Page 48 of Bonding Beasts (Bonding: The Ultimate Guide #3)

“In different Territories,” I rub a hand down my face. How many times have they recreated this experiment? Or tried new ones? How many people have died?

“All over the world, Beatrice,” King says insistently. “This isn’t just in America. That is why we came together.”

My shoulders slump as those words penetrate. If it’s that widespread, how do I stop it? What chance does one idiot healer stand against a global plot?

“We’ll have to continue as agents,” King looks around the table. “We’ll work under the assumption that she told them nothing, playing innocent.”

“That’s insane,” Mal argues with a puff of smoke. “We need to let that part go and work as we did before.”

“We’ll lose our in,” King says with gritted teeth.

“We’ve already lost it,” Mal points out as they snarl in each other’s faces.

“We can keep tabs if we play pretend,” King hisses in a strange bestial tone.

“They’re going to notice that GV is gone,” I raise an eyebrow at him. “The attack on Tremaine is all over the news. How convenient is it that an agent took her hand? Specifically, the hand with the ring of unknown fuckery.”

“Let me worry about that,” King replies with a smirk.

“He can convince someone they’re a hamster if he wants,” Mal’s scowl gets deeper. “Now that he’s young again it can work over the phone. I didn’t think about that.”

“You’re going to cover up an agent’s death and a blown-up house with a phone call?” I ask with disbelief evident in my tone.

King’s grin gets wider as if anticipating a great chess game.

“If that’s the case, then they can’t stay here. I’m a terrifying beast. We wouldn’t want to ruin the image,” Ben looks at me with a sweet smile. I bite my lip to keep from grinning back.

“Oh, but we can,” King practically purrs in response, leaning towards me with an innocent, convincing smile.

“How would it look if a known mender was alone without proper guidance? We were out investigating the validity of her presence when the explosion happened with Iris tragically inside. A mender would open her home to anyone with such misfortune.”

I stare at him in stunned surprise.Mental note: don’t try to outwit King without the presence of a giant ugly ring.

“You should say that Mitri was there,” Mal smirks, eyeing the immortal gleefully. “We had to wait for his recovery to notify anyone.”

“You don’t think losing such a vital team member is enough to delay contact?” King teases and smiles at Mal with clear affection.

“No,” Mal replies curtly and turns not just his face away but his body as well, completely closing him out. He misses the crestfallen look on King’s face.

Mal stares at me with a stony expression. Not as if he’s seeing me, but with the same kind of resolution I’m using to not look at Mitri. Sympathy wells up in me for him, and I look down to hide it. I doubt he’d feel warm and fuzzy if he knew I felt terrible for him.

What happened between them to fracture them this badly? I figured they would be all over each other with the break of the manipulation.

And how is that any of my business? It isn’t. I cast a guilty glance at Ben to find him smiling softly while he shakes his head. Great, now there’s a witness to my weak moment.

I open my mouth to make a snarky comment, and my phone rings, interrupting me. It’s probably for the best. I didn’t come up with anything good to say .

As I reach for the phone in my back pocket, don’t ask me how it survived the impromptu shower because I have no idea. Ben moves in a blur to snatch it up and answer it. My mouth drops open as I freeze in place. He’s not even being subtle about stealing it anymore?

“What?” he answers grimly, not even checking the caller ID.

I barely hear Alzghoul’s voice on the other end of the connection.

The bartender is usually the person who calls, even though I have my number posted everywhere.

I guess the Pub is the safest place to meet up with me, and they abuse his hospitality.

He says something to Ben that makes him scoff with disdain.

“No.”

Alzghoul continues speaking as if Ben never objected.

“The answer is still no.”

The bartender’s voice becomes tense and louder. I frown as I study Ben’s reaction or lack of one. His face doesn’t change from an irritated scowl as he listens.

“Good for him. He survived. What more does he want, a sticker?”

“Ben,” I gasp in dismay, but he ignores me and hangs up.

“Give me that!” I wrestle it out of his hands. I know he let me take it. I’m not strong enough to get it from him myself.

The phone starts ringing again, and I dash into his room, slamming the door shut and turning the lock. It won’t stop him, but I’ve made my point. I hope.

