his face. Gray is standing behind him looking as though he walked out of a dust storm with the amount of dirt covering him. They both turn to look at me and, if I hadn’t already picked up on the feeling, their faces give away everything.
A smirk stretches over my lips and I shrug at Sawyer. “There’s no point trying to hide whatever it is. If you don’t tell me, I’ll hack into your brain and get it the harder, more painful way.”
I say it as a joke, expecting him to roll his eyes and snap back at me with some sort of sarcastic joke, but his face only hardens as he gets defensive.
Something is really fucking wrong here.
He looks up at Gray and then back at me, his jaw flexing like he’s grinding his teeth. When he answers, it’s as though the words are being dragged out of him. “I’m showing you this because I know that my sister is both innocent and a victim. I know that you’ll do the right thing here and think things through with your actual brain and not make rash decisions. Don’t make me regret it, Shore.”
He doesn’t really need to say anything else because there’s only one thing he could be talking about, but even as I take in his words, they don’t make any fucking sense to me.
I glanced down at him, because it couldn’t possibly be Sage. The traitor in our haven couldn’t possibly be the soft-hearted, sad little Gifted girl that my Bonded clicked with the moment my TacTeam had dragged her home to us all. Then the footage starts playing, and there’s no denying it.
She walks over to Dara Smythe and talks to her for a minute, distracting her enough that the Shield turns her back, and then she strikes, dragging the knife across the other girl’s throat without the slightest bit of hesitation, even as the blood spurts and pours out of the wound.
The tension fills my chest cavity so quickly that my heart feels as though it’s pumping acid through my veins.
My voice comes out lower than normal, raspier, like I’m dying of thirst and not just fucking horrified at what the hell is going on here. “Oli just left to go to her.”
The silence that comes after my words is damning and my voice is nothing but rage this time around as I bark, “Show me where my Bonded is. Show me that she’s alive and here and untouched. Right now, Benson, before I reach into your brain and ruin you.”
Security room now, not a request, I send to North directly as I check in with Oli quickly. She’s calm, happy, and doesn’t feel any danger around her. Her bond would react if there were something wrong… wouldn’t it?
Sawyer rolls his eyes at my threat and snaps back at me, “The medical examination rooms don’t have cameras! That decision was made for a variety of reasons, including the fallout of that time that your Bonded was being carried around half-naked by you lot and Draven had a fucking coronary about there being footage of her. Can you imagine what would happen if we had a camera on her while she was getting an IUD in? Fuck, he’d actually explode and take the town out.”
The desire to choke the sarcastic little fuck out is so strong that my arm lifts and my hand reaches out before I can stop myself, my bond flaring to life inside of me and becoming another problem to deal with. It might not behave like Oli’s or either of the Dravens’, but it’s still strong enough to wipe him out without much input from me if it really thinks my Bonded is in danger.
It’s starting to feel that way.
“This is not the time for your fucking lip—”
“I know it’s not, it’s called a coping mechanism! My fucking sister, the person I’ve known and loved the longest and would trust with anything in my life, just killed someone for what I’m pretty sure was the first time ever. I mean, the same girl who puked her guts up at the thought of dissecting a frog in science class just slit Dara’s throat… Dara, the kid we used to steal champagne from our asshole parents with and get drunk off of three sips as middle school degenerates. None of this makes sense, Shore, and I’m freaking the fuck out here.”
Deep breath.
I check in, but North is still working his way towards us and Oli is still cracking jokes, Gabe and Bassinger within arm’s reach of her. That barely helps to keep the adrenaline pulsing through my veins under control, my entire body practically vibrating with the need to go after any threat to my Bonded or our family.
Even if that threat is someone we all trusted so much.
Gray leans forward and mutters something quietly to Sawyer, gesturing at areas on the screen, but I can’t see anything there worth pointing out. I step forward to look there too, but the lines of coding on the screen mean nothing to me.
I give Sawyer a very pointed look and he grimaces at me. “There’s nothing in the system to say we’re being watched. There’s nothing here to show there was a security breach on any level, except the Shield being… taken out.”
“So, what you’re saying is that your sister is the only sign of treachery here? And that she’s currently in a room with my Bonded, who has no idea we’ve been betrayed by her, giving her the element of surprise that she just used to murder Dara?”
He hesitates.
