Page 74 of Bonded By Tea and Tarot

His lips twitch and his eyes dart to my mouth, then he looks back up and meets my gaze, uncertainty flashing in his. He only hesitates a moment though, and then he surges to his feet and presses his lips to mine.

“You’re mine?” I say, intending it to be a statement, but it comes out as a question.

“I’m yours,” he replies between kisses. Then he pulls back and flips the shower on, picking me up again and stepping in once the water is warmed up.

He tips my head back into the spray, then snatches up the shampoo before I can. I roll my eyes, but it feels good to be pampered every now and then, so I’ll allow it this time.

“So I sent you into a rut?” I say, closing my eyes as he scrubs his fingers into my scalp.

“Mm,” he grunts, and I chuckle. He spins me around and tips my head back into the water again. I open my eyes to see his pale chest dappled with blond hair and covered in freckles only inches from my face. Before I can truly appreciate the view, he’s dumping conditioner on my head and I squawk in alarm.

“That is not how you use conditioner!”

“What? What’s wrong?” He looks like he’s worried I’m going to hurt him, and I roll my eyes again. Dramatic alpha.

“You comb it through, not plop it on my scalp. Like this,” I say, demonstrating how I comb my fingers through my hair to gently disperse the conditioner.

“Oh.” He attempts to scoop up the puddle on my head, then proceeds to carefully slide his fingers through my long locks.

I groan in appreciation, only realizing I closed my eyes again when something bumps my hip and I open my eyes to look. His hard cock is bobbing between us, and I gasp, my perfume exploding into the air around us.

My bond mark is a shiny, bright silver-white scar. A crescent shape on one side of his cock, right in the middle of the shaft. A vicious, brutal claim.

“Holy shit,” I breathe. Then I promptly drop to my knees, intending to get a closer look—and a taste—of my new favorite cock.

“I don’t think so, pretty omega,” Jayce says, scooping me up under my arms as quickly as I fell to my knees. I frown, and he huffs a soft laugh. “You need to eat. You’ve lost too much weight from your heat.”

“What,” I scoff. “I have not.”

“Have too,” he says.

I gape at him. Is he seriously arguing with me like that? “It’s been three days. I haven’t lost any weight, and if I have, it’s negligible. You’re being over bearing.”

He narrows his eyes and his jaw flexes. “Almost four, actually. I’m taking care of you. You need to eat.”

My walls go up without me intending it. My expression hardens, and I take a step back from him. “I’ve been taking care of myself for years, Jayce, and if this is what you think being bonded to me means, you better try again.”

I turn and step out of the shower, snagging a towel from the warmer and wrapping it around me.

“Wait,” he says, turning off the shower and scrambling out after me.

I glance over my shoulder only to see the big alpha looking so crushed, so rejected and hurt that I worry for a second he’s going to cry. Confusion is pulsing down the bond from his end, and I force myself to slow down. He doesn’t understand.

“I’ll eat,” I say, and his shoulders loosen. “Just… You can’t start treating me like a child, Jayce.”

“I know,” he says, looking down. I follow his gaze to see him curling his toes into my fluffy lavender bath mat. He swallows so hard I can hear it, then he somehow looks up at me, despite being nearly a foot taller than I am. “I’ll do my best to keep my instincts in check.”

I soften, because I know how hard it can be to fight those instincts. And with a new bond, they’re going to be riding both of us hard for the next couple weeks.

“Thank you.” I step forward and offer him the second towel.

I find my phone on the charger in the kitchen where everyone is gathered, but when I open it to check my notifications, I groan. “What the hell?”

During my heat, Helen posted a new video that’s gone viral and countless people have sent it to me and tagged me in the comments.

“What’s up?” Aury asks, sidling up next to me so he can peek over my shoulder. I tilt it so he can see, then press play.

Helen’s abrasive voice blares at us as she praises herself for her previous “healing” spell and once again proposes a collab. “Now that Siobhan is all healed up, should we finally do that collab we’ve been hinting at? Combine my magic with her tarot? I bet we could make some awesome content for you guys. What do you say?”