Page 16 of Bonding Beasts (Bonding: The Ultimate Guide #3)

“Right,” I mutter and start walking behind Ben. I’m slightly thrown off because he’s in a humanoid form instead of the monster. I put one of my hands on his shoulder out of habit. His pink and violet eyes meet mine momentarily, giving me a second to brace myself before he starts walking.

He begins the soothing croon I got used to, and my eyes close of their own volition. The spark lights up from behind my eyelids, and a beacon emits from down the stairs using the dull chain leading to Kimi as a guideline.

“What is that?” Mal grits from behind us as I step down slowly.

“Whatever it is, make it stop!” Kimi yells from below. “It sounds like nails on chalkboards and cats in heat, the remix.”

Ben chuckles lightly and says, “Looks like they don’t share our tastes, Bees. Maybe something a little different now that I’m in this form?”

“Yes, please?” I shakily ask. As soon as he stopped making noise, the tension in my chest increased, and my breathing became more erratic. I can feel sweat dampening the fabric of my shirt, and I try to take a deep breath in and slowly release it.

He begins to sing a slowed-down acapella version of “Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones, and I fall in love with it. His deeper voice rolling over the words is almost erotic as he sings, despite the subject matter.

“Okay, better. Do you take requests? I wanna hear ‘WAP’ next!” Kimi’s voice drifts up to us.

I can’t help laughing at that. Ben doesn’t stop singing, even when our feet are flat on the landing. I can tell the light difference from behind my eyelids and open my eyes to the familiar hallway.

“Wow, who knew the Bowels would prep me for that?” I ask with a wobble in my voice. This was nowhere near as bad as it could have been.

Ben smiles at me over his shoulder while he continues the song.

“Oh! Conga line!” Kimi does a little shimmy and runs to the back of the group to grab Mal’s hips. “Mal, grab Mitri.”

“No,” Mal growls back and tries to shake him off.

Mitri places a hand lightly on my shoulder and whispers, “Begin now.”

He stands much closer than necessary at my back, and I wonder if I’ll have to shuffle my feet between him and Ben so no one's toes get stepped on.

“Go ahead,” I tell the spark, and it rushes out to fill the path. It immediately finds several hexes directly in front of us on the floor.

“How does a game of follow the leader sound instead, Mal? There’s no way we won’t set some of these off if you can’t see them.” I try to look over my shoulder at him, but Mitri is blocking my line of sight.

“Fire in the hole!” Kimi’s voice echoes as a bundle of burning sage sails over my head to land further down the path.

I hold my breath as the smoke fills the hall, and we wait to see what happens. A few of the symbols begin to erode from the stone, not all of them, but enough that our passing will be much easier .

“Kimi, you’re a genius! Keep it up!” I gasp and cough a little at the smell. Ben pulls his shirt up over his nose with a wince.

“I’m so glad you noticed sugartits! This is like Plan B, light, no calories.”

“Mitri, Kimi gets the basket. Ben, would you mind giving him your spare lighter? I think Mitri’s is vintage .” I knew all I had to say was vintage, and Ben would be tripping all over himself to make sure it stayed pristine.

Vendetta: “Umnayadevushka.”

“Still in time out.”

“What are you doing?” Mal’s snarling sounds from behind me while a dark chuckle echoes in my head. It’s not Peacemaker’s tone. I guess hate is Vendetta’s thing.

“I need to focus, so you’re my legs and basket holder,” Kimi says back, and I roll my eyes. I would tell him to be nice to Mal, but who knows how he would interpret it. I’d rather not have to haul a leg-humping Kimi off of him.

The smoke has settled, and I pull Ben back to stand beside Mitri.

“What are you doing?” His voice is muffled by fabric, but his glare is on point.

“Can you see the hexes?” I ask sweetly.

“No, and now I can’t even smell them,” he grumbles.

“Hence the safe spot,” I gesture him farther back.

“I don’t like it,” he says but falls back until we’re a line of misfits pretending to be heroes.

“Me either, but we work with what we have, right?” I ask feebly.

As I maneuver him into place, I realize that Kimi is now getting a piggyback ride from Mal, who is definitely not enjoying being the piggy.

Mal’s holding the basket of sage between his giant hands, and it now looks like a small tote.

Kimi’s legs can’t wrap around his waist, so his tail is hooked across his chest and shoulder like a seat belt.

