Page 171 of The Bonding Games: Part 2

“It is not. It is . . . it is . . .” She swallows thickly. “Apologies. I do not know how to react to this.”

Scotty relaxes a fraction. “That’s okay. Do you—”

“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Ezla/Wifey/DN/Deadly Nightshade/Ez/Ezzyyyy! Happy birthday to you!”

We all stare.

Tiger snatches up the biggest gift bag before him and skips over to our Bonded. He’s buzzing with excitement, and a sudden grin overtakes Havoc’s face that has my knees weakening and everyone’s eyes searing into it obsessively. “You are cute, Tiger,” she tells him, bringing a hand up to brush her thumb over his cheek when he reaches her.

Stunned, he stands there, unnaturally speechless and unmoving.

Then his head whips all over the place, spinning in a three-sixty around his neck. “Oh my god! Did you hear that?! Ezzy just called me cute,” he hisses as if we didn’t just witness the moment ourselves. The stars in his wide blue eyes are so bright he might as well be called a human glow stick, especially when paired with the green Avri all over his suit.

His head whips back around when Ezla’s hands find the bag in his own.

“Oh! Yes! This one’s from me, Wifey!” he exclaims as he pushes it into her hold eagerly.

Taking it, she peeks inside before lowering to her knees. Sitting back on her heels, her brows lower in concentration as she places the gift bag before her, and the way she always gives anything to do with us so much attention destroys me so fucking sweetly.

Tiger and Scotty shoot down in record time so that they’re not above her.

Even though I’m over here, I’m about to do the same when her eyes flick up as she pauses. After a beat, she says, “You do not have to do that anymore, I do not think. I admittedly like you on your knees for me, but I know you now. I know you would never look down on me.”

Chest constricting, I crouch down to collect a few of the gifts I chose out of the billions we bought in the city’s biggest shopping centre before heading over. Cooper and Alby follow my lead, and when I reach her, I settle on my knees beside her. “We never just do it for that, Havoc.”

“We do it because we want to, Vengeance,” Cooper adds as he finds his own place on the floor.

Tiger puts in enthusiastically, “Because you’ve always been our queen.”

The smile that can’t seem to leave Scotty’s face widens. “And now our empress.”

“I—I like being on my knees for you. I’m not ashamed to show you how I feel about you,” Alby whispers with his shy flush.

Looking around at the five of us slowly, Ezla says, “I no longer see you below me. I have not in a while. Despite my upbringing, it was quickly clear to me that you were not weak and pathetic as I had been led to believe all Evots were. You are the exception to everything.” Her voice drops lower. “When you bow before me, I want you to know that I see you as equals, even if I do not see any others that way.” Then her head tips to the side slightly. “However, that does not mean I do not believe I deserve such treatment. The way you kneel before me in every way will never be wrong behaviour.”

The corner of Cooper’s lips tips up. “Noted, HC.”

Tiger nods eagerly before flicking his eyes back to the large black gift bag, unable to contain his anticipation. “Will you open it now?”

“Of course, Puppy.”

He melts like ice on the hottest summer day.

Reaching her hand inside the bag, the rustling of tissue paper meets my ears. My own heartbeat picks up even though it’s not my gift or one of our joint ones that she’s opening yet.

She pulls out a large rectangular gift wrapped in black-and-red striped wrapping paper—yes, we did, in fact, have to wrap everything in the shopping centre before squeezing the humungous collection into a van a delivery driver followed our Avri cars in, because those cars are definitely not designed to carry more than our bodies, and even with two seats manifested, there wouldn’t have been enough room—and everyone holds their breath as she scans it slowly. “Is there a specific way I must open this?” she asks as she turns it over in her hands. “I have never been given a gift I have to unwrap.”

A pinch of sadness that’s felt in all of us momentarily has Tiger’s smile faltering, but he quickly rights it and grins even wider than before. “Oh, no, Ezzy! You just tear it open.” Then he quickly amends after his eyes dart all over our gorgeously vicious Bonded, “Maybe not too aggressively, though.”

Havoc dips her chin, and she seems to be taking this extremely seriously. “I just did not want to accidentally ruin anything.”

Scotty places a hand on her back and moves his palm up and down soothingly. “You won’t ruin anything, Love. It’s just wrapping that you tear off and there’s a box beneath.”

Tiger rushes to say, “But if you want, next time I can make it more fancy—”

“No,” Havoc cuts him off firmly, and he freezes with his mouth open, eagerly waiting for whatever she has to say along with the rest of us. “This is perfect.”

His eyes go all glittery and gooey again.