Page 767 of The Bonding Games: Part 1

My skin grows tight and clammy, and my stomach revolts, heart pounding in my ears.

Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump.

Fuck, I’ve not had one of these in years.

Something shakes me, and things skew even more, but I make out some sounds trying to penetrate the haze I’ve fallen into:

“. . . per? Cooper, you okay? I . . .”

The woosh of blood in my ears drowns out the rest of Scotty’s words.

“Wha . . . wrong with him?”

Everything is all broken up, messy, and it only makes things worse.

“. . . some water . . .”

“. . . Tate, don’t—”

SLAP!

Head reeling backwards, everything rushes back into focus, and I suck in a greedy lungful of air, then another huge gulp, and another, as if I’ve been submerged in water for too many minutes.

My cheek stings, and I slowly look up at Tate where he stands over the couch I’m sat on in the main room of our Bonded chambers, the other three gathered around in my peripheral vision. “Thanks,” I mutter, completely sincere, once I’ve caught my breath.

“You’re welcome,” he grunts in that gravelly voice of his.

“You okay?” That’s Scotty, of course, and unfortunately, though by no fault of his own, the question has flames of anger licking up my insides and igniting my asshole side before I can stop it.

“No!” I bellow abruptly, shoving to my feet and almost slamming into Tate in the process as he stands there like a tree trunk rooted firmly to the ground. “I’m not fucking okay!” My vision blurs as I move to get more room so I don’t barrel everyone over when I start furiously pacing like a madman. But I don’t care how I appear right now—I am losing it.

All the other men stay silent, giving me room to rant while they watch me with looks ranging from caution to intrigue in Tate’s case. I continue in a rage, “Our Bonded is not okay!”

“What?” Tate’s expression changes in an instant, now swathed in a mix of panic and wrath so profound it feels as though the air hums with it. “What the fuck do you mean Havoc’s not okay?” he seethes, head obsessively tracking me back and forth with a promise of murder if I don’t answer his question in the next millisecond.

“I mean she’s not okay!” I shout, tugging at my hair now, not caring if I tear the damn strands at the roots. “I know you all know that! You felt her pain that time when Tate asked about her helmet! And she—” My voice breaks. “And I know her. I see—”

My mouth slams shut.

“You better open that fucking mouth right now, Cooper. She what?! What do you know about my Havoc?!”

“It’s abuse!” I roar, rounding on him, finally stopping my frantic pacing as I face all the stunned faces staring back at me. “It’s the signs of abuse! I recognise— Someone is hurting our Bonded!” I didn’t know how strongly I felt about Ezla until just now, when bloody tears attempt to spill over and leak down my cheeks.

“WHO?!” Tate violently grabs me in the next second, eyes completely wild, unhinged even more disturbingly than usual. His grasp on my neck forces a choked sound from me, and I almost wish he’d let loose on me, just so I can feel something other than the pain wracking through my insides. “TELL ME WHO I NEED TO KILL!”

“Tate, let go!” Scotty barks, he and his brother hauling him off me while the beast of a man attempts to shrug them off with savage strength.

“Fucking hell, you’re heavy,” Tiger mutters as he struggles to control him.

My voice climbs even louder. “I don’t know! I don’t fucking know, okay? I just see—”

“And how do you see, Cooper?” Scotty asks as he keeps a hold of a slightly more subdued Tate in case he lunges for me again, eyes harder than I’ve ever seen them as they drill into me, determined to uncover all my secrets this time, even if I don’t want to give them to him.

My head swings firmly from side to side. “This isn’t about me! It’s about Ezla!”

“No, it’s about both of you and the secrets you’re keeping!” he shouts, the wrath in his voice like nothing I’ve heard from him before either. “I care about you both! And you’re both hiding pain! There are things that go unsaid in this Bonded group, but definitely not unnoticed.”

Panting harshly, I have nothing to say to that.