Page 59 of Bonded By Tea and Tarot

“Come here, pretty omega,” he says, voice soft. He scoops her into his arms, carrying her like the most precious bride, and turns towards me with a challenge in his eye.

“I’m not going to take her from you,” I say. The last thing we need is his alpha losing it again.

He settles, but as soon as he takes a step, the cat is there, winding around his ankles and clawing at his legs. Jayce growls threateningly at it, and Aury growls back. I look at him in surprise; I didn’t know betas could growl.

Jayce looks even more shocked, but he blinks once, then ignores them both and takes another step while Aury attempts to pick the cat up. She hisses and swipes at him, and Aury jerks back, wide brown eyes looking betrayed. Are we seriously getting held up by a grumpy cat?

I’m about to growl her into submission myself, when she leaps, claws out, and latches onto Jayce’s pant leg. She climbs his jeans, then scrabbles along his arm to settle on Siobhan’s stomach. Jayce hisses in surprise, but it all happens so fast none of us can so much as twitch before she’s left claw marks all over his arm and is curled up in a contented ball of fuzzy black fur.

Siobhan’s eyes slit open and she looks down at it, then buries her hand in its fur. “Pretty Bunny,” she murmurs, and I frown, eyebrows pulling together with concern. She’s way too out of it if she thinks that cat is a bunny. I thought she was more coherent, recognizing and talking to me and Jayce, but⁠—

“That’s her name,” Aury says, ushering us all out of the apartment. “My cat. Her name is Bunny.”

Qué carajo. I shake my head and herd them all into Jayce’s truck. I didn’t expect him to want to let go of her, and he doesn’t. The low rumble in his chest hasn’t stopped since Aury called and begged us to help. I stick all three of them in the backseat together, then brace myself to be enclosed with her honeyed scent before I slide into the front, ready to keep it together and ignore anything from the backseat for the next ten minutes.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Siobhan

I don’t like this. My omega hates wherever we are. It smells like my alpha, but it smells like too many other people too. Gross alphas and betas scents all over the seats. Not mine.

I grumble and wrinkle my nose, then bury it in my alpha’s neck. I lick and suck at it, then nibble on the skin below his coarse stubble. His scent strengthens, and the low rumble in his chest vibrates into me. I can’t tell if it’s a purr or a growl, but either way, it makes me feel haughty.

Because it says this is my alpha, and no one else gets to touch him.

But then someone does.

Hands on my stomach, scooping up the warm weight that’s settled on me.

I crack one eye open and hiss at the dark haired man next to us. He freezes, then turns deep brown eyes on me. I glare at him, displeased at his hands disrupting my comfort. I curl my arms around the warm black bundle, and it starts purring.

See? Mine.

I curl my entire body around it and turn into my alpha, ignoring the voices around me.

“What are you doing?” someone out of sight says.

“I’m trying to get Bunny so I can put her in her carrier,” the disruptor replies. “She doesn’t seem to want to let go of her.”

“Maybe Jayce can help distract her.”

My alpha’s rumble gets louder, and now it sounds more growly. His arms tighten around me, protecting both me and my favorite ball of fur. I stroke a hand down his chest, petting him for being such a good boy. The rumble gentles again, and I sigh, letting my eyes fall closed and relaxing in his hold.

When I open my eyes again, it’s to a much more familiar and welcome sight.

“Home,” I say, reaching my hand out towards my nest at the far end of the hall.

“She told me it was that door, but I haven’t seen it. Never been invited in,” the man I love seeing in my home says. He’s holding a cat carrier, and I frown when I realize I’m not carrying my baby kitty anymore. Did he take her from me? My eyes dart between the carrier and the door to my nest.

“I’ll get Bunny set up in the guest room, then get some snacks and drinks together. I already sent a message to work for emergency heat leave, you need me to call in for you?”

“We’re good, I covered our notices after you called. Holler if you need anything.”

The alpha holding me is silent, apart from the deep vibration in his chest. It makes me melt into him, and I hope it never stops.

“Here,” the other alpha says, opening the door to my nest. “Set her down, Jayce. We need to give her the chance to invite us in.”

I ignore both alphas and dive into my nest, relief and heat surging through me, fighting for dominance. My insides clench, and I huff when the large shirt I’m wearing gets stuck under my knees while I’m rearranging the pillows. I try to get it off, but it’s still caught, and I end up tipping over onto my side with it stuck over my head. A growl rolls from my throat and I fight with the shirt, flailing around and kicking my legs until it finally frees my arms and head and I can see again.