Page 57 of Bonded By Tea and Tarot

I drove his truck here, only stopping at the corner store to run in and grab a couple boxes of protein bars, a bunch of bananas, and every flavor of electrolyte water they had. His muscles are coiled, and I’m more than a little worried he might fall into rut. I kick off my shoes, then bend and force Jayce to pick up one foot at a time so I can wrangle his off, too.

Meowing greets us when we step further inside, and I look up to see a fluffy black cat with glowing yellow eyes sitting on the back of the couch. It leaps off when it sees me looking, landing lightly on the carpeted floor, then holds its tail high and waltzes down the hallway, looking back once as though to see if I’m following. As that’s the direction the throaty moans are coming from, I decide to do so, and I tug Jayce along with me.

Her scent strengthens, and my mouth starts watering. Jayce licks his lips, then tries to shove past me into the room. I grab the back of his shirt with one hand and grip his biceps with the other, using his momentum to swing him around and slam his back against the wall. He bares his teeth at me, and I brace my forearm against his throat. It takes all of my body weight to hold him there, and I lean forward, then bite his jaw—barely not breaking the skin.

He stills, but low snarls still rumble in his chest.

“Jayce.”

He doesn’t respond. His eyes are fixed on what I assume to be the bedroom door. I can’t let him in there like this. I don’t trust him not to try to bond her; he’s clearly not in his right mind.

“Jayce!” I bark, and his eyes snap to mine.

His dominance punches out of him, almost enough to make me stagger backwards, but I let my alpha dominance flare just in time to keep a grip on him. I narrow my eyes, then clamp my free hand on his jaw, fingers pressing into his cheeks enough to hurt.

“Stop,” I demand, ensuring my alpha bark comes out with the words. “Come back to me. Focus, Jayce.”

He shudders, and his pupils shrink, then dilate, then shrink again.

“Good.” I loosen my hold on his jaw and take some of my weight from his neck. “Stay with me. I need to know you won’t hurt her.”

He comes back fully at that, his head jerking back and slamming against the wall.

“Never,” he growls.

I search his eyes, then nod, satisfied that his gaze is clear. He’s still tight, but in a different way now. A more controlled tension than the near-rut he was slipping towards.

“Alphas?” A raspy plea reaches us, and we both turn towards the closed door.

“Get in here,” Aury calls.

With my hand on the knob, I side-eye Jayce. “No bonding.”

He meets my gaze and gives me a decisive nod.

I turn the handle, and her scent is syrupy in the air. Definitely a heat spike, maybe even fully blown heat. We won’t know until one of us knots her and it does—or doesn’t—subside.

“Little witch,” I purr, shucking off my shirt and pants as I stride over to the bed. My cock was hard as soon as Aury called and I heard her riding him through the phone. It’s painful now though, begging to be freed and to sink into her wet heat, but I keep my boxers on for the moment.

Her blue eyes are glazed with lust when she turns her head to look at me, then Jayce. He’s also down to his tight black boxers, his cock already leaking and forming a wet spot on the front. She’s still on top of Aury, but it looks like he’s ready to tap out.

“Took you long enough,” he groans, then rolls them over so her back is on the bed beneath him. “Okay Moonbeam, your alphas are here.” He strokes his hand down the side of her face, carefully swiping her sweaty hair back.

“Water,” Jayce says, thrusting a bottle of pink vitamin-enhanced water towards her.

She wrinkles her nose and instead reaches for his waistband. She twists and wiggles on the bed, using his boxers to pull herself closer to the edge, then she tugs them down, all the while ignoring Jayce’s attempts to get the bottle into her hands. She swats it away, spilling water across the sheets, and when he bends over, removing his hips—and cock—from her reach, she lets out the cutest little omega growl I’ve ever heard.

Jayce growls back, but it doesn’t hold any weight, so she ignores it. He gently cups her chin in his hand. She settles for half a second, nuzzling into his hold, but as soon as the bottle touches her lips she jerks away, spilling even more water down the side of the bed.

“Damn it,” he mutters, flicking water off his hand.

Siobhan ignores the water now dripping down her chin and turns to me instead. She sticks her bottom lip out and looks up at me through her lashes and goddamn I don’t think I can resist her. I take a step forward, one hand on my boxers, ready to give her whatever the hell she wants, when her tongue meets the bare skin above my waistband. I groan and my cock twitches in its fabric prison.

“Are you serious?” Aury says. I don’t know who he’s talking to, but it’s enough to have me pausing. “She needs a knot in her pussy. We ate and drank a few hours ago, and I don’t think letting her lick you is going to help anything right now.”

I narrow my eyes at the insolent beta, but he glares back, non-repentant.

He does have a point.