Page 535 of The Bonding Games: Part 1

She exits the club with us hot on her heels, sprinting forwards before manifesting her car beneath her. I don’t even have the mental capacity to be amazed at the fact I’m seeing an Avri car that has two seats rather than one due to our bonding again, not like I was when I saw my first one in real life when we left the Headquarters earlier today and tried using them for the first time.

Stopping the car by the curb as soon as possible, Ezla flings the passenger door open, and I race the remaining distance between us before carefully settling Tiger in the seat within.

The last thing I see is his lazy grin that he somehow still manages to pull even now, if more weak and lethargic than usual, his eyes worryingly heavy-lidded, before the door slams shut in my face and our Bonded’s Avri car zips away in a blur of luminous crimson.

It’s then that I realise exactly who I just entrusted with my brother’s life. The fact that I trusted her so easily, without thought.

And the fact that it doesn’t worry me at all.

29

TIGER

“Oh wow, hello, Ezzy. I have to admit, I’ve never believed in heaven, but for once, I’m happy I was wrong,” I slur.

That sleek helmet stares back at me impassively.

“Have I ever told you how pretty you are? So, so pretty. Like one of those drawings with the deadly dagger surrounded by gorgeous red roses and their lethal thorns.” I blink up at her in a daze. “Ohhhhh! Or like the poisonous plant . . . whatsit . . . Nightshade! Deadly nightshade . . .” My eyes pop wide. “Oh! That’s perfect! What a perfect nickname for you! Deadly Nightshade.”

“I like that,” she replies without emotion.

Confetti explodes inside of me. “I like you! In fact, Ez/Ezzy/Deadly Nightshade/DN—”

“Why is he acting like that? Did you give him something?”

Frowning and wondering who she’s talking to, I pause my list of cute names for my future wife—if marriage is even a thing in heaven—and— “Oh! Yes! Wifey!”

“Shouldn’t he be acting normal if he only had Avri?”

I swivel my head on the soft pillow beneath me, which I only now realise is there, to look at my brother with joy. “Scotty! Oh my gawwwddd! You’re here! And you, and you, and you too, Bestie!” I point at each of my family members in turn. Then my brows crash down, lips pursing. “Wait, why are you here?! Are you real?! I didn’t think of that at first! Oh my good golly gosh! Are you all dead too?!” My eyes flood in an instant, and I let out the wail of a lifetime.

“Most patients do. But some have . . . side effects,” an unfamiliar voice says carefully in response to my brother.

“Like what?” Wifey snaps.

The weird person’s gulp is wayyyy too loud. “Nothing bad!” they rush out, voice rising an octave. “Just, sometimes, very rarely, it can work like the drugs we used well before Avri and can make patients a little—”

“BAAAABYYYY, YOU’RE MINEEE! MY WIFEYYY, MY WIFEYYY, MINEEE, EZZZYYYYY! WOOOHOOOOOO!”

“I don’t see the difference. Isn’t he always like this? It’s perfectly normal.”

“Cooper, this is not how my brother usually acts.”

“I didn’t mean that as an insult—Tiger’s great. I just don’t get the problem—”

“YEAHHHHH!” I frown, mind working with maximum power to make the next part of my new song perfect, then light up at my amazing idea: “YEAHHHHH! YEAHHH! YEAHHHHHHHHH—”

“This is how he is most of the time, I agree.”

“Fuck’s sake, Tate. Pay more attention if you think that—”

I burst into tears. “Oh my god! I’m dead and I didn’t get to marry Ez in real life!”

“Tiger— Brother, you’re not dead. Hey—”

“Fix it!” Deadly Nightshade barks, and my dick immediately woofs in response, catching my eye as it tents the thin sheet covering me and making me realise I’m completely naked as it twitches against it.

I give it a warning look, telepathically telling it to behave.