Page 105 of The Bonding Games: Part 2

I don’t think he meant for that to be funny, but . . . Please don’t tell me you just referenced Alice in Wonderland at this very moment.

What? He frowns at me, seriousness unfaltering. I was showing my enthusiasm.

Another beat.

Alby bursts out laughing.

Tiger pouts, glancing his way. But then a wide grin breaks across his face, because he’s always happy to see anyone he cares about smiling. And I just know something else is about to come now—

Tiger trots right up to Aider, turns away from him, and starts wiggling his butt in his face.

“You see this?” My brother points at his backside, and I can only stare at the scene, dumfounded. “This is an ass. It’s in your face because you’re an assface.”

Tate guffaws, and Alby laughs even harder, body shaking with the force, slapping his hands over his mouth as if that will be any help in hiding it.

I feel Aider starting to literally burn with the rage simmering inside of him, building up and up until—

“Cooper. If you please. Remove the organ before it works to assault my ears.”

“Yes, Vengeance.”

“Wait!” Aider’s tune changes before it’s even out, and he attempts to back up, but he only ends up pressing further into me. I pull the chain taut again when he tries to close his mouth, forcing him to keep it open as he struggles for breath.

Tiger’s still having a one-person disco, so Ezla strides over to him and grabs him, yanking him into her. “Well done, Puppy. I believe you have successfully traumatised our victim.”

Beaming, he makes goo-goo eyes at her. “Thank you, Ezzy. Will I be rewarded? Like . . . with an Alby-Ezla-Tiger sandwich? You’re the filling, of course. Or I could get special treatment and we could make that an Ezla-Tiger hot dog.” He bites his lip off. Internally, I sigh. The pointers I wanted to give him couldn’t save him anyway. “But this time, you’re the bread wrapped around that sausage, Wifey, baby.” Twirling a lock of blond hair around his finger, he mutters an “ouch” under his breath as he attempts to flick his hair out of his face with a subtle movement of his head at the same time and the strands pull at his scalp.

For a moment, everyone stares at him, speechless.

And then Ezla, The Bonding Games Champion, the cruellest woman on earth, the most savage and intimidating . . . she tips her head back and laughs her head off.

I gape, eyes bugged out of my head, jaw dropped to the floor—everything. It’s not even fucking evil—though it should probably be cause for concern that I love those demonic cackles of hers—it’s just pure amusement. The kind where you can feel nothing but joy, where the laugh pulled from you hurts your belly, but you just can’t stop.

We’re staring and staring, and I think I’d be laughing too if I weren’t so absolutely blown away by her never-heard-before notes. This is . . . Fuck, this is what we’ve been waiting for. And it’s the most obscene time to have this significant moment—my emotions have been thrown across every one possible in the span of five minutes—but it’s . . . it’s here. And I’m just . . . I’m fucking tearing up.

The laugh is just so ridiculously beautiful, so stunning, its meaning so special—

It suddenly cuts off, and I think the abrupt switch is the scariest thing I’ve ever witnessed from my Bonded. “Cut off his tongue,” she snaps.

Jolting out of his frozen state, Cooper whips around without warning, armoury stick manifested into a dagger and ready to go.

After this, I think I’ll need to go and lie down for a bit to process everything. I’ll just need some time to step back and figure out what the fuck happened here and try to make sense of all the information.

Aider’s mouth slams shut, and after holding his nose and realising he would rather take the coward’s way out and escape from lack of oxygen, I drop the chain and grab his mouth, yanking it open.

Cooper wastes no time—grabbing his tongue, he slices it clean off with a grimace.

While Aider cries out, my nose wrinkles as my brother tosses the bloody lump away, where it lands on the taalk with a wet slap.

Glancing over at Ezla, Tiger, and Alby, I see both my brothers looking nauseous, but they don’t look away from the morbid sight before them as Aider groans weakly while his eyes start to fall closed. Ezla watches the two of them closely, and it seems like she was debating covering their eyes but decided they deserve to see this just as much as the rest of us, even if it’s turning their stomachs the most violently from what I can tell. “Very good,” she says levelly. “Now, he is minutes from dying, so I do believe this is your moment, Alby. However . . .”

Everyone makes way for the Champion as she prowls forwards.

Aider moans again, seemingly jolted a little back into consciousness from the sheer terror of the developing situation. My hands are back on the chain, securing it around his neck once more while he quivers like a leaf in a storm, head flopping as he shakes it as much as he can.

“Come, Alby. You will have to be prepared for how you would like to end him, as this will surely have him out in moments.”

Eyes humungous, he quickly rushes after her.