“Are they mad at me?” Ollie’s always been the most level headed. I haven’t seen his emotions get the better of him since the first night he showed me his gift, even then he was madder at himself than anything else.
Rocking me back and forth from left to right, he asks, “Why would they be?” His tone is incredulous.
I chance peeking up at him, and he pauses as his eyes meet mine. “Ares said I claimed him,” I whisper.
Ollie rolls his eyes. “The bastard—he’ll never stop gloating. We’ll have to listen to him tell the story a hundred and twenty-seven times.”
I sag. “Ollie, I’m being serious.”
“You think I’m not? He’s a smug bastard, and you just handed him the keys to the kingdom.” Ollie teases, his tone light. I know he loves Ares and he’s trying to make me feel better.
“It was scary, I don’t think I ever want to do that again,” I mutter, nuzzling my face against Ollie’s soft shirt.
He pushes me back, holding me at arm’s length. “Now, don’t go saying that, you’ll break all our hearts and make Ares's head bigger than it already is.” Ollie pulls me back into his chest and places his chin on top of my head. “That’s the goal, you know, for all of us.”
“But—” I splutter.
“There are no buts, Laura,” Ollie interrupts. “We didn’t tell you before about the bonding because you already have so much going on, but I’m happy you know now. You think you hurt Ares, but you’re wrong. He wasn’t prepared, but I can promise that what you did, didn’t hurt him any more than it hurt you. It just took his body a few seconds to recover.” Ollie intertwines our fingers together and raises our joined hands, flapping them at our sides.
Leave it to him to take a serious conversation and make me feel silly. “You really want that? I feel like he didn’t have a choice, like I took something from him without asking.”
Releasing one of my hands, he tows me to the bed with the other, and drops down with a huff. “Yes, the simple answers is yes, Laura. I want to be claimed, bound, whatever you want to call it, to you and to the others. It’s what I’ve wanted since the moment I met you.”
I bite the corner of my lip, taking the seat next to him. “What does it change?”
Ollie tilts his head to the side as his eyes go unfocused. “Well, let’s see. So, just for starters, it will make it easier on both of you to be apart.”
“Huh?” I say, and that’s about all I can muster in my confused state.
Ollie knocks his shoulder into mine. “How do I explain this? Now that you’ve claimed him, it’s like you have a piece of him with you, and it’s the same for him, I guess.” His lips and nose twist up. “It’s not nearly as creepy as it sounds.”
I place our joined hands in my lap, running my finger down each of his. “Okay, I can see how that would be good. What else?”
“You’ll have more access to your connection to him, be able to harness your abilities better. Think of the connections like a filter—no—like a surge protector. We’ll be able to divert any excess energy.” Ollie nods like he’s happy with his assessment, then looks down at me with a wry grin. “I’m probably the worst person to explain this to you.”
I swat his chest with our hands and lean my shoulder onto him. “Why didn’t you guys tell me sooner? It might have made things easier, and don’t give me that bull about having too much to deal with.”
He sighs. “That really is part of it, but… but we were a little,” Ollie pinches the fingers of his free hand together, “worried we would scare you away in the beginning. You’ve done a pretty good… okay, a fantastic job at handling everything we’ve thrown at you,” he amends when I give him a pointed look.
“I guess I can’t blame you guys too much, but I think it would be best for everybody if you guys filled me in on any other big surprises that might happen. I really thought I hurt him. What if we had been driving or something when it happened, and he would have crashed?” I can’t get the image of Ares lying on the floor, completely helpless, from my head.
“I don’t think he’d be driving while doing that.” Ollie smirks, adding quickly, “But, Laura, Ares’s reaction to the bond is a direct indicator of the strength of the bond. It could be completely different with each one of us.”
“I don’t understand. Does that mean it’s not a strong bond because it weakened him?”
“No, not at all. I’m saying the bond is so strong, he took a few minutes to process the power loop, and Ares is one of the strongest of our kind.” Ollie’s eyebrow rises like he’s just given me a big piece of information.
“So, it’s a good thing then?” I ask tentatively.
“A fantastic thing.” I look over and find Ares leaning against the doorframe, his ankles crossed, and he looks utterly relaxed. My cheeks go hot just seeing him. How did he sneak up on us without me hearing him?
“So, the eye thing?” I wave my hand near my face.
“Might have just been part of the process, or it could be a physical manifestation of our combined abilities.” Ares runs his eyes over me, stopping at the side of my neck. I almost raise my hand to cover the bruise he left behind. “I’m more than happy to test out a few theories.” His voice goes husky. At least I know he’s feeling better.
Ollie wraps his arm around my neck and mock whispers in my ear, “See. He’s impossible—a total gloater.”
I hide my smile by pinching my bottom lip between my teeth at Ares’s expression. He looks both smug and irritated at the same time. Ollie chuckles, lying back on the bed, dragging me with him. I curl on my side, my head pillowed on his shoulder, it’s been a long day. “Should I do everybody?” Ollie stiffens, his head lifting off the bed to look down at me.
“Say again?” he asks.
Now Ares chuckles, his sounding much darker. “Yeah, what was that?”
“Bond with everyone, or do I wait? How does it work? I’m not even sure what I did with Ares.”
Ollie’s head slams back down onto the bed. “I’m gonna die,” he mutters under his breath. “Why don’t you tell me about what you guys were doing, and I think we’ll figure it out.” Ollie offers. I feel a breeze as Ollie lets out a low grunt, laughing the next second. Ares is standing at the end of the bed, the evidence of the pillow he hurled at Ollie falling off the side.
Sitting forward, I cover my face with my hands. “Wait, just wait a second. It was because we were…” I can’t bring myself to say making out, it seems way too juvenile, but I don’t know what else to call it. “Kissing and stuff,” I finish.
Ollie sits up next to me, all traces of laughter gone from his voice as he says, “It’s more than that, you have to have a true desire to connect, to bond, but yes, part of the process is physical.”
I peek through my fingers looking at Ares when he asks, “Do you regret it?” He looks down, his eyes going back and forth like he’s seeing something I can’t. He sounds hurt.
I drop my hands, letting him see my face. “Ares, I did something to you without even understanding what it was. I was terrified that I hurt you and that you would hate me. I don’t regret it—couldn’t if I tried. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still a little scared.”