Page 41 of Bonding Beasts (Bonding: The Ultimate Guide #3)

“Do you have to maintain physical contact with him at all times?” Mitri asks and takes a drag from his cigarette.

My eyes open wide with horror, and Ben laughs out loud at my expense. He holds his hands up, making the shape of a circle with his fingers and thumbs before separating them with a cracking sound. He follows that up with his dual-toned voice, “Oh no! My personal space bubble!”

Mal starts laughing at that, and I glare at him. “What the fuck, Ben? Also, I can’t believe I hugged you, Mal! So, fuck you too!”

“The first one is always the hardest for her,” Ben informs Mal with a grin as he returns to the front door. “It gradually gets better. You have to be pushy and obvious about it, or it won’t happen.”

“Noted,” Mal’s laugh echoes through the yard.

“You’re all assholes,” I grumble with a pout. “I can hug people if I want to.”

“Does this mean that I have to touch the homicidal crazy lady the whole time I’m here?” Mike sounds panicked as he stares from over my shoulder.

It makes Ben crack up laughing again. “Bring your new pet inside, Bees. We need to feed and water him.”

“I’ll feed and water him all right,” I glare at Mike over my shoulder with gritted teeth .

Mike ducks back down with a whisper, “Please don’t kill me.”

I sigh and roll my eyes, “Come on.”

We pause to pick up his backpack and shuffle inside. It’s like walking with a conga line behind me, so it’s hard to match my stride to his. We would fail a one-legged race for sure.

Mal watches it all, not bothering to hide his laughter. King is pouting. Mitri and Kimi are giving Mike their own versions of judgy eye as we pass. To make matters worse, Mitri follows so close behind us that Mike practically glues himself to my back to get away from him.

“I take it back,” he whispers to me. “You’re the least scary crazy person here.”

“Don’t worry, Mike. If anything happens, your hero Mal will rescue you.” I lean around Mitri to smile viciously at Mal.

King’s eyes narrow, and his head snaps around to glare at Mal. The dragon completely ignores him and comes inside, a level two scowl on display as he walks past me with a malevolent side-eye.

I slowly pace over to the table, tripping over Mike’s feet the whole way, and stop when I see a food and water bowl fit for a dog in front of one of the seats.

“Really, Ben?” I cry in exasperation.

His laughter echoes to me from down the hall towards his room.

Mike and I both stare down at the bowls, frowning.

“What now?” He asks with a sigh.

“I guess have a seat,” I contemplate one of the other chairs, away from the kibble.

“So, you just sit on my lap?” He asks with a level of disgust that seriously hurts my feelings. I’m not that bad !

“No!” Several voices bark out, making me swallow back my retort.

“What? Am I going to hold his hand like we’re high school sweethearts instead?” I ask mockingly.

I end up holding his hand. I should have kept my mouth shut.

I stand beside him, fidgeting, too uncomfortable with the situation to sit like everyone else. I can’t keep my lip from curling as I watch Mike.

It doesn’t slow Mike as he wolfs down some food my ever-precious kitchen made him, and he guzzles water. Ben stays out of sight but makes running commentary that causes Mike to shudder occasionally.

“You’re not even in here!” I yell at Ben. “I shouldn’t have to do this!”

“Best not to risk it,” Ben ruins his serious tone with a snicker.

I don’t bother replying. I just glare a lot.

Once Mike is finished, he sits back with a sigh and pats his stomach with a smile.

“All right, Mike,” Mal says with a no-nonsense frown. “Time to let us know what’s going on.”

“Well, Windsor found out more about the chick you were looking for,” he begins. Mal and Mitri both stiffen in their seats.

What chick? Another GV? Please, say no. I’ve been squished enough.

“Maybe we should talk about this later,” Mal suddenly insists and holds out a hand to halt Mike mid-speech.

“Why would that be?” King asks suspiciously and glares at Mal. “What ‘chick’ were you looking for?”

“They don’t know?” Mike asks in confusion. “Beatrice Wulff.”

I tense, and my hand unintentionally clenches around his as my gaze lowers to the table in confusion. Why would they be looking for me? They knew right where I was the entire time. Prison. Or is he talking about when I escaped from there?

“Enough,” Mitri’s voice is ice cold as he stares at Mike. The Human flinches back in his seat and hides his face behind my hip. I hardly notice.

What is going on? I’m standing right here. A cold feeling of dread works its way up my spine as I frown.

“Keep going,” Ben suddenly appears from the hallway with a grim look.

“Well,” Mike’s confusion turns to excitement quickly. “The guy she was living with? Kenneth Wulff? He left a will.”

