Page 13 of Bonded Through Bite

“I’m not.” He doesn’t say more when he leads us to the door. I dig out my keys and let us inside.

I barely make it past the door before Thea rushes at me from the living room. Her long, curly hair is a mess and she’s wearing a black apron. There’s something green on her cheek and her fingertips are purple.

“Oh god, oh god, oh god, you’re alive. I was so worried.” She crushes me into a hug, still babbling. “You didn’t pick up your phone. I thought… I had to know, so I let myself in and you weren’t here. Where were you? My god, Sammie! Never do this to me ever again.”

“I’m fine,” I assure her and gently push her back so I can breathe. Her eyes flick over my shoulder and widen a bit. She recognizes Rafael immediately and turns to look at me again. I know she can see the lingering effects of the attack, but she can also see the hickeys. She once again looks me up and down.

“You good?” she asks. “Do you need one of my drafts?”

My eyebrows rise in surprise. She usually is very secretive about her practices, but now she’s just throwing that out there in front of Rafael. “Yes, I’m good. The second dose worked,” I tell her and grimace when nausea roils in my stomach. “But if you have something to settle my stomach, I wouldn’t say no.”

“You got it.” She glares at Rafael quickly while taking my hand. “Let’s go to the kitchen and I’ll make you tea.”

“Good to see you too, Thea,” Rafael says, his tone cold. They’ve met only a couple of times at the club and while they were civil to each other for my sake, it would be a big, fat lie to say they got along.

“Yeah, yeah,” Thea huffs. She guides me to a chair at the kitchen island and pulls out her special kettle she keeps in one of the cupboards.

Rafael settles next to me, his eyes taking in everything in my little kitchen. The towels are yellow and a vase full of sunflowers is on the table. On the windowsill there’s a bowl full of herbs, thanks to Thea. I can’t keep anything alive.

My mom swung by two days ago and cleaned everything, so at least I don’t have a pile of dishes in the sink or anything else embarrassing lying around.

Thea is quick and in no time, I have a steaming mug of tea in front of me. She adds the honey and looks me over one more time.

“Call me later. Or I will barge in here again.”

“I promise. I’m sorry I worried you.” I really didn’t mean to worry her. “Love you, Thea.”

“Love you too, Sammie,” she replies and heads for the door. She’s almost out when she stops and turns to glare at Rafael, who has stayed silent this whole time.

“You hurt her and I will find whatever hole you hide in and cut you into tiny, tiny pieces. Got it?”

“Got it,” he says with a solemn face and then she’s out, the door closing behind her.

“Sorry about that,” I mumble and sip my tea.

Rafael only shrugs. “Is the tea helping?”

“Yeah,” I murmur and keep drinking. My stomach settles and warmth spreads over my chest and stomach.

“Witches and their brews,” he mutters and rolls his shoulders like he’s shaking off a chill.

“Thank you for taking me home,” I say, ready for him to go so I can go sleep in the shower.

“You keep trying to get rid of me. It won’t work, darling. I warned you. Once you let me in, that’s it. No going back.”

“But—”

“No buts.”

“I thought you’d be going. This is not what you signed up for.”

He’s got a stubborn look on his face. “You thought wrong. Now, food.”

I blink. I missed something here. “What?”

“Food. Now that your stomach is settled, you need food. Do you want to order in or go out to eat?”

I get up and rinse the empty cup before facing him. He’s glaring at me, still clearly pissed off about something. I just can’t figure out what.