Page 37 of Bonding Beasts (Bonding: The Ultimate Guide #3)

“You don’t have to be afraid,” Kimi watches me intently, making me feel like prey and spinning my anxiety to the next level.

I don’t have to be afraid. From the guy who said as soon as I showed powers he’d kill me. What a laugh.

Anger begins to build as uncontrollably as the panic, making a caustic mix that tenses my body up. I shouldn’t have to be afraid. I should be able to have one damn non-anxiety-ridden day, but no. The see-saw wobbles.

“Wait,” the soft voice surprisingly comes from Mal. He sets both hands flat on the table and leans back in a relaxed posture. “No one here wants to hurt you or anything. We’re just surprised, that’s all. You’re ok, kinz , you’re safe here.”

Since when did he become a diplomat?

King mimics his posture, Kimi and Mitri slowly following suit as they watch me.

Do I believe it? No, I don’t. They’ve all proven to me that I can’t trust anything they have to say. The exception would have been Mitri up until two minutes ago. The only person here who has consistently had my back is Ben, and he hasn’t relaxed at all, so I don’t either.

“Why did you bring it up, Mitri?” Mal asks so calmly it doesn’t even sound like him. I’m half convinced now that pod people are real.

“I wanted them to understand exactly what we now guard.” He may be answering Mal’s question, but he is speaking only to me. “If they do not understand, they cannot protect you adequately.”

“That makes sense,” Kimi agrees in a reasonable tone, which throws me even more.

“Perhaps communication needs more practice,” King suggests. “Beatrice, I know we have all had our… differences , but that does not mean we would harm you for your gifts. If anything, they make it more important to keep you safe.”

Keep safe, imprison. What’s the difference?

“We see the Artificer,” Mal changes the subject awkwardly. “He’ll know what the ring is. We need a list of the missing people to work through, figure out what we can from anyone left, and get them together.”

“Town hall meeting,” Kimi mumbles. “There should be free beer there.”

“We have a list,” Ben admits, shoulders loosening slightly. “Bees has them all memorized by now.”

“Good,” Mal nods once slowly. “Mitri, do you want to question the delegates you mentioned?”

“They are all ancients. Torture would prove unsuccessful in this case.”

“No one listed as a current Delegate is registered as an ancient,” King argues as if he’s studied the roster and memorized it.

“They are not listed at all,” Mitri agrees.

“Then how the fuck do you know about it?” Mal’s voice begins to rise again, and his fingers tense before he forces himself to relax.

Everyone is trying to maintain some kind of calm and relaxed facade, which is helping, just not enough.

It isn’t until Kimi leans down to continue eating without his hands and a tiny bit of egg overflows off the plate that my shoulders start to relax.

Am I overreacting? Is the whole fountain of youth crap ok on this side of the Divide or something? Maybe someone else out there can do this, too?

“I make a study of people,” Mitri says slowly as he watches me. “It is more effective to have prior knowledge of any situation.”

“He’s a people watcher,” Kimi’s muffled voice comes from where he’s buried his head in his plate .

Mal cautiously begins eating, using the utensils as he eyes Kimi with disgust.

“So, who are they?” King asks impatiently. Apparently, he’s upset he doesn’t have this information or that Mitri does and didn’t share.

“The Dragon-Mage, a Vampire, and the Russian,” his voice drops on the last one, and his brows furrow slightly.

“Aren’t you the Russian?” Ben asks with an eyebrow quirk.

“No,” he says darkly, turning towards Ben with a slight frown. “I am not like this one.”

“So they’re an angel?” King chuckles lightly.

“A dragon-mage crossbreed? It wasn’t killed at its hatching?” Mal asks in surprise.

“His birth was a tightly held secret when it occurred. Who would spread rumors in the Antarctic?”

“That’s called bestiality,” Kimi informs them, then continues, “Can’t he just go home and eat polar bears?”

“How is he still living? Sure, our race has extended life spans, but if you’re claiming he’s an ancient, it just isn’t possible,” Mal sets his utensils down and peers at Mitri.

“Half mage,” Mitri reminds him. “He has found a portal to a land of youth.”

“And told no one?” King scoffs.

“Precisely.”

“Then how do you know?” Mal growls out.

Mitri doesn’t answer. He hasn’t taken his eyes off my profile the entire time he speaks. I don’t know how he has all this information, but he’s right. Having all the variables before a conflict can only help me.

“The vampire?” I clear my throat to ask. The tension made my voice rough, and I reached for my glass of…. orange juice? I haven’t had that since I left the mansion .

“Ta-ament,” Mitri says and slides his hands over his weapons. It feels like a nervous gesture, which is odd enough to note.

“That Egyptian vampire? She’s only 200,” Mal scowls.

“She claims to be 200. I assure you; she is much older.”

“And again, you know this how?” Mal asks with a tiny snarl. I’m impressed that he’s held himself back for this long. He’s really making an effort.

“We had relations,” Mitri’s eyes meet Mal’s in some kind of bro-code, don’t bring this shit up again, sign.

I guess he has a thing for vampires? He did know exactly where the vamp club was. A promising sign for his libido. It's a bad sign for the little chick who looks and acts nothing like them.

“And the dragon halfling… what’s his name so I can place the face,” King waves a hand elegantly, breaking the tense stare off between them.

“He is known as Aron Enghdall now.”

The mood around the table turns very somber and tense.

“Even I have heard of him,” Ben’s lip curls in disgust.

Which means that Scilla would have heard as well. I could get with her for some information. Then again, she would just say no, and tell me to do it myself.

“Aren’t those two mated?” Kimi asks, and I find him staring off into the distance like part of him is here for the conversation, and the rest of him is off in la-la land.

