Page 135 of The Bonding Games: Part 2

But I freeze at once, Cooper almost smacking into my back with a curse when I hear faintly, “Scotty! S-scotty, come quick! I found s-some-thing!” Hordes of nausea and pain and horror simultaneously flood the bond.

Puppy, I snap, cataclysmic rage rising to the forefront as I spin around and shove Cooper out of my way. He grunts and hisses my name as he rushes to keep up with my long strides as I head in the direction the distant cry came from. Speak to me. Why have you only called for your brother?

He does not answer, and panic and wrath almost have my knees buckling, the feelings are so potent.

Tiger! Scotty! Tell me what is—

They have blocked me out.

They have managed to block me out.

Now frozen in place, I simply cannot believe the audacity, the . . . the pain that comes with their actions. Lips parted, I can only blink for a moment. I am vibrating with the force of my rage, feel physically ill with the amount of hurt within me that I attempt to shove back but cannot. But beneath all of that, my own reaction has me realising just how much it must pain my Bonds when I do the same to them. I was already aware, but experiencing it myself is very different. Moreover, it has me realising seconds too late that something is very, very wrong.

Blinking at the sensation of my head being shaken, Cooper comes into focus before me. Alarm is etched into every crevice of his handsome face until he registers my return. “Fuck,” he breathes shakily. “There you are. Are you okay? I felt Tiger’s feelings for a moment before they all shut off—”

Heart pounding painfully, I step around him in an instant. “We must go. Where was Tiger headed?”

“The cinema.”

Breaking into a sprint, I hear more footsteps echoing ahead as well as Cooper’s own pounding ones from behind. “What the fuck is going on, HC?!”

That is another fucking question I do not know the answer to, and I am this close to absolutely losing my shit.

Ignoring him, I keep running full speed towards the home theatre.

“Vengeance, wait!”

I do not, and I pass through the woody-black-pepper-smelling halls to reach my destination in record time.

Except, when I reach the cinema, Tate is blocking the entrance.

Burly arms crossed over his chest, he seems to fill the entire doorway. And he has shut me out, too, though he is finding it harder to do so, snippets of his roaring anger coming through the bond, too overpowering to be held back completely.

My beast most certainly would not block me out—he would never dare to even think to. And yet he has. He is.

Whatever is in that room must be even worse than I had originally thought.

“Tate, what the fuck, man?” Cooper demands, words only slightly breathy from the run with all his training. “Why are you . . .”

When he trails off, I whip my head around to face him just as I stop before Tate.

His complexion has paled too many shades in just under a second, and his features have slackened. He is looking over Tate’s shoulder, and I snap my neck back my beast’s way, intending to get a glimpse even if I have to knock two of my men out, when Cooper jumps back into motion—and onto me.

He tackles me to the floor, and wrath takes over everything else.

“Don’t touch her!” Tate bellows at once, and as Cooper and I roll across the taalk, each of us trying to get on top of the other, I note him storming over, forgetting to guard the door.

My eyes snap upwards, trying to see what the fuck has caused my men to act so foolishly, but this angle does me no good. And I can hear faint noise in the background, as if a film is playing on the big screen, but with all the other sounds, the blood rushing in my ears, Cooper and Tate shouting at each other, I cannot make it out.

Hissing, I am in perfect control of my mind and body for our fight this time, and my elbow slams into Cooper’s neck while my other arm dodges all his attempts to stop me as I snatch up my armoury stick—

Tate crashes into him, and they spin away in a tangle of limbs.

Shooting to my feet, I race for the open doorway.

Scotty’s panicked blue gaze greets me first as I enter the cinema. He is halfway to me, hands out to stop me, but it is too late as my eyes snap to the right to find the large screen at the front of the room, directly opposite me.

I freeze in place, every bone going cold.