Page 474 of The Bonding Games: Part 1

“Back to the matter at hand,” Scotty says, shifting his narrowed eyes from the duo whose gazes he’d been meeting head-on and looking back at me and his brother. “Do we all agree on bonding those two boys? They’ll be our brothers for life if we manage it.”

“Yes,” Tiger says without hesitation. Then adds, “But I’ll still be your favourite brother, right?”

Eyes rolling, the corner of Scotty’s lips tips up. “Always, Little Tiger.”

An aggressive pout. “You can’t call me that anymore, Scotty-Boo—I’m bigger than you.”

“Only with your muscles and ego.”

“That’s not true! I bet my cock’s bigge—”

Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it—the door opens at that moment, and a Neutral man with his ebony hair tied in a low bun at the nape of his neck enters, the glow of white Avri on his smart jacket lighting up his deeply tanned skin.

The tension in the air thickens to the point of suffocation in an instant.

“The Games are about to start. If you’ll please follow me. You must receive your bonding cubes and your shots, and then you’ll be on live television. Prepare yourselves.” He doesn’t wait even a second before spinning on his heel and striding out of the room, leaving all fifty of us Evots to scramble out the door after him.

Oh, god . . . this is actually happening.

A tingling, numbing sensation starts at my fingertips and works its way up my arms.

I’m going to die soon. Oh my shitting, fucking—

“Alby.”

Scotty’s voice and the accompanying hand placed on my shoulder have me jumping out of my skin.

“It’ll be okay. You’re going to get through this. We’re all going to live.” He fixes his eyes intently on me, then his brother, as we walk down the hallway leading to The Dome. “Tell me.”

“We’re all going to live.” Both mine and Tiger’s voices mix together.

Scotty’s hand squeezes before his arm drops back to his side.

Together, we move with the other Evots in a wave of black and green, our reflections walking beside us on the ever-present onyx walls. Combating red Avri lines all down the length of the hall where those walls meet the ceiling on the left-hand side, our social classification’s equivalent on the right.

Reaching the end of the hall, the Neutral man pauses, and I crane my neck from the middle of the group to get a better look at the second man I find wearing white-accented clothing, who’s stood behind a low table holding many smallish clear boxes. From here, I can make out the Player numbers on them—one for every Evot—and inside them, the black netting surrounding glowing green cubes.

I know what they are instantly: bonding cubes.

Holy shit, I’m about to get a bonding cube!

The organ in my chest which had already been pumping my blood around like crazy gives an extra-insistent thud.

Bonding cubes are actually something I’ve always thought I might not mind about the Games. Other than the idea of forcibly forming such a connection to someone, I quite like the idea of them, the way they so intimately link you to another human being.

“In a moment,” the Neutral with the low bun begins, and I force my eyes to leave the mesmerising cubes to land on him instead, “you will go through the door behind me and meet the arena for the first time.” He gestures to the gleaming black door with the emerald Evot square outline at its centre. I’m assuming the Exots will be looking at a red version right now, and a shiver crawls down my back. “For many of you, it will be the first and last time.”

Oh . . . lovely.

I think I’m going to pass out.

Tiger wraps a steadying arm around my shoulders.

“But before you enter, you must have your bonding cubes attached and the serum in your veins. So, when your Player number is called, please come and take your bonding cubes and hook the pouch to the small loop at your hip. Also make sure your visors are up so the needle can find your skin.”

Swallowing hard, I finger the mentioned loop on my Avri suit, anxious gaze shifting back to the table to search for my bonding cube within the forty-nine others while the Neutral behind the table starts announcing numbers and handing the pouches off to each Evot after opening their box. Being the lightest green there, it’s not hard to find, and my breath catches at the gentle glow peeking through the netting.

“They’re cool as hell,” Tiger voices my thoughts with round eyes. “So much better than looking at them through screens.”