Page 492 of The Bonding Games: Part 1

Awwww, is that a blush? My big bro’s got a crush!

I open my mouth to say as much—

But all that comes out is a shriek as I dodge a bear-sized fist soaring for my face.

“She’s mine!”

Oh, not this again.

“I think we need to work on your vocabulary,” I state, straightening up and snapping my visor back down from where I’d had it flipped up to cool the sweat on my skin in case Player 4 tries that again.

“Don’t provoke him, Tiger,” Scotty scolds as he steps between me and the Ezla-obsessed beast when he lunges for me again.

My hands shoot up either side of my head in defence, palms out. “I wasn’t!”

“Fucker! You want to steal my girl!” The monster is hardly kept at bay by my brother’s hands pushing at his large chest to keep him from me.

“That’s not what I said!”

“You—”

“Gentlemen!”

Our focus zips to the front of our group, where the impatient Neutral who’s been leading me, Scotty, Alby, Player 4, and Player 17 to our Bonded washroom stands. Arms folded over his chest, he glowers at us. “I have other jobs to do today, so unless you’d rather not wash or have a place to stay at night, you’ll argue later, and follow me now.”

I straighten my spine and salute him like a good soldier. “Yes, sir.”

His expression remains unimpressed.

Turning on his heel, he continues to walk, and we all stay silent. But I can feel the side of my face being pierced by the razor-sharp knives a certain someone is still throwing my way.

It’s not long before we’re stopping in front of a—you guessed it—sheeny black door. On its centre sits a snowy luminous number ‘14’, which is our newly given Bonded group number. Considering no one could’ve known who would survive and bond, or how many Players would be in each Bonded group, until Game 1 finished, the staff here must’ve worked hella fucking fast to have our washrooms and chambers prepared for us already.

Only fifty-two of us made it.

With twenty-four Evots and twenty-eight Exots remaining, it’s actually more than previous years.

And everyone knows it was because of The Bonding Games Champion.

With her average of fourteen kills in the first Game each year—which is almost the same amount as the average for the rest of the Exots combined—it was shocking to say the least when this year her kill count was revealed as ten. But since the end of the Game when I felt her stab of agony through the bond, I’ve known something was up with her for those results to be like that, and I’m desperate to find out what it was.

“Head on in and have a look around. Five minutes, then I’ll take you to your Bonded chambers.” The Neutral points to the panel beside the door. “One of you can scan your thumb there; it will pick up on your fingerprints through your gloves like the other biometric scanners here. Only you five and your Exot have access.”

“Wicked.” I hurl myself at the panel eagerly.

The door swings open.

My hands immediately come up to protect my poor, assaulted eyes.

“Good gods!” I cry. “Scotty, it’s white!”

“I can see that.” I feel him ease around me to get into the blinding room.

“Why is it white?!”

It’s not as if everything is black, but white is typically only seen on or in buildings when the place belongs to Neutrals or in ones like hospitals.

Lowering my arms, I squint.