“Good lord, not this early in the morning! I can't deal with that smart mouth.”
I glance over to see Vivian walking towards us, his mouth downturned as he greets us, although there's a twinkle in his eyes as he stares Oli down. She grins back up at him, truly happy, and then, of course, she opens that smart mouth of hers and starts in on him.
“You should be happy with my dedication. I’m no longer a college student bound by unfair rules. I could choose to walk home at any time, and yet here I am, learning restraint and the proper way to kill our enemies. You're welcome.”
He rolls his eyes and another man approaches us. He's tall and wider than Vivian, and he is easily more muscular than even I am. He has a stern look on his face, but he looks at Oli with interest.
“An honest-to-God Soul Render. I never thought I'd see it.”
“I go by she/her, not it, but lovely to meet you. I'm assuming you’re Unser. I've heard a lot about you,” Oli says, tuning her sass down just a little at the end as the much larger man looms over her. He’s not trying to intimidate her or threaten her in any way, he’s just looking over every inch of her, like he’s trying to see some sign of her Gift etched into her skin.
Gryphon looks between them and then back to Unser. “This is Oleander Fallows, our Central Bonded. And, yes, she is a Soul Render. She’s the reason that the Sanctuary was cleared of the Resistance last week.”
Jesus Christ was it only last week that I’d had the greatest night of my life followed by one of the worst mornings in existence?
I share a look with Oli and see the same disbelief in her face that so much could have possibly happened in such a short amount of time. Yet, we’re still no closer to getting rid of Davies and the rest of his band of sadistic followers.
Unser holds out a hand and starts ticking off fingers. “A Soul Render, two Death Dealers, a Neuro with unmatched powers, an unlimited Shifter, and… what exactly are you?”
Oli’s hand slips into mine as I answer, “Strong enough to move a semi, and completely indestructible.”
He looks me up and down slowly and then says, “I guess we’ll see about that, won’t we? War is good at testing limits, kid.”
Chapter Nineteen
Oli
I wake up safe and sound in my bed between Gabe and North, the nightmare still clinging to my mind, a cold sweat drenching my body and my heart beating so hard that I feel as though it's trying to crack my ribs open and escape my chest.
“I’m gonna puke,” I say out loud as I scramble over bodies, not really caring where my limbs are ending up, and lurching towards the bathroom.
I don't bother shutting the door, mostly because I know I'm not going to be alone for long. Even though it's incredibly shameful to be puking my guts up in front of them all, I know it’s inevitable. As I vomit uncontrollably, a cold, wet washcloth presses over my forehead and my hair is twisted away from my face. Another set of strong hands strokes down my back in a comforting gesture, soothing me as the retching continues until I’m a shaking and miserable mess.
I don't know what the nightmare was about.
I don't have any clear memories of any of it, only the fear clinging to my bones and the way that my stomach revolts against it all. My bond doesn't register that I'm in any danger, but it’s quiet in my chest, a grave, solemn sort of quiet.
It knows what the nightmare was about.
“What happened, my Bonded?” North murmurs to me as the retching finally stops, and he reaches over to pull me into his chest.
Gabe flushes the toilet and grabs the washcloth again to wipe my face down before moving away. Atlas stands by the door, clutching the frame and staring at me as though he's seen a ghost, but I tuck my head under North’s chin and cling to him as the panic slowly recedes out of my veins.
“It was a nightmare. I don't know. I don't know—” I stop as my voice cracks, and I press my face into his neck again, tucking myself into him even more.
I'm probably hurting him, clinging so hard, but his arms are like bands of steel around me as he pulls me in closer, as though he would happily tuck me inside of his skin if he could.
I try to take in his strength, but all I feel is hollow… and terrified.
“Gryphon's already gone down to the Tac Training Center. Do you need me to call him back?”
I shake my head. “I don't want to go back to sleep, but I'm okay now.”
“You're definitely not okay,” Atlas grumbles, but North stands up with me still in his arms as though I weigh nothing and carries me back to the bed.
When he realizes there is a wet spot where I had been lying, my sweat soaking through my clothes and drenching the sheets underneath me, he makes an unhappy noise and hands me off to Atlas with directions to sit down while he fixes the situation. I don't really care about some sweaty sheets, but North has always been very particular about the ways that he fusses over me. I already know that if I don't get up and change my pajamas myself, he's just going to do it for me once he's done with the linen.
Atlas follows me into the closet and helps me into some dry, clean clothes when it's clear that my limbs are shaking too much still to be of much use. Then he holds me up as I brush my teeth in the bathroom. Gabe comes in with a bottle of water from the kitchen and hands it to me as soon as I'm done with my teeth.
It’s the first time I’ve really seen them all working together on something solely for me, something that makes me feel as though I’m the center of their worlds the same way that they’re all the center of mine.
I start to tremble all over again.
When I hand the water back to Gabe with a shaky smile, he cups my cheeks with one of his big hands, a frown over his face. “You don't remember any of it at all?”
I shake my head, and the two of them share a look in the mirror.
My stomach drops. “What? You both think I'm going crazy, don't you?”
Gabe frowns at me and cups my cheek again, pulling me back into his chest for a hug as his thumb traces my cheek.
I feel a little better having had a physical connection with all three of them, and I know that if I could touch Gryphon and Nox as well, I would probably be fine to go back to sleep again.
Not that Nox would let me.
My heart does a weird thump in my chest before it races again, the panic coming back. I purposefully direct my thoughts away from my Bonded who still would rather not be near me, not needing anything else to upset me right now while I’m so fragile, for no apparent reason.
“Do you know what your third Gift is?” Gabe murmurs out of nowhere, and I glance back up at him.
“Yes. Why?”
He looks a little rueful, but Atlas answers me nonetheless. “Your mom dreamt of things to come. We were both worried that you were going to say no, and we were about to be forced into a whole new search for information about what that Gift could possibly be. You have to agree that we’re kind of at our max for that sort of shit at the moment, Sweetness.”
I don't want to talk about my third Gift.
I shake my head. “I’ve never had a dream like that before. I've had nightmares, plenty after I left the Resistance, but I always knew what I dreamt of. It's like there's nothing in my head.”