Page 51 of Bonding Beasts (Bonding: The Ultimate Guide #3)

A tiny throat clears from over the bar and draws everyone’s attention. The same robed faery that told us Ben was free sits at the bar with a thimble beside him, taking notes with his quill.

“That is quite unnecessary as I am the legal counsel for the ambassador. May I ask who requested your impromptu introduction?” He looks up from his little book to stare at Drasorin expectantly .

“I chose to offer up my services freely,” he answers smoothly without taking his eyes off me. I feel like I need another shower and four layers less skin just to get the ick-factor off.

“And yet you introduced yourself as an emissary?” I really need to find out what my lawyer’s name is. Maybe put him on speed dial for the shitshow that is my life. “That’s odd. And not very trustworthy.”

“I volunteered as an emissary to deliver a message from the Delegates,” Drasorin doesn’t hesitate after the accusation. Politicians, am I right? Also, did anyone else notice he skipped out on answering?

“I would recommend you do so and leave at once,” the quill blurs across the page as he speaks. “The ambassador has already declined your offer. To press further would be inadvisable.”

“Of course,” he bows his head deeply, white hair covering each side of his face. “I was simply enchanted with the idea of finally laying eyes on a mender of lore. I could not resist the temptation of offering myself to her.”

Ugh and ew. Is it me, or is his little speech geared towards sex? I feel my lip curl in disgust as I take a few steps back. I feel like he’s gotten way too close.

“Understandable,” my lawyer nods, “But she has declined.”

I give the tiny male a disbelieving look. Understandable? Gross! No, on the speed dial thing, then. I do have some standards. They’re low, but they’re there, damn it!

“Why is everybody a damn perv?” I wonder out loud.

The faery lawyer’s eyes narrow at my defensive stance. “Ambassador mender?”

“Yeah?” I side-eye the pervy lawyer.

“Is this another test?”

“ No ,” I answer emphatically .

“I see,” he nods, and his tiny book closes with a whumpf .

In a blink, several faeries in armor stand across the entirety of the counter from end to end, fully armored and swords held lightly. The one right next to the lawyer is the guy who called for a ride earlier. I can only tell because he hasn’t washed off any of the blood.

Drasorin’s smile widens. “This is neutral territory, and I haven’t made any untoward advances at your charge. I am aware that she is an ambassador.”

The lawyer takes his thimble in both hands to set it on the counter behind him, straightening his robe and settling with his shoulders thrown back. “The ambassador is not our charge. She is a dear friend to our queen. Perhaps you should think on that before you continue.”

“It was rumored,” his eyes widen as he takes in my form again. “I believed it was a ploy. How could a mender befriend Queen Mab?”

“By not being shady as fuck,” I gesture towards him pointedly with my dagger. “Or a skeezy perv .”

“I did not realize my attitude was so off-putting,” his eyes narrow in speculation like he’s trying to work out a new angle of approach. “I apologize. I will give you the message and leave.”

He walks determinedly forward, drawing his hands from behind his back and reaching towards me. Several things happen simultaneously, the movements so blurred I can hardly follow them.

His hand reaches for me, holding some kind of letter, but my eyes snag on the giant ugly ring that takes up half of a finger. It’s gaudy, gold, blue, and looks familiar.

Ben slides behind me and wraps his arms over mine, around my waist.

A golden tail I’m intimately familiar with wraps twice around the male’s neck from behind.

A berserker punches Drasorin in the jaw and continues forward to break the reaching arm with a crushing grip.

Everything pauses, and I’m pretty sure the guy’s neck didn’t break from the punch due to the support of Kimi’s tail.

A hand with neon pink fingernails reaches around to pluck the letter out of the hand the berserker is currently snarling at like a rabid dog. Once his hand withdraws, Kimi uses his tail to lift Drasorin off the floor, feet kicking in midair.

I was wondering why he wasn’t screaming. It’s kind of hard to do when you’re choking.

His body sways to the side as Kimi moves him like a marionette with one string. The berserker refuses to let go of the forearm he’s pulverizing into dust one-handed.

Kimi looks at the crushed forearm and then eyes the berserker astutely, tilting his head slightly.

I didn’t notice, but Ben had already lifted me up, and I instinctively curled into my Ben carry ball, legs ready to kick out at anyone coming at us.

Ben stands still, watching the berserker as well.

We all stand or hover, frozen for a moment. Then Kimi’s eyes meet Ben’s, and they both do a synchronized nod. Seriously, when did they become besties?

Drasorin’s legs stop kicking, and I hope he’s just unconscious.

“This is a neutral establishment,” Alzghoul grits out, but I notice he has his baseball bat clutched in his hands.

The faeries are all in the air in various stages of aggression.

The other berserkers from the table are hunched with rage-filled snarls and eye twitches.

Everyone is paused in place as if we’re all afraid to move.

The berserker takes a deep breath and shudders before he releases Drasorin’s arm .

Ben backs away two steps, taking me with him.

Kimi’s tail curls in the center and ripples out, flinging the fully grown man out the swinging saloon doors as if he were flicking a fly.

“He fell,” Kimi insists in a voice so filled with menace I can’t even muster up a laugh.

“Kimi?” I whisper in concern. The ease of that tail throw scares me. Just how strong is he? My only consolation is that he’s only half an inch taller than me, which is why I couldn’t see him stalking behind the guy.

My spark, meanwhile, is rubbing up on the bridge and chain connecting me to Ben and Kimi like a cat in heat, praising them. Then it goes over to a new thread and rubs on it.

