Page 61 of The Bonding Games: Part 2

“Love you, Ezzy,” he drawls as if drunk from the short connection, and I can relate.

Havoc doesn’t flinch or stiffen like she used to, only stares at him. I think she’s trying to keep an unimpressed mask fixed to her face, but I’m sure her mismatched eyes soften a tad.

Brushing some thick blond locks away from his forehead, which has his eyes going even more bleary, she lifts her chin to look around at the rest of us, and I subtly bulge my own muscles, because there ain’t no way I’m not getting some of that gorgeous searing attention.

I’m ridiculously gratified when her eyes spear into my biceps, pupils expanding ever so slightly.

Finally, she responds to Alby’s question. “Yes. I did bind your lives to mine.”

The impact of those words almost knocks me off my feet.

Breaths hitch around the room, and Alby asks shakily, “W-why?”

“Because you are mine. I would not let you die.”

Shivering at her darkened tone, I move closer and sit myself on the edge of the bed to soak up as much of her as I can. “Fuck yeah, I’m yours.”

Following my actions, Scotty murmurs quietly in agreement, “We’re all yours.”

“You have no idea how much this means to me, to us, Vengeance,” Cooper says, muscles twitching when Ezla’s nails trail along his forearm again. “But . . .” He winces when those claws halt in their tracks to dig into his skin in warning. But I definitely don’t miss the subtle involuntary buck of his hips that goes alongside it. “That’s incredibly fucking dangerous. Smart, but stupid.”

I go rigid. “You did not just call our Bonded stupid,” I seethe.

“You’re right, I didn’t,” he fires back, arm pressing into Ezla’s middle as he tries to keep his temper in check.

Before this can turn into a full-blown argument, Scotty explains, “I think what he meant was risky. I . . . I think I understand what Cooper’s saying, Love.”

Eyes slitting, Havoc starts, “I have done this for you, and yet you are—”

“This means everything, Love. Truly. And I’m so glad you’ve done it.”

She pauses, boring her attention into him as she listens carefully, curious enough to hear him out.

“It means neither I nor my brothers will be hurt in our current situation. It means we’re linked to you even more intimately than before, and that’s truly something so precious that no one else has. And if you were gone . . .” Dropping his chin, he shakes his head from side to side. “If you were gone, I think I can speak for all of us when I say we wouldn’t want to be here, either. That might sound fucked up or unhealthy, but I don’t think we could go on without you. And I’m not sure if I believe in the afterlife, but if there is one, at least we’ll all go together.”

“If there were something like heaven and hell, I do not think we would be going to the same place.” Ezla’s voice is coated in amusement.

Cooper snorts. “Well, let’s fucking hope there’s not either, then.” Then his head tips. “And actually, HC, with the amount of things we’re all willing to do for you, I wouldn’t be so sure we wouldn’t go to the same place as you.” On a mutter, he adds, “Though I’m pretty sure Tate’s already lined up for hell.”

“Nothing could be hell with my Havoc around,” I grunt, and murmurs of agreement sound out.

“Like all of you, I do not believe in such places in any case. I just . . . I could not have something happen to you. If I die, you die. My father will not kill you,” Ezla tells us.

Silence enshrouds us for a moment, before Scotty says lowly, “That’s one thing that makes me nervous . . . What if one of us dies really early? What if we don’t all make it through this—”

Colder than ice, Ezla snaps, “Then I would not want to be here.”

The room is stunned back into an ear-splitting silence.

Closing her eyes, she takes in a slow breath. “I would not want to be here without a single one of you. In fact, I do not think I would be. I was so close . . .” My chest spasms at her unspoken words, and Cooper’s face and arms tighten as we wonder what could have happened if we didn’t manage to bond her. “But I will not allow that to happen.” Her voice hardens as dark lashes give way to those unique eyes of hers again. “Do you understand me? None of you will die. We will all be despicably old and grey when we do.”

No one can speak again for a full minute, gaping.

“Ezzy, my dearest, darling Wifey/DN/Deadly Nightshade/Ez/Ezla . . . that was the most beautiful confession of love I’ve ever heard.” Tiger takes her smaller hands in his, and she lets him. I think I might’ve laughed at his never-ending list of nicknames if it weren’t for the truth of his words that echoes the feelings embedded deep in my bones and the tears shining in his cerulean eyes.

“That was not . . .” I wait for it, but Havoc can’t get the full denial out as she looks into that glistening gaze. Instead, she sighs weightily. “Anyway . . . I had just come from the Avri labs with the bonding cubes—” She goes rigid. “Where are the bonding cubes?”

“We have them, Love, don’t worry,” Scotty soothes, reaching out to stroke over her glossy chestnut hair. Of course I’m not about to miss feeling those strands, so my own hand whips out to take a hold of the ends. In awe, I watch them twist around my fingers.