“Yes,” Mal confirms grimly. “I thought he was just a mage.”

“And the immortal?” King carries on the bulk of the questions for me .

“Fyodor Makarov,” Mitri frowns as he says the name. How bad does a guy have to be for Mitri to disapprove?

The rest of the group leans back like a bomb has gone off at the center, hoping the blast radius won’t reach them. That bad, huh?

“I witnessed his birth,” Mitri continues, and King spits out the drink of tea he just took all over his plate. “I should have killed his father before he had a chance to spawn. I was remiss. Fyodor did not fail in his father’s eyes.”

“He’s almost 2,000 years old,” Mal chokes out as he stares wide-eyed at Mitri.

“Is he?” Mitri asks nonchalantly and sips his coffee.

“A rapist and serial killer,” King snarls, leaning closer to Mitri threateningly. “Here? In our Territory? How!”

“Do you not find it odd that his crimes have gone unpunished simply because he chooses to focus solely on Humans now?” Mitri muses aloud with another sip.

That silences everyone at the table and makes me want to throw up. Isn’t this what the Delegates and TGT were made for? To keep things like this from happening? If I wasn’t pessimistic before, I certainly am now.

And what the fuck???? Just how old is Mitri? I can’t picture him as a caveman, but it’s starting to sound like I should be on the lookout for clubs around the house.

“The hybrid can be killed, and the vamp,” Ben contemplates, apparently unconcerned with the dinosaur sitting beside me. “The immortal will be a problem.”

“So we’re back to just killing everyone now?” I ask him with a frown.

“Baby,” he looks at me with concern, “These aren’t the type of creatures you allow to live. And you are in the same Territory with them. They’re dinner. They just don’t know it yet.”

“That’s a good boy,” Kimi pats him on the head while Ben is distracted.

Ben knocks his arm away with a lip curl.

I open my mouth to voice my concerns and get interrupted by some kind of chirping that turns my head in Mal’s direction. Everyone else follows suit as he pulls a phone from his pants. I had no idea harem pants had pockets.

“What?” He snarls as he answers, cutting off the chirping. Mal has soothing bird song as a ringtone? Mal?

“Slow down, Mike,” he snaps. “I can’t understand -”

I can’t hear the other side of the conversation, but Mal is getting increasingly tense. To the point that his tail rolls out from wherever it’s hidden and hits the floor hard enough to shake the table. I look at Ben, who seems to follow the conversation perfectly but is bored with it.

“When was this?” A brief pause, then, “But you got it? Where are you now? What? No, stay there! Just… shut up and listen! You stay there, I will come get you. Send me the address… just give me the fucking address, you ignorant Human! NOW! ”

He hangs up and stands, gripping the tiny phone tightly in his shaking hand as he points at Mitri, “This is your fault! ”

“Who is Mike,” King asks in a deadly, low tone.

“What’s wrong?” I stand up restlessly, not sure exactly why. Mal’s tension has reignited my own.

“Mike. The Human phone store clerk is in danger because Mitri had him playing detective!”

“Was I alone in requesting his assistance? Were you not present?” Mitri continues drinking his coffee like he’s out at breakfast with the Queen of Australia, pinky out, and subdued manners .

Mal lets out a roar that shakes the plates off the table, and I run for it. I make it down the hall and into Ben’s bedroom in record time to snatch up my keys and some shoes. I can hear Mal losing it in a one-sided argument with Mitri.

“Windsor is dead. Whatever he found got him killed. Somebody torched his office. He gave Mike the information to get it out of his hands, and now Mike’s place got torched! He’s in the wind, clutching some dumbass folder of info you wanted, and now it’s, oh, well, fuck Mike?”

I rush back in and head for the door when Ben stops me by grabbing my wrist.

“Baby,” he whispers as Mal rants and leans closer to my body, pressing his nose into my side.

“I know,” I mutter back and stroke the top of his head.

I can’t explain my crazy to him, but he gets it.

He doesn’t like it, but he gets it all the same.

He can’t stop me from rushing out the door to help some guy I’ve never met any more than I can stop him from eating a hundred pounds of uncooked beef.

Mitri won’t help unless he wants that information more than he wants to torture and kill someone.

Kimi is off in who-knows-where mentally.

King is obviously a jealous little bitch pouting in the corner.

That just leaves me.

Ben sighs hard enough that it heats my ribs and ruffles my shirt, making my stomach and other things clench. “I’ll watch them until you get back.”

I cradle his head and mutter, “Your service, sunshine.”

I could swear he kisses my side before he leans back, eyes still concerned.

“Mal, let’s go,” I interrupt his tirade and hop on one foot to slide a shoe on .

“What?” King snaps, literally snaps his teeth at me, and begins to stand. Mal is gaping at me, wings fully displayed and his phone cracking in his hand. It looks like a toy phone. His hands are so large. Did he get even bigger ?

“Sit down,” Ben’s dual voice comes out ominously, and King jerks back from him, almost falling on his ass.

Mal also begins to sit, flinching away from his tone before his roar renews, and he begins pacing forward at Ben.

“Mal!” I run up and grab his tail, pulling him towards the door. “We need to go. If your friend is in trouble, he has to stay on the run. It’s dangerous for him to stay in one place. Come on! ”

He stands there, mouth gaping as I tug, unable to pull his bulk my way. I’m tempted to throw the other shoe at his head to snap him out of it. “Give me your phone before you break it.”

He meekly hands it over, the weight of his tail going limp in my hands.

“Come on,” I urge and trade his tail for the phone, hopping in place to slide on my other shoe and running for the door.

“Do you think she knows what grabbing his tail means?” Kimi asks as I hurry out, Mal behind me.

“No,” I hear Ben and King say simultaneously before the door slams closed behind us.