Page 555 of The Bonding Games: Part 1

“I don’t know, but I trust Ezla to have that handled. She wouldn’t leave him unprotected,” my brother replies with so much surety that it seeps into my own being.

No. She wouldn’t. I don’t know how I know that—especially when she’s threatened to murder us plenty of times—but I do. She wouldn’t leave Alby in danger.

35

ALBY

I know I should be more focused on the threats all around me, hiding behind every corner—literally—but I can’t stop looking at Ezla in awe and just . . . I internally sigh. She’s just so beautiful. I don’t need to see her face to think that.

I feel a mild flicker of amusement through the bond, and I bite my lip so hard I taste a metallic tang on my tongue as I try to keep my shock in, my heart pitter-pattering and tripping all over itself like it’s trying to get to my Bonded.

Wow . . . I’ve never felt that from her before. I’d never felt anything from her, in fact, other than those rare, horrific bursts of agony and wrath. I had even wondered if she was actually capable of feeling more. But now I know she is, that she does, and it’s . . .

“You’re so gorgeous . . .”

My hands whip up to cover my mouth as if I could slam the breathed words back in. But it’s too late. And now I’m worried I’ve alerted someone to our position behind a large wall on the higher floor.

Ezla’s head slowly turns my way, the green of my Avri cluster that’s so many shades darker than it was when I first met her illuminating her black visor along with her red energy. In my head, I hear velvety words that send a violent shudder through me: You have never seen me. Not truly.

Swallowing thickly, I scan her helmet as if I could see through it to the woman beneath. I know she doesn’t just mean the physical appearance she keeps locked up so tightly; I know she’s been through things I can’t even begin to imagine.

I’ve seen enough . . . The words are a whisper from my mind to hers that I hope she can actually hear since I’m still not sure exactly how the connection between us works or if I even thought loud enough . . . which I’ve never really taken the time to think about until now: Do thoughts have volume?

She’s silent for a while, and I’m thinking maybe I was right and I should repeat myself . . . when we hear a shuffle.

Every inch of me stills.

Ever so slowly, Ezla raises a finger to her visor where her lips would be, and I nod, trying to control my rapid, trembling breaths. Then she nudges her head to the left, and I follow the wordless instruction, creeping that way while she goes right.

Peeking around the corner, I can’t see anyone, and nothing meets my ears, either. So I cautiously move further out—

A glowing red arrow whizzes right for me.

I startle with a terrified sound at the same moment a slim around wraps around my waist and hauls me back behind the thick black wall.

Gasping for breath, everything inside me stutters at the feel of Ezla’s body pressed against my back and her arm encircling me, holding me securely. Blood rushes through me viciously, both because of her proximity and the near miss.

Careful, Alby, she hisses through the bond, and my knees weaken at the use of my name for the first time since what feels like a lifetime ago now. It didn’t even sound like she’d meant to say it.

My entire being burns up for a multitude of different reasons. Sorry . . .

Stay.

Panic consumes me as Ezla’s body heat leaves me along with her arm, and I track her almost frantically as she nocks an arrow on her inky-crimson bow and darts back around the wall while she raises it high before firing, letting loose even more at the rate of knots to the backdrop of yells and colourful curses that echo through the darkness, her supply automatically replenishing in the quiver on her upper back.

Since Avri is an energy, it can’t be truly destroyed, even if it appears to be. So when the Avri in arrows and other Avri weapons and vehicles scatter into hundreds of pixels, those eventually glitch out of visibility before making their way back to their cluster without damage, untraceable to the naked eye until they’ve returned.

“Player 98: Eliminated.”

Oh no . . . I think that was one of Iggy Benson’s Bonded.

Ezla snaps back around to my side of the wall, and more words float through me: Go right. I will be right behind you. 22’s group is heading this way.

Aider.

A sick feeling rises within me.

Go, Alby! Now!