He fucking hesitates.
Gray darts in front of him, as though the Telekenetic has a chance of stopping me when I murder his boyfriend-slash-fellow-Bond-Group-Member, and holds up his hands right as Sawyer snaps, “I’m not saying my sister would hurt your Bonded, but whoever the fuck is in her head right now, because there is no other explanation for this, might still be in there… waiting to get Oli alone. Get them apart and get Sage isolated until we can figure this out. I will figure this out.”
Gray takes a deep breath as he sees the murderous rage on my face simmer down a little. Sawyer has just saved his own life.
He curses under his breath and leans in his chair to look past Gray at me. “North is here. Any chance you could stop him from setting his creatures on me? I’m not opening the door for him until you convince me.”
I’m not convincing him of shit.
I lean past him to hit the button for the door, listening to him cuss me out under his breath. When North stalks in, I don’t say a word to him, just gesture at the screen where the image of Sage’s knife buried in Dara’s throat is still up.
“Where the fuck is Oleander right now?”
The words aren’t even fully out of his mouth before he’s reaching out to her. Where are you?
I glance over at him, of course he wouldn’t ask any questions of Sawyer in this moment. It doesn’t matter that he’s been the greatest asset to the Sanctuary outside of our own Bond Group, but everything has changed in the blink of an eye.
I can feel Oli’s exasperation, and I cut in before she does something unintentionally dangerous right now, Oli, who is with you right now? Don’t say anything out loud or react. You need to be discreet.
Unease fills her, clearly thrumming down the connection to all of her Bonded. I can feel the ripple of irritation run through Bassinger, but he stays out of it for now, either sensing that shit is going down or just through dumb luck.
I’m in the medical center, exactly where North told me to be. I have Gabe and Atlas with me. Kieran, Sage, and Felix are too. I’m safe.
I share another look with North but he’s already got his phone out, his fingers flying over the screen as he calls for backup here. “I’m getting her out of there now.”
Sawyer starts to run his mouth at him and Gray gets between them both, but I’m too busy trying to discreetly get into Sage s brain from this distance without alerting her, or anyone who might be in there, to take much notice.
Tell me now. Whatever it is, tell me now.
If I tell her, she won’t believe me. Fuck, if Sawyer had just told me, I wouldn’t have believed him either.
But I can show her. The moment I do, I feel her shut down, the complete and total freakout that causes her to just empty her brain out the way her Neuro father taught her to. It’s a blessing because only her Bonded will be able to tell that she’s losing her shit right now.
Gray tugs Sawyer away from North and my eyes meet the Death Dealer’s across the room, a million unsaid words crossing between us.
North’s eyes flicker to black and then back to blue, a momentary slip of his control, and he says in a dangerous tone, “Nox is closest. I’m sending him to her now.”
Chapter One
Oli
My chest is on fire. My lungs are screaming for air and my heart is thumping inside my rib cage at a frenzied pace, but I can’t force any semblance of calm into myself as I stare across the room at Atlas, his eyes hard but steady on mine.
I can’t look at Sage right now, not with the sight of her killing Dara still clear in my head even though the image Gryphon had sent me has faded away. Atlas’ eyes bore into mine, his own anger at the betrayal of my closest friend simmering just under the surface, but to say anything right now, with two of her Bonds here with us, is a nightmare sort of situation.
Things could escalate so freaking quickly.
Especially considering that Felix is healing up the scrapes and bruises all over me, so his hands are directly on my skin. Kieran is a highly trained TacTeam operative who has more training and skills than the three of us combined… plus there’s the small fact that he’s a Transporter and could just disappear with her the moment we say anything.
There’s a small part of me that wants him to, that wants him to get her the hell out of here before the consequences of her actions catch up with her because, well, she’s my best friend. Does that make me a terrible person?
Maybe, but the small voice in the back of my mind definitely crosses that line for me, whispering that my bond could take care of all of this for us.
I don’t want it to though, and… strangely, it’s quiet in my gut, as though the feast of the Charge’s soul was enough to put it into a short slumber.
Does that mean I’m safe in this room right now and this is all just some huge misunderstanding? Or does it mean that I’ve finally got a blind spot, a small mistake that my bond has made to let a Resistance spy close to us all?