“Do not take that job, Bees!” He calls from the table. If he hasn’t stood up to chase me, then he isn’t that serious.

“Hello?” I answer without checking, out of breath, and trying to hurry .

“Beatrice,” Alzghoul sighs with relief. “Do you know how hard it is to reach you through your bodyguard?”

“Sorry,” I cringe. “What’s up?”

“There’s a berserker here who lost his eye.”

I’m ashamed to admit it takes all my strength not to ask if he found it. My immaturity knows no bounds.

“He’s at the Pub?” Duh, he’s at the Pub, Beatrice.

“Yeah,” Alzghoul’s voice tenses again, and I pause.

No snappy comeback? No snarky attitude? Since when does the take no shit, iron-willed bartender of unknown race get stressed? Even Ben doesn’t ruffle his feathers, which has more weight in light of new information. My brain ticks over as I ponder this little dilemma.

“Bees, no.” Ben’s voice is on the other side of the door now.

“He’s asking you to come without your beast,” he continues. It’s almost like he’s reading a cue card.

“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”

“He doesn’t want his clan to know about this. He’s embarrassed.”

“Right.”

This has red flags all over it.

“I’ll be there in two hours,” I say flatly and hang up as Ben yells, “I said no!”

I unlock the door and open it to Ben’s enraged face.

“I don’t understand English,” I deadpan.

I go over to my box of stuff and find my side purse, fully loaded with knives and my bag of buttons. Mitri is efficient for a total jerk. I put them on and turn back to find Ben behind me, practically panting in anger.

“Bees,” he snarls and holds his hands up as if imagining throttling me .

“Obvious trap is obvious, Ben,” I pat him on the shoulder as I pass him. I make it to the table and gather my missing person pages.

“If you know it’s a trap, why did you just agree to go?!” He snaps directly in my ear.

If I can make adjustments for his sensitive ears, is it too much to ask not to be yelled at directly in mine?

“What’s a trap?” King asks with both brows raised.

“The random berserker who just so happens to have lost an eye,” I explain and get the joy of watching several brows lower in confusion.

“How is that a trap?” Mal asks in disbelief. “And how do they have your number?”

“One,” I hold up a finger, “Al didn’t say that he was alone.

He always says if they have guards or friends with them.

Two,” my fingers continue going up as I list, “He was nervous. Al’s never nervous.

Three, no one ever asks me to go without Ben.

They know better. Four, he never calls Ben a beast .

At least not to me and not to Ben’s face.

And five, I can talk to them about Wilson Blake. ”

Before I can walk away, Ben wraps his arms around my middle and lifts me off the ground. I’m beginning to see a trend here. Beatrice wants to do something that Ben disapproves of? Hold her hostage until she calms down and relents.

“Why are you going?” He snaps in my ear again.

“Why do they want me there? Why the bullshit trap? He’s too embarrassed to tell his clan what happened, so it’s all hush, hush, don’t tell anyone? Uh, no. Frat boys brag about the stupid shit they’ve done all the time.”

Mitri and Kimi stand from the table as my legs curl up in my typical Ben’s holding me prisoner response. “None of you can come. ”

“Pardon?” Mitri asks flatly as he buttons his jacket as if he didn’t hear me. Did he change his clothes from earlier?

“You’re supposed to be TGT agents, and it’s the Pub. You guys show up, and there will be even more trouble.”

Ben begins growling very softly. I can feel the rumble against my spine.

“Which pub?” King asks as he stands to join the rest. They just need to sit back down because they aren’t going anywhere.

“Your Villain’s Pub,” Ben snaps over his shoulder. It wasn’t in my ear, so baby steps.

“You’ve been going to the Pub? ” Mal shouts as I give him a bland expression. He turns to Ben next. “You took her there?!”

“I have a plan,” I tell Ben over my shoulder.

“ Absolutely not ,” Mal’s shout gets louder, and I wonder how tired Mike really is or if he’s hearing the commotion and locked himself in the bathroom.

King tries to put a hand on Mal’s shoulder, but he shrugs him off with a snarl.

“What’s your plan?” Ben asks me warily. My plans are usually a 50/50 split on whether he likes it or not.

