Page 43 of The Bonding Games: Part 2

Tate’s breaking of the last panel in the penthouse brutally disrupts the silence.

The door slides away.

Every millimetre of me locks up.

Before I rush forwards.

“No,” I breathe in horror. “No, no, no, no, no . . .”

“What the fuck is this?” Tate spits as he snaps out of his own brief unmoving state and marches with me over to the horizontal taalk enclosure in between the foot of the mammoth bed on the right side of the room and the bathroom on the left.

A clear tube-like container that holds our motionless Bonded.

She’s on her back, eyes closed, dark hair sprawled out around her. She’d appear as if she’s simply sleeping if I could see if she’s actually breathing. But I can’t see a single rise or fall of her chest, and in response, my own chest pounds out a disorderly rhythm, black splotches corrupting my vision as my gaze darts all over Ezla in her enclosure, taking in the small underwear she’s wearing, leaving as much of her skin on display as possible.

“Love . . . ?” It sounds like there’s no air in Scotty’s lungs as long steps carry him over to us, Alby and Cooper hot on his heels.

Alby’s quivering palms press to the taalk, his breath coming in short pants. “No . . . n-no . . . W-what’s—what’s wrong with her?!”

“I . . .” Scotty’s head moves from side to side, a hand pressing to his forehead, horror-consumed wide eyes glued to our Bonded. “I . . . I don’t know. I-I don’t know what this is—”

“We have to get her out,” Cooper grits out, hardly hanging on to his sanity from the looks of it. I can’t tell if he’s closer to completely flipping out and destroying the place or breaking down in tears.

My answer comes in the form of his gloved knuckles cracking against the pristine tube.

“There has to be a way. Come on,” he mutters more to himself, I think, as he goes to throw another punch.

Scotty seizes his wrist, unrelenting when he tries to yank his arm away.

“What the fuck are you doing, Scotty? Help me!”

His jaw clenches. “I am helping you. You can’t break taalk with your fists. You can’t break taalk with anything.”

“I can damn well try.”

Scotty lets Cooper go as he tugs on his arm again before instructing, trying hard to keep his tone level and prevent his own distress from seeping into it, “Look closer. Like we had to take the time to study this building on TV to get here, we need to do the same right now.”

Breathing harshly, Cooper nods, eyes zooming back in on the enclosure. He brings the back of his hand to his mouth as he does, biting down on his knuckles through his gloves as if he needs the pain to ground him.

I help search, Tate, Alby, and Scotty quickly doing the same. I even look underneath the tube since it’s raised on a table, but there’s nothing there.

Deepening alarm spilling through me, I start, “Maybe we could—”

“You cannot do anything, I am afraid. Actions have consequences, and I think it is time you finally learned that.”

Jumping out of my skin, I whirl around in time with my brothers.

And come face-to-face with the Game Master.

16

TATE

Snarling, I stare Joseph down. None of us had noticed him before now, our attention immediately narrowing down to our Bonded trapped in a fucking indestructible enclosure, unable to tell if she’s even alive. He must have been hiding in the shadows. But now I see him, alright. He’s got my fucking attention, so he better be prepared for what that means.

“Joseph,” Cooper spits in disgust, coming to stand beside me as he eyes the man in front of us like the piece of shit he is.

Said piece of shit’s nostrils flare. “I do not know how my daughter has ended up with such disrespectful Evots. You are truly deplorable. You are no good for her.”