Blood Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, #3)

by J. Bree

He doesn’t answer me as he steps fully into the shower stall and then sits down on the built-in marble bench that runs along one of the walls, still holding me close to his chest. I really should get my face out of the crook of his shoulder and face the man, but we’re in a shower stall together and I feel a little light-headed at what’s happening here right now.

“Whatever you need, it’s our duty and honor to provide.”

“What the hell happened while I was gone? Where is all of this coming from? The last I knew, you didn’t trust me. Now, you’re in here with soft words and offering me whatever I want… I’m so fucking confused right now. Which one of us has a head injury I need to freak out about right now?”

He’s way too calm about my rambled word vomit. So calm that he doesn’t react at all, except to shift his grip on me to my hips to hold me steady, and once he has a good grip, he opens his mouth and all of my secrets come out of it.

“You were kidnapped from the hospital. You were held in a Resistance camp for two years while they tortured you for information about your gift and your Bonds. You gave them nothing. You escaped when Silas Davies left, and your bond took over to get you out. You then spent three years on the run to lead them away from us. You slept in halfway homes, sublets, and the streets while you were barely...

Then, with a rapt sort of focus, I watch as he strips down, peeling off his Tac gear and dropping it on the ground outside of the shower stall. He doesn’t hesitate or pause until he’s standing there completely naked in front of me.

I force my eyes to stay very firmly above his waist, a feat that I’ll go to the grave being proud of considering that I’m sitting down and my eyeline is, of course, dick level.

Then he turns back to me and holds out a hand. I take it, and a deep breath, and let him pull me up and under the blissfully hot stream of water. Because he doesn’t make a comment or even a sound while he works, I manage to get through him cleaning me without too much awkwardness.

He uses all of his own supplies, his soaps, and then he massages his shampoo into my hair with fingers that might just be magic. I have to hold in a moan of pure pleasure as goosebumps explode over my skin.

When he takes the handheld showerhead down to wash out the shampoo, I get self-conscious again, though this time it has more to do with the fact that my nipples are pebbled up and betraying just how much I’m enjoying this little moment of his ministrations, and I try to g...

He’s at least a foot taller than I am and easily moves it out of my reach. “No, stay right where you are. Jus...

I feel safe and secure and loved for the first time since my parents died.

Then his lips brush over my bare shoulder and I let a single tear roll down my cheek unchecked.

No matter what else happens between us, I’ll remember this small gift of kindness he’s given me for the rest of my life. This will go down as the moment I let myself admit how much I want North Draven. How much I crave his domineering and assertive nature, how much I need him, even if he does act on my behalf without ever asking me what it is that I want. That even while I was determined to hate him, he’s worked his way under my skin and I don’t want to dig him out.

Am I about to fall in love with a Draven, over a shower of all things?

I force my eyes to follow the droplets of water cascading down his chest instead, the way that there’s the smallest of dimples on his cheek that I’ve never been close enough to notice before, and the strong muscles of his throat that flex as he works so diligently to getting me dry. He’s fucking gorgeous, always has been, only now I’m letting myself take note of it.

North’s nostrils flare and he drops the towel, bracing his hands on either side of my thighs as he leans into me, careful not to touch me, but taking up every inch of my personal space nonetheless.

He doesn’t mention how he knows that I’ve done it before, because bringing up his brother’s actions right now probably isn’t for the best. I lick my lips, watching in awe as his eyes get stuck on the action and his pupils blow out and swallow his irises, almost looking like the void eyes we share.

His words catch me by surprise. “So if I edge you for the next couple of hours, you can enjoy it and only feel the pain at the end? Not ideal, but I’ll take it.”

“Then Bond or don’t. I’m not waiting to taste you any longer. If you’re hesitating about the power exchange, then just don’t do it. I’m not waiting.”

“Whatever it is, you’re sure it can’t wait? I’m not entirely above begging, Bond.” Interesting.

“Your bond is like mine, right? It’s… more than the others. It’s not just a force inside you. It’s a living thing, right?”

The scowl grows on his face and he gives me the tiniest of nods, the smallest gesture, and I plow onwards like this is all fine and I’m n...

“Let me talk to it. There’s something I want to ask it, and then we can… I mean, I think I want to Bond after. Properly. ...