“It doesn’t matter what it is because she is not going into that filth-infested -” Then he falls into speaking whatever language he uses that I don’t understand. He hardly stops for a breath as the tirade continues. But it sounds pretty, in an angry way.

“We should talk outside,” I raise my voice to be heard over Mal.

“You will speak here! ” Mal suddenly switches back to English and violently points to the floor at his feet.

His tail is lashing back and forth, hitting King’s leg. King doesn’t flinch, to his credit, but his glare on top of Mal’s is a little much to me. Solidarity. I get it. Being his mate is apparently a ride-or-die situation. They’re perfect for each other. Why are they fighting again?

“If someone would stop yelling , I would be happy to,” I glare, and his mouth snaps shut. I think this is a level seven glare, edging into an eight. I may have a chance to talk to him without being tied to a chair. I’m not holding my breath.

“Everyone in downtown knows that I’m a mender. I recently heard that it’s even in the damn newspaper. If you’re worried that someone evil out there will find me, news flash, they probably already have.”

Mal begins to snarl in a tone that shakes my insides, and his shoulders hunch. That’s new and makes me nervous. Hello, chains shackling me to the chair. Here I come.

“Breathe, Mal,” I snap, and his head rears back like I hit him.

“I don’t go anywhere without Ben, period.

No matter how much I bullshit a situation or joke around, I'm not going into a trap blindly. I plan to pop into the upstairs hallway and catch them by surprise. They aren’t expecting me to be there for another hour and a half if we wrap this up quickly.

Ben, you port behind the bar as backup. I know you don’t like Al, and he’s an ass, but he’s in trouble.

Would anyone else put up with us if he’s gone?

No. I now understand why no other waitstaff will serve you when we’re there. Al always offers to get you snacks.”

Ben’s arms relax, and I put my feet down, allowing them to dangle.

“He’s sucking up so I don’t eat him.”

I ignore that and continue as if he never spoke.

“If there’s anyone back there with him, you can go in your preferred form, and bickety-bam, everyone runs for their lives in terror. If shit gets bad, I’ll pop home. No big deal.”

He lets my feet touch the ground, and I finally take a deeper breath.

“You would run away?” King crosses his arms and looks at me like I have no honor or something.

“I would strategically retreat to save my own ass, King. Yes. And I expect the same from you,” I glare over my shoulder at Ben.

“I will not allow this,” Mal’s tone has lowered to the point of being unrecognizable.

My spine stiffens, and Ben’s arms fall away from me as he takes two big, wary steps back.

“What did you just say?” I turn to face the dragon calmly.

“I will not allow this! You will stay here! ”

“Uh-huh,” I keep my face blank so the volcano explosion of rage doesn’t show.

“I mean it-”

His words are cut off as I put him to sleep mid-step towards me. He falls to the floor, catching himself with his face. Everyone watches, and there’s a prolonged silence afterward.

Oddly, Kimi gets revealed after Mal takes his nosedive. He had been standing behind him for who knows how long. His eyes meet mine, and if I wasn’t so pissed off, I would have taken a step back at the violence in his eyes.

“Anyone else?” I ask and lean forward, keeping eye contact with Kimi in a silent I dare you .

Kimi steps on Mal’s form as he comes towards me, body full of aggression, and my eyes narrow, body tensing. He goes around me to open the front door and stands there, waiting.

“Take Kimi with you at least,” King hovers over Mal’s prostrated form.

“Still a TGT agent,” I point out.

“He never goes out,” King informs me. “No one truly knows what he looks like, and his glamour can change at his will.”

“You never go out?” I ask in surprise. Kimi doesn’t turn away from staring at the wall or respond to me at all.

“It’s usually best if he doesn’t,” King says. I mean, I can see why. He’s a lunatic. Obviously, a broken lunatic right now. What is going on with him?

“Agreed, he’ll come with me,” Ben says, surprising me.

I look back at him with wide eyes and try to understand his logic. Is a group of berserkers or whatever else bad enough that he needs backup? Backup from a male that wants me dead? What is the risk/reward scenario here?

“No one will notice him.” Ben places his hands on my shoulders as he tries to reassure me.

“No one will notice the male dressed like a soccer mom with a suit jacket and obvious homicidal tendencies?”

“Trust me, baby. Compromise.”