What the hell? Where did the bright-colored one come from? It’s like a woven ray of sunlight with hidden stars nestled inside that ends at the berserker in front of me. As my spark cuddles the cord his big body shudders again.

His shoulders settle as he cracks his neck, still facing away from me, watching the doors as if he’s hoping Drasorin comes back inside for round two of his beat-down.

“That’s it, you’re grounded! Stop that and get back in bed!”

It ignores my angry thoughts and flows down the new line and back again, taunting me. I notice the black ribbon is weak and getting farther away. I guess he lived.

Ben tilts his head against mine, rubbing his face over my hair and Kimi watches me intently.

Could they feel the spark? If they could, then that means this total stranger I’ve never met before can feel it, too. How embarrassing.

Is there a law about binding people without their permission? I can already feel the jail time coming.

“I hate you so much right now.”

Sparky settles back in my chest, allowing the bonds to fade into the background and building some kind of smokescreen to block the new one out. It did learn a little something from Mitri, after all.

Not enough, apparently.

I’m fully connected to the berserker guy, like I was with Mitri. The other bonds are dull and lifeless, so maybe I haven’t activated them.

The berserker turns to me, and I babble, “I’m so sorry!”

The guy looks younger than me, maybe twenty-three, and Human. As a matter of fact, all of the berserkers look Human instead of ridiculously handsome. Not that this guy is a slouch by any means.

He seems a little rough, like he hasn’t slept in a few days, with the beginnings of a beard coming in.

His shoulder-length black hair is all over the place, and sunglasses cover his eyes.

He’s as tall as Ben but bulkier like Mal.

As I stare, his muscles shrink until his t-shirt is no longer straining at the seams. I can feel his stare even through the opaque lenses and wince.

There's nothing like defending a stranger and getting tied to them without your permission. Hurray.

“We can break it,” I try to reassure him, and he falls back a step in surprise, clutching defensively at his chest with one hand.

“She doesn’t understand it’s a gift. She was raised as a Human,” Ben says calmly and slowly loosens his arms, giving me time to get my feet under me so I can stand. “She thinks she mentally molested you.”

“Consent is a thing!” I’m practically screaming, but I’m facing the berserker when I do it, and he takes another step back with a frown.

“She doesn’t like the thought you had no choice,” Ben ignores me .

“Can I go to jail for this? Be honest, I can take it,” I turn around to face my therapist-turned-nemesis.

“It isn’t illegal,” the pervy lawyer’s voice pipes in. “These things are uncontrolled.”

“She’ll adapt really quickly, so no worries.”

“Ben!” I shout in frustration at his easy acceptance of one more fucked up thing.

“This is a grand thing,” Patch says with a tiny bit of awe.

“What?! No! How is it good that he’s now saddled with my insanity, Patch? My life is a mess, and it doesn’t look like it will get better, like ever! ” I spin back to face the guy and put my hands together pleadingly.

“You could do so much better, man. There are supermodel hot chicks out there waiting for you. You’re young. Go out and be free, frolic, sow berserker seeds willy-nilly. Run for your life . It’s me, not you.”

I desperately make pushing motions as if I’m shooing a child outside.

“How old am I, Svend?” he turns his head to look at the leader guy seriously. I’m ashamed to admit that my knees wobble at his Irish accent, and my brain takes a hard right turn into hey, we could maybe keep him territory.

“Definitely over a thousand. After that, it’s just guesswork,” he replies, crossing his arms over his chest, looking smug.

“What? I thought berserkers had Human life spans,” I say in confusion.

“A cross-breed,” Ben tilts his head and studies the guy again.

“Demi-god,” Kimi says from behind the berserker. He’s blatantly smelling him, but if the guy notices he doesn’t say anything.

“No, no, no . Our track record for demi anything is not good. Go away,” I demand. “Getting smashed to a pulp taught me valuable life lessons I will never forget. No more demi-GVs.”

Kimi can tell that just from smelling him? Do demi-gods stink or something? I don’t want to know.

“You were crushed?” Svend asks in shock, looking me over as if he doesn’t believe me.

“Wouldn’t he be a demi-GC?” Ben chuckles, and I reach back to smack his thigh.

“ Who? ” The berserker leans down as he growls in my face.

“She’s dead, no worries,” Ben shrugs loosely. No worries, it should be his theme song at this point.

Let's sweep a little murder under the rug because she can’t cause any more problems. Ben’s outlook on life and death needs a little work.

“Good,” the guy leans back and takes a deep breath, relaxing his fists to lie flat against his thighs.

Maybe everyone’s outlook on life and death needs work.

“Dude. You don’t even know me. What if she was perfectly innocent?”

“I do know you. Probably better than anyone here,” he says grimly.

“The bond doesn’t equal knowing someone, you jerk,” I could come up with a lot of insulting words for this guy, but he did defend me, so I don’t want to be too rude.

Plus, he’s hot.

He studies me closely with a frown. “You don’t remember me.” He sounds like he’s torn between being relieved and being pissed at the thought.

“From five minutes ago when we met without introducing ourselves? Yes, I do.”

He takes off his glasses to peer directly into my eyes.

The pupils are normal, round, and black. The iris is a sea of red with darker rust tones around the edges .

These eyes, like Kimi’s tail, are very familiar. There’s anger inside them, but it’s banked for the moment. The last time I saw them, they were filled with unstoppable rage.

This is the berserker from the labs.

The one who left me.