“If it tries to bond with you, kill me. Or get Gryphon to knock me out. You can still contact him, can’t you?”

I pull a face at him. “I think I’ll lead with knocking you out. No need to kill you over a little bit of sex, North.”

The bond stills and takes in a breath before pulling my hand up to his nose and taking another big ol’ whiff of my newly scrubbed skin. I wonder if it sees the soap and shampoo as its scent the way North does, or if he’s about to throw a bond tantrum over how foreign I smell.

“Are they going to hurt me? North is worried they will. He’s worried about losing control of them around me, and I need to know if that’s actually possible. If it’s not, I want to keep August… ahh, the puppy. The Doberman-looking one. You know which one, right? Of course you do.”

“Mine. You’re mine. No one will hurt you again. Not me, not the others, not anyone. The shadows cannot harm you, they belong to you, as I do. We all do.”

I look into those beautiful voids, as dark and beautiful as a starless sky, and murmur, “Can he hear me? Is he listening to us? I can hear it sometimes. Not always.”

North’s bond tilts his head like it’s considering. “What secrets do you want just between us?”

The bond leans down until his nose bumps against mine softly, like it’s afraid even now of hurting me. “The lie. He believes the lie because the truth is too painful. Even now that it’s started to unravel around him, he can’t let it go.”

“Bonds cannot hurt each other. They cannot kill each other, not with intent or by accident. But if he believes the truth, then everything he has held on to for all of this time will be meaningless.”

My eyebrows bunch together, but then the bond pushes forward again, sealing our lips together, and I’m kissing North for the first time. Only he’s not the one kissing me. His bond is pushing me backward on the countertop and his tongue is sweeping into my mouth, taking over me and branding my very soul with his mark.

I panic a little, only because of what North will think of this, but he breaks away from me without pushing for more. His palm takes hold of my chin, and he sp...

But when he spreads me out on his bed, his body immediately covers my own, and this time when his lips touch mine, I know that it’s all him in there and not his bond taking over. They kiss differently.

Is that a weird thing to notice? Probably. Where the bond was a dark possession, North is a consuming force. He wants me, there’s no doubting it, but he wants everything. I can barely stop myself from getting swept up in him, losing myself when we’ve barely even started.

“What did it say to you? What...

“It’s devoted to me. It’s not going to hurt me. North? I believe it. I know that neither of you will hurt me.”

He stares at me, his eyes locked onto mine, and there’s a need inside of him that I can see so clearly, a need for me to trust him and believe exactly what he’s capable of. I already know it.

Then North’s gift joins the party and shatters any chances of pretending that we’re anything but Gifted Bonds.

A surprise but not a bad one. I can totally handle Bonding in his shadows. His eyes stay blue, his level of control even in this situation is completely insane to me, but it’s as though this is the small part of his bond he’s willing to share me with right now, and I can get on board.

I glance at North’s hands first just to check that he’s not messing with me, but then I feel the thing slide up my calf to circle my thigh and spread my legs out even further. Before I have a chance to freak the fuck out, more of the shadows come out to grab me, one over each limb and splaying me out for North’s viewing pleasure. He watches it all with rapt attention, an air of smug male surrounding him. This is all at his command.

The shadow limbs might as well be restraints for how firmly they hold me down. Living ropes that move at North’s every whim. I should have guessed he’d be full of these sorts of surprises in the bedroom.

“Not yet. We’re coming together too, Bond. Be patient.”

“I’ve been patient. How you ever thought I could survive edging is stupid. Fuck me or make me come some other way. I don’t care, just do it.”

He huffs out a breath at me, and then he ignores my demands. Ignores them. Just goes back to his very slow and methodical exploration of my body until every inch is cataloged inside that impossible brain of his.

another tendril appears out of the darkness and moves to slide through my slick pussy lips. I tense a little, half terrified and half hoping that it will push inside of me.

His nostrils flare as he fists himself, stroking his cock leisurely as he watches his shadow play with me. I feel my clit begin to pulse every time the shadow brushes against it in a cruel tease, just a whisper of friction, but nowhere near enough to give me what I want.

“If you don’t fuck me soon, my bond is going to come out. It’s already right on the edge.”