Page 45 of The Bonding Games: Part 2

A clatter tells me Tiger’s dropped the small remote, and a quick look over my shoulder shows him and Alby staring at the Game Master with matching gobsmacked expressions. The latter then blinks rapidly as if his brain’s struggling to process what he’s hearing as the truth.

“And of course, they were commanded to never allow for alterations ever again!” Joseph’s laughing again, and I’m pretty sure he’s completely lost it at this point.

And people call me crazy.

“So, obviously, I had to kill the scientists who would dare do such a thing. Furthermore, no one can know of this.” That’s the first and only thing me and this monster will ever agree on. “I could not risk such sensitive information getting out. I admit, Ezla is wonderfully intelligent, and I applaud her here, but this was also incredibly stupid—”

Cooper’s boot finds his neck this time, pressing down to produce a choked sound. “I don’t want to hear her name on your filthy tongue ever again.” Applying more pressure, he orders mercilessly, “Now tell us how to wake the woman we love up.”

“Only I can—”

Cooper kicks him right in the temple, and the Game Master falls perfectly still.

In the weighted silence that follows, we can only stare at the unconscious disease, chests heaving, eyes wide, stunned speechless. I can’t comprehend it . . . what he’s done to her . . . the uncertainty all around . . . the fact that Havoc has linked her life to all of ours.

“Jesus . . . Jesus Christ,” Cooper hisses, the first to find his voice box. “Fucking— Bloody hell. She—” His head whips Ezla’s way, and he gives up attempting to formulate a proper sentence, speedily striding over to her.

After gathering saliva and spitting on the bastard beneath me’s face, I jump up and follow him, seeing Alby’s trembling hand picking up the small remote that Tiger dropped before he straightens. “Sh-should I just . . . I don’t know what one to press. What if—what if I click the wrong button and it does something really bad?”

After checking the Game Master’s pulse with a grimace, Scotty rises back up and heads over, eyes zeroing in on our girl the same as mine do as she lies far too fucking still. The fucking audacity of that monster . . .

Red crowds my vision, and I swing my head about to shake it off. I want to kill him so. Fucking. Bad. But I refuse to not see my baby’s mismatched eyes ever again. I refuse to take the risk that her sperm donor’s telling the truth and I’ll never be brutally floored by my vicious queen again, or have her notes of velvet and sin bless my ears, if I lose my head completely.

“Let me have a look.” Scotty holds out his hand, and Alby hands him the device. Clearly, Joseph must have memorised what each colour is, because all that’s on the black remote control is little coloured buttons in orderly rows.

“Do we really think he can remember all these? Wouldn’t he have a sheet or something somewhere?” Tiger whips his head around like said sheet is going to magically spawn in front of him.

“I don’t think he’s the type,” Scotty mutters, flipping the remote over to inspect the back.

“You think it could be like the doors? Maybe if we destroy the remote, it will—”

Cooper pauses at Scotty’s firm headshake. “I’m not risking that. No way.”

“Agreed.” I slit my eyes at the former.

He sighs. “Yeah. Fuck, yeah. Shitty suggestion.”

“S-so what do we do?” Alby’s lip trembles as he looks down at Ezla in the large tube. “Just . . . just guess?”

“Bad fucking idea. We have no idea what those buttons will do.” Cooper yanks at his hair, starting to pace. “We have no idea what’s been done to her already. What if one of these buttons releases some sort of gas or something and it warps her mind?”

Icy fingers of fear sink their claws into me, and I snatch the device from Scotty.

“Careful, Tate!”

His eyes have shot wide in alarm, and I shoot him a scathing glower. “This is my Havoc we’re talking about. Do you really think I’d be so careless?”

Exhaling heavily, he falls silent at that.

Inspecting the remote, which looks even smaller in my hand, I voice, “Wouldn’t it be the white or black one to open it? Aren’t on and off buttons and shit like that meant to stand out?”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Scotty says. “I just don’t know what would happen if we picked the wrong one. If one of them is to get her out, what would the other be . . . ?”

“He can’t— He wouldn’t have made it possible for her to be trapped in there forever, right? I mean . . .” Alby trails off, because we don’t know that. Joseph is insane, and although I’ve never seen an enclosure quite like this, they’re not unheard of. I know they can keep people alive for a very long time, ensuring the person inside absorbs all the right nutrients, keeping them clean and healthy by adhering to every bodily need with Avri. They’re rare in hospitals with the majority of treatments one hundred percent successful, but sometimes, if the energy alone isn’t enough to save them, if nurses and doctors can’t figure out the right commands fast enough to heal a patient, then they might just be able to keep them alive in one of these, taking that time that the individual is unconscious to figure out the right way to command their body back to vitality.

Scotty shakes his head again, at a loss, pain flashing clearly across his usually composed features as he rests his palms on the clear taalk and gazes down at our Bonded within.

“The black one?” Cooper suggests, clearly trying to keep things moving so he doesn’t go all Hulk-mode again, moving to my side to get a better look at the remote. “Joseph’s arrogant as fuck. I can’t imagine him associating white with anything good when it’s Neutral’s colour.”