My head feels as though it’s about to explode with all of the unknowns and betrayals. Why did it have to be Sage, of all people?
Felix’s voice snaps me out of my spiraling thoughts. “Oli, your heart rate is insane right now. Take a breath. Is this a panic attack because your bond came out or something else? Gabe, grab her some water, and, Atlas, you might want to get your shirt off to start a transfer. She needs something.”
My eyes snap back over to them both, but neither of them move at Felix’s commands or attempt to answer him.
Gabe stares at me and I blink back at him, hoping he can read enough of my face to keep his cool here and not question any of the crazy that’s happening right now.
I’ve told him what’s going on, just stay calm. We’re on our way.
I swallow at the tense sound of Gryphon’s voice in my mind, but I can’t find the words to send anything back to him. I can’t figure out how to address any of this without breaking the fuck down.
Sage can’t be a spy.
She just fucking can’t.
“You look really sick, Oli, should we… get you back to your place to rest?” Sage says in her same sweet and caring tone that I’m now doubting and reading into like she’s a criminal mastermind, because what the actual fuck is going on here?
I clear my throat and say, my voice sounding all sorts of messed up, “It’s— I’m fine. I think it’s my bond acting up, nothing I can’t handle.”
Sage gives me a concerned look back, empathy and warmth flooding out of her in my direction like it always does, and my chest tightens even more. Kieran frowns at me and glances at my Bonds, and the lines around his mouth only deepen. He knows something is up but before he can call us out on it, the cavalry arrives.
Thank fuck.
I feel him before I see it.
My eyes flick down to the tendrils of smoke streaming in from under the door, but I look away quickly, hoping no one else notices it.
Of course, Felix does.
His hands slip away from me as he stands, moving towards Sage. He only makes it a single step before the smoke floods the space, a tendril curling around his ankles and stopping him from any further movement. He lets out a yelping sound, like he was thinking coherent words but the fear of the nightmare smoke dried up his rational thoughts, but it’s too late. The smoke wraps around Kieran and Sage, pulling them both apart and rendering them completely immobile. Kieran is frowning but not resisting, his eyes snapping around the room at us all and taking note of the way that the smoke is targeting his Bond Group alone.
When he turns to me, I look away, not wanting him to see my own reaction to what is happening here.
Sage, who is clearly panicking and making my heart hurt even more in my chest with her wide eyes and shaking voice says, “Oli, what the hell is this? What is going on? Why is North—”
The door opens and Nox steps through, one of his creatures at his feet in its savage Doberman form, its sharp and deadly teeth exposed as it snarls at the entire room, and drawls in his most acidic and dangerous tone, “Not North, though he’s on his way with a lot of questions for you, Benson. You might want to start working out your answers, and quickly, because betraying us all in full view of the security cameras wasn’t the brightest thing you’ve ever done.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Draven?” Felix snaps, still struggling against the smoke, but Kieran just stares at him with cold eyes.
“Let me go. I’m going to North now.”
Nox scoffs at him and steps across the room, circling Sage as more of his creatures take form amongst the smoke and fall into line around him. Brutus rumbles under my ear, not as a warning, but as a comfort to me so I know he’s still there and ready to step in if I need it. I have no doubt he will, not a single fleeting doubt has ever filled me about his loyalty to me, and I raise a hand up to pet him, even as it shakes just a little.
I can’t look at Sage right now.
I’ll either break down or start screaming.
Nox takes another step into the center of the room, the smoke thickening until my eyes have to shift to see clearly through it. He answers Kieran, “I just said he’s on his way and that none of you are going anywhere. If I had things my way, you’d all be locked up until Gryph can sift through every little second of your lives and find out whether it’s just Benson, or if you’re all in on this. I thought more of you than this, Black, but nothing here will really surprise me. Not even you betraying us all—”
Sage makes a noise like she’s struggling for air, but it’s more of an outraged sort of thing, and I still can’t force myself to look her way yet.
Kieran makes his own sound of outrage and strains against the ropes of smoke, even though they don’t budge. “Betraying you? What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Just because you have your own little bullshit mission here, trying to psych out your Bond because you’re absolutely fucked—”
Oh, I don’t like that.
Neither does my bond, waking up finally to the absolute mess we’re in, but when I poke at it, expecting a whispered threat or something, it’s silent. Wary and watchful, but silent.
