65
COOPER
It feels great knowing Vengeance inside out now, despite the hordes of fury, pain, and disgust that came along with each one of her revelations. It feels fucking brilliant to have her call me hers and to be able to call her mine in return, knowing I’ve claimed her in the most primal way.
But it does not feel good to roll over in the morning, arm reaching out for my Bonded where she’d fallen asleep tucked safely between me and Scotty the second time around—
And meet nothing but cold sheets.
“Vengeance?” Brows scrunching, I shove myself upright. The commotion wakes my brothers in an instant, some more groggily than others.
Until they process the lack of their Bonded.
“Havoc?!” Tate launches himself to his feet with the grace of a bomb going off, for once his elegance matching what I’d expect of a man of his size.
Other than Alby, we’re all still butt-ass naked, and maybe if I wasn’t so bloody pissed, I’d care about the fact that Tate’s swinging his junk around as he whips his head about the room as though Ezla might pop out of thin air and jump into his waiting arms.
“Love?! Where are you?!
“Ezzy?!”
“She’s gone?”
Everyone quiets down and looks to Alby at that last one, his hurt most evident. But we’re all fucking pained and confused as we think about what this might mean, wary glances exchanged throughout the room.
“Right, everyone, stay calm—”
“Stay calm?!” I shout, aiming my ire at Scotty only because he happens to be the nearest target, completely losing my shit.
“She’s just left us! She left us like we meant nothing!
After—” I scrub a hand over my jaw, the stubble there scraping over my palm.
Anger, pain, disbelief . . . they all tunnel through me, and I feel my throat close up, unexpected moisture springing to my eyes.
“I love her. I love her just as much as you do. And I wanted to tell her today . . . I wanted to show her my love, because I know I’m not as great at that as the rest of you.
That was a really fucking special night for me—for all of us, right? And she just . . . she left.”
Not a sound can be heard as they all stare at me, expressions ranging from shock to empathy.
Then finally, Scotty speaks again, slowly, “I know how this seems, but think about this a bit more. Don’t doubt our Bonded’s feelings for us so easily.
We might not know the extent of them, but they are there.
She showed us her damn trauma! She’s shared her body with us when all she’s known is violation!
She is trying to do this! Can you really, honestly be mad at her right now when she’s done so fucking much?
!” His voice has risen and risen until it’s near a shout at the end, and I clench my jaw as guilt surges within me, dampening some of the wrath.
“I’m hurt, too,” he admits in a quieter tone, taking a deep breath to quell his irritation with me.
“I understand how you’re feeling, I really do.
But this is Ezla. I believe she stayed as long as she could.
We know she cares about us and wants us.
” He shifts his intense blue gaze from me to roam over the rest of the group. “Can everyone agree on that?”
The alarm has died down somewhat, and although there’s still lingering hurt and worry, I can see everyone’s mollified a fair amount, which, in turn, calms Scotty.
Tiger perks up then. “Wait . . . what’s the time?”
Brows dipping, I look around, finding someone’s tablet on the plush black chair in the left corner of the room and getting up to go check it.
Understanding at his question and a shit ton of relief swamp me at once.
“Fuck.” I laugh breathlessly, dragging an unsteady hand through my hair.
“It’s ten.” My heart rate slows a fraction.
“It’s ten—she would’ve got up for training hours ago.
” But then I falter the longer that sinks in, confusion and doubt picking away at me again.
I look over my shoulder at the other men with a frown.
“But why wouldn’t she wake us? She’s strict about that. ”
Tiger shrugs, a ball of sunshine once more, ignoring my concerns as he wholeheartedly believes his own theory.
“Maybe she thought we deserved a break. I was such a good boy for her.” He grins and shows off his sizable muscles, and I roll my eyes while Tate mutters grouchily under his breath, “Mine are bigger.”
More of the tension dissipates, and Scotty disentangles himself from the silk bedsheets as he instructs, “Everyone get dressed. We’ll go have a look in the Training Centre.”
We do as he says without question, all of us eager to find our Bonded.
“No, that’s my bow tie, Tater Tot!”
Tate grunts and snatches the golden accessory out of the way when Tiger makes a grab for it. “I want to try it.”
“Then you should’ve got your own in Techtis Ballroom!”
“No—”
“Neither of you needs to put a tie on. Just put on the basics here. We’re not going anywhere fancy.”
Tate and Tiger both pause and turn their heads to Scotty in perfect unison, incredulity pouring off them in waves.
“Nowhere fancy?” Tate echoes, appearing murderous.
I’m not too sure why until Tiger cries, “It’s Ezzy! My Wifey! We always have to look amazing for her!”
Scotty sighs that beleaguered sigh of his. “While I can relate to the feeling, I also know she will not give a shit.”
They both pout like children.
He shakes his head at them, entirely amused but rolling his lips in in an attempt to hide it. “Come on. Let’s go.”
Tate yanks on the bow tie that Tiger’s managed to sneakily pinch his fingers around at some point, and the latter whines before stealing Tate’s regular tie from the floor in return. Alby follows their lead, putting everything on, while me and Scotty pull on our trousers and white button-ups.
Honestly, it’s surprising with Scotty because he’s always so neat and tidy.
But I’ve learned to read him by now, even when he tries to keep his own stress hidden for the sake of those he cares about—which somehow ended up including me in there.
And he’s not as certain about his previous words as he wants us to believe.
Apprehension slinks through me, and when Scotty catches my gaze, he can’t hold it. Jaw tensing, he turns his head away.
My nostrils flare.
Stiffer now, I tail him to the door, the other three at our backs. He scans his thumb to unlock it, the taalk sliding into the wall, allowing us to move through the now-empty doorway and into the hallway.
Passing by each of our individual bedrooms, hesitation builds, my feet stalling almost instantly.
I pause for a moment, only able to hear my own shaky breaths and the ones around me, though each pump of blood through my veins threatens to drown all else out. My brothers glance at me, stilling too.
Swallowing thickly, I give them a wordless nod to continue, forcing myself to keep walking.
A sense of dread fills the air the closer we get to the living room, and no one speaks as the tension increases with every step we take.
I slow more and more as trepidation takes hold, stopping completely before we reach the space between Alby’s and Tiger’s doors at the end of the hall.
We can’t see the entire lounge from here, a large portion of the side on our right out of our line of sight. But I swear . . . I swear I can feel her. But that’s not all . . . there’s something else . . .
After more tense glances exchanged between the five of us, we step forwards.
A sudden dizziness overtakes me, and I feel as though I’m thrown out of my body somewhere.
I’m hot . . . then cold.
Vision blurry . . . then sharp.
I don’t . . . I can’t comprehend . . .
“E—Ezzy?” Tiger rasps, his voice somehow piercing through the fog making my hearing hazy and distant.
My tongue feels thick and heavy as I open my mouth to speak, but not even the strangled sound that builds in my throat makes it out as I stare at the living nightmare before me.
On the couch whose back faces the wall parallel to us, sits Ezla, my Vengeance.
Except she’s not on the couch. Not really.
The man underneath her is.
The Game Master holds our Bonded on his knee, his hand cupping her between her legs possessively, his other wrapped around the side of her slim waist.
And Ezla . . . Ezla’s helmet is back on.
“E-Ezla? What—what’s happening?”
A burst of pain through the bond at Alby’s shaking question before a wall of taalk slams up.
I latch onto that pain with all I have, with all that I am, as her head tilts a fraction and that robotically modified voice replies pitilessly, “Did you honestly think you could ever have me? I thought I trained you better than that, Players.”