“No, he didn’t,” I say faintly, and my eyes meet Ben’s. He’s scowling now.

“He did,” Mike grins up at me.

My empty hand helplessly goes to the top of my head as my see-saw starts a slow descent into crazy town.

“Stop,” Mitri snaps. He sounds like he’s getting angry, and I’m beginning to suspect why.

“Keep going,” I look down at Mike with a glare.

“Um,” he hesitates, eyes flicking between Mitri and me.

“Talk,” Ben’s voice changes into a bark with the haunting sound of a bay added in, filled with menace. It might not be the full brunt of whatever makes him so frightening, but it’s effective.

Mike’s fear of Ben trumps his fear of Mitri because he spills his guts.

“Well, when Windsor first looked into her, he started by looking into her guardian and got the run around from the lawyer’s office.” His terrified gaze stays stuck on Ben as he babbles. He’s oblivious to my pained whimper.

“They called him back, asking if he’d found her because they found his will. It was shuffled up in someone else’s file or something. So, Windsor lies, says yeah, and goes down there to pick it up for her.”

I don’t know why, but I feel violated. Some stranger was digging around in my life? Mitri asked some guy to rip into my history?

My eyes snap to the immortal filled with betrayal. Why?

“Big deal,” Kimi gives a one-shouldered shrug.

“The big deal,” Mike leans forward in excitement with a grin.

His terror is forgotten in the thrill of mystery discovery.

“Is what he left her. A key to some ramshackle shed on a property he owned under a false name. Windsor goes there and finds everything you were looking for. Files and files of stuff! He grabbed it and gave it all to me!”

Files? What files? What is this guy talking about?

No. How deep did he dig? How far back? Oh, Presidents.

“Files on what?” Kimi tilts his head, curious now despite himself.

“The scientists and the lab subjects at the boarding school. It’s pretty gruesome stuff, too. I almost threw up just reading them.”

All the air gets sucked out of the room, and I wobble on my feet. The see-saw gives up the struggle and drops.

“Windsor thought Wulff was hunting down the scientists. Some of this reads off like a hit list, pictures crossed out for dead, and everything. Windsor checked, and they all died in ‘accidents.’ I get it, though. He probably loved the little girl, and her file is messed up. The things they did to her, and she’s a mender ! Who does that…”

Mike’s voice trails off, and I shut my eyes tightly to block them out. Just block this away in the tattered box of my memories and shove it aside, like usual.

But I can’t do that because that box got obliterated in Leng. Strangers that I’ve never met read about everything they did to me. Where is my passenger seat? I need it!

“Beatrice,” Mal says quietly, voice calm but wary.

“Oh shit,” Mike grunts as my hand tightens convulsively on his. “Oh shit. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean-”

“Show me,” I can’t even recognize my own voice. It’s weak and wobbly like I’m close to tears, but nothing is coming out.

“I don’t think that’s-” Mike starts, and Ben says simultaneously, “Bees.”

“ Show me! ” I scream in his face and jerk him half out of his chair.

“Okay, okay, just stop! ” Mike screams as tears fill his eyes.

Stop?

I look down at his arm held taut between us. His muscles roll underneath his skin, and I hear bones cracking as they pull in different directions. The spark is writhing inside me, furious and scared.

I gasp and let him go, jerking away from him in horror. What did I do?

I instinctively reach for him, trying to fix what I did with a whimper.

Mike shoves away from me and throws his backpack, hitting me in the chest. “Take it!”

I catch it in numb hands before it can fall to the floor and turn away from the table to pull it open. What I think this small bit of privacy will prove, I don’t know. I feel as raw and vulnerable as I did as a kid. Terrified of both the past and what suffering-filled future lies ahead.

I fumble the zipper open, spilling manilla folders everywhere. It reminds me of the office I spent so many days cleaning while Mitri watched me silently, and I choke on a hysterical laugh. Those were the days, man.

Dropping to my knees, I pick them up and open each one mindlessly. Gathering them into my lap and hunching over them as if I could protect the people inside.

There’s a photo of each one. Except now they have names that burn in my chest with pain.

The old woman who begged me for death, to just let her go because the only freedom we had was death. That’s what she told me, and I took it to heart.We couldn’t get out for freedom. We had to take it where we could.

Her name was Albertha Adamson. AA. Subject B34TR1C2. A Witch. When I asked her name, I thought she was telling me to call her Eh-Eh. I held her hand when she died so she wouldn’t have to be alone, and she cried for me, calling me a sweet child.

DECEASED is stamped at the top by her picture in faded red ink.

Subject B34TR1C7.Werewolf.