Page 134 of The Bonding Games: Part 2

38

EZLA

Whipping around, my Avri dagger presses to Cooper’s throat as I pin him to the wall of the largest dining room in the penthouse.

“I knew you would not obey me,” I hiss.

Hands up by his head, the backs of them to the glossy onyx taalk, the line of Cooper’s jaw becomes rigid. “I can’t leave you alone in here, Vengeance,” he grinds out.

In this moment, I find I am the closest to wanting to truly harm him since Game 1, and my fist clenches bruisingly around my armoury stick. “Did you not understand me when I said we do not have the time? I am trying to prevent anything from happening to you!”

His eyes soften a fraction, and I feel his love for me like an ever-present beacon through the bond. “And that means everything to me, Ezla. You can feel that.” He pauses, visibly firming again. “Which means you can also feel my need to keep you safe and my bloody fear, my terror, at the idea of something else happening to you at the hands of that piece of shit.”

“I have told you he is not here—”

“Well his memory damn well is,” he retorts, nostrils flaring. Swallowing, he then closes his eyes and exhales steadily, evidently trying to keep his temper under control.

I do not cut him, but I press the curved blade of my dagger into his skin just a little to ensure he feels the bite, because a part of me does not like how he no longer sees me as a threat, despite by new and still-developing feelings.

His lids ping back open, but he still does not feel an ounce of fear. “Just let me look for the tablets with you. The others have split up—we’re still lowering the time a fair amount, HC. I just . . . I need to stay with you. Let me be here for you. I know how trauma works, Ezla.”

Fury surges up in the form of a wildfire. “I will destroy every atom of everyone who has ever watched on whilst you were obviously being beat—”

“Vengeance.” He speaks with a half-smile, his features softened again. “As much as I appreciate your need to avenge me, that was in my past. That chapter of my life is over—yours isn’t.” Then, once more, he firms. “So don’t tell me to leave when I can be here for you in a way no one was for me.”

A low growl emanates from me.

“I’m not fucking leaving. You’ll have to make me, and that will take time. Time we don’t have, remember?”

My next hiss has him fucking internally smug. “I hate you,” I spit as I spin on my heel and march over to the table.

“Love you too, HC.”

Something within me flutters, and I mentally curse him in every way possible.

Following me with a quiet chuckle, he sobers in the next moment as he asks, “Do you really think they could be in here?”

Glancing over my shoulder to see him scanning the minimalistic room, nothing but the long dining table in the middle and the four walls enclosing us, I reply, “I think they could be anywhere—they may not be here at all. The fact that your Avri clusters have darkened does not tell me anything when I am positive Joseph would up your Scores accordingly as I have previously stated, but I believe he would think the penthouse to be a much better hiding place than the Avri labs, even if he has people working on them. The labs are too obvious.”

“You think he brings workers here?”

“Possibly.” Lips tightening, I kick the chair before me a tad more harshly than intended, and it shrieks as its solid weight skids across the hard floor.

Concern radiates from Cooper. “Are you okay?”

I huff, the frustration within me bubbling closer to the surface. “Stop asking me questions I do not know the answers to,” I snap as I crouch down to look at the underside of the table. “I do not like it when I do not have them. Father has not played such petty hide-and-seek games before.”

Pulling out a chair of his own much more calmly than I did, Cooper follows my lead. “Do you—”

Snarling, I yank myself backwards, rising to my feet. “They are not under there.” Marching my way around the table, I then proceed to check each chair. Cooper is quieter now as he again copies me, but I can feel his attention digging into me. “Focus on searching,” I bark.

Sighing, he shockingly obeys without argument, which is very smart of him, as I am finding it increasingly difficult not to tear everything inside here to shreds, and the only things I am able to do so with are the padding on the plush dining chairs and him. Then again, with the bond I am now not even thinking about closing off the majority of the time, he likely can hear and feel all of that and is simply choosing his life over a thrilling verbal sparring match with me.

When I am done with that, I toss the most recently useless chair back into place carelessly before storming for the exit. “Where were you supposed to be searching?” I demand without looking back to see if Cooper is following. I can hear and feel him, and even if I could not, I know he will be tailing me always.

“The library,” he murmurs back as he nears.

Whirling to the left when I am out of the dining room, I head in that direction.