45 #3
Shit, sorry, HC. Sorry, I took that the wrong way. I know you love us. Guess I just also know how brutal you are, which is brilliant as always—
I am eager for your many punishments to come, she informs him, tone back to being completely even. I also have just re-analysed your worries and realised they do stroke my ego. Additionally, I do feel you need to be reminded of my ruthlessness from time to time, so I appreciate the words.
Oh, you’re so very welcome, Ezzy—
A throat clears.
All our heads whip the Showmaster’s way.
“The speech is over. They’re in a bit of a . . . what’s the word? It’s chaos down there, but none of them rejected a single one of my words!” he says cheerily. “I do believe I have a talent for—”
“You are dismissed,” Ezla cuts him off.
“But I—”
“Do you want to return to your penthouse or not? I will speak with you later, Peter. You have done your job exceptionally well.”
Pride transforms his face in an instant. “Thank you, Ezla—”
“Empress,” Tate corrects in a low growl. “And take your beady little fucking eyes off my Havoc, you pea-brained, over—”
“You may leave,” Ezla barks. “Everyone but my Bonds. Leave now.”
Everyone seems to be struggling to process the sudden command.
“Do not test my patience. I may not be so kind as to simply fire you—”
The viewing box bursts into motion, Peter throwing a hasty bow Ezla’s way, encouraging the rest to follow along like ducks, the sight almost comical. Unimpressed and unmoved, my Bonded watches them the entire time without a twitch of her features.
When they’re finally gone, she turns to face us again. “They are morons. I cannot believe I let them live.”
“Don’t be hard on yourself, Love,” Scotty soothes, always knowing the right thing to say as he moves closer to her and places a gentle hand on the small of her back. “It’s not vulnerability to ignore your instincts to focus on the overall smarter option.”
“Hmm . . . I agree,” she says absently.
“What are you thinking about, HC?” Cooper asks, a tint of both amusement and frustration in his tone, and he, Tiger, and Tate move closer too. “I can hear the cogs spinning but not your words.”
“Apologies. I did not mean to hide my thoughts just then,” she says. “It is a habit when I am thinking very deeply, I think.” There’s nothing but honestly in her bluntly spoken words as she flicks a glance at him.
“And what were you thinking about so deeply, hm?” He reaches a hand out to brush his knuckles over her cheek, his other hand coming to rest on her hip.
Rolling her eyes when Tate makes a greedy sound in the back of his throat and snatches her up by her waist when Cooper tries to draw her into him, Ezla, now sandwiched between them, trails a finger over one of each of their arms. A fine tremor visibly runs through both of them.
“Our new home. We will of course have to stay in our Bonded chambers whilst it is being built, but I am . . . excited,” she decides on after a moment, then squints her eyes like she’s hoping someone will appear out of the blue so she can murder them along with any vulnerability in her.
Smiling softly, Scotty cups the back of her head and brings her in to kiss her forehead. “Me too, Love. Do you want to head back to the chambers now to start planning?”
“That is an odd question,” she muses.
His brows dip a fraction. “How?”
“Because the only things we’ve been planning recently are dangerous missions?” Tiger supplies helpfully, squeezing himself between Tate and Scotty and plopping his chin on Ezla’s shoulder.
She hums in agreement, then barks, “Follow me.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Tiger salutes her as she all but flings everyone off her and marches for the exit.
Huffing out a laugh, Cooper says as he follows along with the rest of us, “Do you realise you don’t need to order us around so forcefully? As attractive as it is, it’s not needed to get us to do whatever the fuck you want, if you haven’t noticed.”
She shoots him a glare over her shoulder.
He raises his hands up beside his head as we follow her down the boxed-in steps that take us on a private path back to the Headquarters’ main building that I didn’t even previously know was here. “Sorry, HC. Just saying—you don’t need to waste your energy.”
“I never waste energy,” she retorts. Then she snaps, “Now stop talking about such ridiculous things.” A beat later, she adds, “I would like a massage.”
His lips slowly climb up into a smirk. “Whatever you want, HC.”
“Of course, Love.”
“Can’t wait, Wifey!”
Tate lets out a grunt that’s so gravelly and full of desire, I can’t really understand it, but I do make out the words “Love you, Havoc.”
Blushing furiously but with a wide smile glued to my face, one I definitely wasn’t wearing when I walked into this arena in Game 1, I also tell our Bonded quietly, “I love you, Ezla.”
And as we leave The Dome, as we leave the old Bonding Games behind, she lets us feel everything in her through the bond I never thought I’d see always open, the truth of her words as she replies without her tone wavering, “I love you too. You are mine, and I will never let you go.”