“Mal is the perfect flower girl for our vow renewal, don’t you think, wifey?” Kimi grins from over his shoulder as Mal jostles him with a scowl.

“No. We aren’t married. We aren’t going to get married either.”

“You remember the vows. I know you do,” he laughs as I turn away from him and begin eyeing the floor and walls.

“Doesn’t matter. You’re a widow four or five times over at this point. You’re an Investigation Surprise episode waiting to happen. Negative five of five stars. Do not recommend marrying. I’m leaving a review as we speak.”

Peacemaker: “We can rip his heart out for you.”

“That hurts a lot, and I don’t want that organ anywhere near me.”

“We both know I’m a ten of five stars, sugartits.”

“You’re ten of five stars in bullshit, Kimi,” I begin to pace forward, trying to keep my eyes on a swivel for any random hexes.

“I will watch the ceiling and the right wall,” Mitri’s voice washes through, and I nod in agreement.

With my focus narrowed to two sections instead of everywhere, we move faster with the occasional sage bomb request. Kimi is too happy to oblige.

“Where are they?” I ask the spark as we wait for the latest sage bomb to settle so we can see. Instead of giving me the lifeline laser show I’m expecting, the spark returns to Mal and bounces on his chest.

“Don’t you dare!” I think just as Mitri’s voice comes through sternly, “Nyet. ”

“Why are you two staring at me like I kicked your puppy?” Mal asks cautiously.

“Yeah, he’s right there and perfectly safe,” Kimi points at Ben, who also ignores him to eye Mal.

“I know he’s bound to King. We need to see both of them, though. You can’t use that. I feel like that’s sacred or something.” I try to soothe it now that it’s frozen at Mitri’s command.

Peacemaker: “What’s happening?”

It sluggishly moves forward to show me two lifelines that cut through the twisting walls around us. They aren’t moving around. Hopefully, they’re asleep. I need to figure out how to tell.

“It was trying to use the tie Mal has with King to locate him, but that means we won’t see GV.” It’s difficult to explain something when you don’t know how it works.

Peacemaker: “So what is that?”

“That would be lifelines leading to both of them. They’re not moving right now, and it might be a good sign for them being oblivious, as usual. We may need to hurry it up, though. I can’t tell if the spark is upset with Mitri or getting tired.”

“Press on. If you falter, I will get you out,” Mitri’s dead tone is actually comforting. The apocalypse is nigh.

“Hey guys?” Kimi asks as we begin moving forward again.

“What? Stop yelling, we’re all right here, you idiot,” Mal snaps.

“I smell something.”

“It’s called sage, cat ,” Ben growls back.

“No, puppy , something else. It’s like... Something else.”

“It’s a mixture of herbs, Kimi,” Mal protests. “There are a ton of smells in that thing. ”

“Yeah, but does that smell hiss? I don’t remember it hissing before,” Kimi says doubtfully.

“What?” I stop and turn back in confusion. “Smells don’t hiss.”

“This one does,” Kimi insists. “It’s getting louder, too.”

Mal blinks quickly before snapping, “I don’t hear anything.”

“Hearing isn’t your best quality, so you don’t count. Puppy?” Kimi asks calmly and rests his head on Mal’s shoulder.

“All I can smell is the sage bundle, and I don’t hear any hissing,” Ben snarls and shifts his weight on his feet.

I begin to feel dizzy and reach out to grab Mitri by the arm. “Sorry, I’m feeling a little dizzy.”

“It’s too much sage. Your sinuses are getting overpowered,” Ben reassures me, but his words are slurring.

“That makes no sense,” Kimi yawns and closes his eyes. “I will call it stink snakes.”

Mitri falls back a step, and I notice he’s holding more of my weight than I intended. “Mitri?”

Vendetta: “Zaklinaniyesna?”

Peacemaker: “Get out of here!”

“There’s no smoking in this hospital, sir,” Kimi mutters.

Mal falls forward in slow motion, Kimi still on his back, taking Ben down with him.

“Ben!” I try to shout but end up coughing harshly. It makes the dizziness increase until my head begins to throb in pain. Mitri stumbles back against the wall, pulling me with him.

“It is too late,” his mental voice sounds strange and causes a sharp pain to pierce my head. “You will wake first. Adapt. Kill them all, do not hesitate. ”

I feel him tuck something into the front of my pants before I fall, and darkness overtakes me.