Page 99 of The Bonding Games: Part 2

You seek to change who I am.

No! Tiger rushes out before I can say it myself. That’s not it at all, Ezzy! It just . . . You still feel . . .

Picking up where he left off when I can tell he’s struggling to find the words, I provide, Distant. Don’t get me wrong, you’ve been amazing, Love—absolutely incredible. But I think these are the most important things we need to work on. We can follow your lead, that’s more than fine with me—you’re perfect in charge and just as you are. We just want you to spare a second for us to tell us your plans before you do them. You’re not alone anymore, and that doesn’t mean I expect you to be with us, do everything with us, around the clock—

But that would be great, Havoc.

—but just let us know when you won’t be so we know it was deliberate and that you’re safe, and so if there’s a way we could help you, especially concerning him, then we could talk it out and reach an agreement that we all feel the most comfortable with.

There’s nothing but silence after I’ve finished, and my jaw clenches.

I don’t like feeling as if I’m scolding her, but Ezla needs to hear this, to hear me and my brothers and understand our care for her fully and what it entails. I know this isn’t supposed to be easy, but I’m fucking traumatised myself from all the shit that’s gone down recently, plagued by images that aren’t so easy to forget. All we want is to know our Bonded is safe, and I don’t think that’s at all unfair to ask for.

Understood. Ezla’s voice is dead, nothing in it at all. I will leave the bond open for you to communicate; however, I will be closing myself off. I must think over my recent decisions to understand if they are still to my liking.

Shit.

No, Love! Wait! Fuck, I’m sorry!

Ezzy, no! Stay!

What the fuck does that mean, Vengeance?!

Wait! Please, Ezla! Don’t leave me!

You’re not fucking changing your mind about this, Havoc! You’re mine! Ours!

But she’s already gone, fading into the background. The only reassurance is her steady presence, a feeling with something dark and smoky there, letting us know she’s okay like I’d requested, though it’s more than I’d even asked for.

A downpour of guilt pummels me.

Well done, dickhead, Tate seethes.

Shut up, Tate. Don’t blame Scotty. Ezla needed to hear that. Don’t pretend she didn’t. No one is trying to hurt our Bonded, and believe me when I say I don’t like that we clearly have, but even you can’t deny that you agree with what we said.

He growls animalistically but doesn’t respond to that.

Tiger’s abnormally quiet, and Alby doesn’t say a word either.

Not until a panicked, I just saw a green light around the corner, comes through to me.

I pause where I’d just been about to turn one myself. Stay calm, Alby. My grip on my bow tightens. That might be me.

Very slowly, just to be safe in case Alby’s not around the corner and I have someone of my own to deal with, I inch my arrowhead from the arrow knocked on my bow past the edge of the wall.

Can you see that? It’s the tip of my arrow.

A few beats pass by, no one making a sound in the bond. I don’t fail to notice Ezla’s presence seems to be more prominent now, as if she’s on high alert as well.

No.

My heart drops to my stomach in one great woosh.

I can’t see anything—

Panic floods the bond for one heart-stopping moment before it decreases dramatically in the next second, replaced mostly by overwhelming guilt and sadness.

“Player 1: Eliminated.”