Page 39 of The Bonding Games: Part 2

Aider’s eyes flick to him. “Didn’t you know? My father is now a trusted member of The Council.”

“What?” Alby gasps, all colour leaving his face.

He shrinks back when Aider’s attention moves to him next. “Yes. He was just recently granted a position.”

Moving out of my brother’s hold, I come to Alby’s side and glare at Aider’s smug face. I fucking hate this guy. I already want to kill him, and if he uses his father’s new status to hurt my best friend any more than he already has, I swear I’ll make his death the most painful one ever witnessed. “So he told you? And why does that mean our Bonded shouldn’t be here?” Some panic I can’t hide seeps into my next question, especially as I remember the absence of Ezla’s presence in the bond. “Is she okay?”

He shrugs as if he doesn’t much care either way. “Who knows? The only ones who have any more details would be Ezla and her father, and they’re safety tucked away in the Techtis Council buildi—”

Tate’s already storming away, shoving his helmet on his head as he does. White-knuckled fists shaking, the muscles in his arms strain against his Avri suit.

Scotty curses, rushing after him, encouraging the rest of us to follow.

Aider’s malice-filled eyes sparkle as he watches us hurry away, and I shoot him the dirtiest look the world has ever seen over my shoulder.

“Tate, what are you doing?” Scotty hisses as we move full speed through The Bonding Games Headquarters’ central building.

“What the fuck do you think I’m doing? I’m going to get our girl.”

We turn the corner into the next glossy black hallway, red and green strips speeding along beside us, and Scotty demands, “Do you even have a plan? How do you expect us to get into that building?”

“Don’t fucking know,” Tate grunts, not slowing down for a second. Then again, none of the rest of us are either.

“Maybe we should just blow the place up?” Cooper suggests as he keeps stride with us at my side. “We could fire missiles on our Avri jets.”

“Great idea, Cooper. We’ll just put every innocent in that building at risk, we’ll put our Bonded at risk, by blowing a fucking fifty-story skyscraper up. Not to mention, we’d all be executed right after.” Scotty directs an incredulous look his way. “Was that an actual suggestion?”

“Fuck, sorry. I’m not thinking clearly, okay? Give me a damn break—I just want Vengeance back.”

“Okay, so any other suggestions? Because I can’t think right now.” Scotty rubs a hand over his face, distress leaking from him freely.

“We . . . we could actually use our Avri jets.”

I almost trip over my own feet as my head whips Alby’s way. He’s put his helmet on, and I decide to put my own on since it’s starting to look more and more like we’re heading into battle. “You want us to blow the building up too?”

“No! No, of course not! I wouldn’t want to put Ezla in danger like that! I meant we could use our jets to get on the roof maybe? Didn’t—didn’t Ezla say she’s on the top floor? And the roof usually always has a way to get into the top floor. I-I mean . . . if she’s there . . . I think that’s where she’d be . . . ?” Alby’s throat bobs, his words weakening like he’s less sure his idea’s good at all the longer he speaks.

“Yes!” I all but shriek, before lowering my voice as I repeat, “Yes, Bestie! Good idea.” There’s no one around right now as we continue moving through the wide halls, but I don’t want to attract anyone’s attention who could be around the next corner.

Scotty sighs heavily. “I’m pretty sure us flying around on our jets will be a bit too conspicuous no matter if we’re firing missiles or not.”

“What other choice do we have? The entire building is see-through,” Cooper says grimly.

“It can’t all be see-through,” I counter. “Not when there’s toilets and things, right? I could swear there’s been opaque parts on TV before.”

Everyone pauses.

Well, apart from Tate.

Cooper grabs him and drags him back, the larger man letting out an angry grunt.

I push my lips out. “Why’s everyone staring at me?”

“Because we can simply go and look in our Bonded chambers,” Scotty explains. “They’re always flaunting it all on television, but I’ve never studied it to see which parts we aren’t able to see straight into. Well done, Tiger.”

“We don’t have time for that. I want our girl back.” That’s the second time in five minutes Tate’s said that without a hiccup—ours. And I’d be celebrating with some super cool dance moves if it weren’t for the heaviness of our current situation.

“We won’t be getting her back at all if we can’t get into that building, Tate,” Scotty says lowly, and Tate’s jaw grinds. He carries on, “Think about this. If Joseph has her and he sees us, or someone else sees us and alerts him, then he could hurt her even more in retaliation. We have to be careful here.”