Page 80 of Bonded By Tea and Tarot

Hayden disappeared shortly after lunch to do who knows what, and Aury left not long after. Which means I’m the only one here with my pretty little omega, and I have no idea what to do about it.

She’s currently flipping through tarot cards and scowling at them, while I lurk in the hallway like a creep.

“You can come in,” she calls. “You don’t have to keep hiding out there.”

I guess I’m not as stealthy as I thought. “Sorry for bothering you.” I step around the doorframe and into the reading room.

“You’re not,” she says, then sighs like I absolutely am.

“I can feel it.” I pat my chest where our bond stretches between us.

“Okay, I’m annoyed, but not at you.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask, perching on the couch armrest, then immediately standing back up again because I don’t know if it’ll hold my weight. The last thing I need to do is break her pretty couch.

“Not really, but a distraction might be nice,” she says, glancing outside. “Want to take a walk? It feels like I haven’t been out in nature in ages.”

“Sure.” Not the type of distraction I would have chosen, but I’m happy to spend whatever time with her I can.

We slip on our shoes and she fusses with her hair in front of the entryway mirror.

“You’re stunning,” I say. I slide behind her and wrap my arms around her waist, molding myself to the curves she has hidden under her oversized cardigan.

“My hair is a disaster,” she mutters. “I could have a bird nesting in there and I wouldn’t know.”

My lips quirk at that image, and I chuckle under my breath. “Somehow, I think you might like that. And be able to pull it off.”

She beams at me through the mirror, then spins in my arms and tilts her chin up to gaze at me.

“That’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

I balk and shake my head once. “What? I tell you nice things all the time!”

“Sure,” she shrugs one shoulder. “Generic things. And those are nice, don’t get me wrong. I know you mean them. But that was so specific. So knowing.” She smiles, and every cell in my body melts for her. “It made me feel seen.”

“I do see you,” I murmur. “Even if I don’t know how to show it or say it all the time.”

She nods slowly, thoughtfully, then pats my chest with her hand.

“Let’s go.”

We meander along a paved path through red and orange trees a couple blocks from her house, and Siobhan periodically closes her eyes and turns her face into the wind. Every time she does, I can’t help but drink in every inch of her. The beauty that radiates from her soul. The fitted crop top that hugs her curves, and the long cardigan that hides them she when tucks it around her. I want to scoop her up and cuddle her for hours. Her bright hair and brighter smile make me feel lighter than I have in years.

A glimmer on the side of the path catches my eye, and I dip down to investigate, worried it might be broken glass. It’s a pretty rock, multi-faceted with sparkly pink, red, and white speckles. I grin and snatch it up, then hand it to Siobhan.

“For you.”

“Ooooh,” she says, her husky voice sending shivers down my spine. “How pretty.”

She goes to drop her hand back to her side, but I catch her wrist, closing my fingers around it.

“I can carry it for you. If you want.”

She quirks a half smile, then allows me to take it back. “Okay, but don’t lose it.”

I drop it in the chest pocket of my flannel and pat it. “Never.”

I see a feather next, right at the edge of the tree line. It’s fuzzy and a few inches long, with soft beige and tan stripes. When I present it to her, she coos over it.