Chapter 46
Chapter Forty-Six
Aury
The next couple of days pass quickly, with Siobhan and her friends attending tai chi—both of us behaving perfectly professional until after the lesson—while the alphas have to work.
My other classes aren’t half as fun, and I’m almost always thinking about Siobhan, Hayden, or Jayce.
We snag lunch downtown or dinner after work when we can, but it turns out the alphas have an inconsistent schedule.
Jayce’s depends on what contracts the construction company has, how big of a project it is that he’s assigned to oversee, and what the timeline looks like.
Sometimes he works twelve hour days, sometimes he’s done within two.
Hayden, on the other hand, has a more predictable base schedule, but they’re often called in to help cover shifts or busier weekends.
It leaves me alone with Siobhan about half the time, which I don’t hate, but I also don’t love.
I’d like more time all together as a pack.
I’m sure it’s harder on her though, especially with her new bond. I wonder what that feels like, to be bonded to someone and always privy to their feelings. It sounds nice. Not very private, but still nice.
As is our new habit, we all congregate at Siobhan’s house after work.
I’m a little worried about how tonight is going to go.
Tomorrow is the full moon, so we need to talk to her tonight about the plan Hayden and I came up with.
I have a feeling springing it on her last minute tomorrow would be the worst way to go about it, so it has to be tonight.
It must have been an early day for Jayce, since his truck is in the driveway when I pull up.
I knock on the door then open it without waiting.
Siobhan says it’s a hassle to have to answer it every time, so she’d rather we just let ourselves in.
Very Midwestern-small-town of her, and not super safe in my opinion, but she does have a doorbell camera to see who it is, at least.
I wonder if I can get her movement alerts sent to my phone… Actually, I bet Hayden has already cajoled her into sending the alerts to theirs. I make a mental note to double check and get in on that.
Bunny greets me with her usual meows, and I bend down to scoop her up, tickling her belly and sinking my fingers into her fluff. She basically lives here now, and I just bring more of her stuff over every time.
“Hey, Moonbeam.” I grin, my heart instantly lighter seeing her sitting at the kitchen counter.
Bunny leaps onto a nearby chair, and I sweep Siobhan up into my arms and spin her around.
Her long, lacy kimono swirls into the air around us and I nimbly step around it so I don’t get tangled.
She laughs, although it might be half shriek, and flings her arms around my neck to hold on.
My heart soars. I bury my nose in her hair and suck in a deep breath, then settle her back on her feet. “How was your day?”
Hayden walks in at that moment, and Siobhan presses a quick kiss to my lips before bounding over to them.
I saunter after her, then lean against the end of the counter with my hands in my pockets.
Did I roll my sleeves up before I got here with the express purpose of drawing their eyes to my forearms? Maybe.
Does it work as soon as Hayden walks in and sees me? Yes.
Their eyes drop and their jaw ticks, then their gaze scorches a path back up to my face.
I try to keep my smile nonchalant—cool, so cool and chill and unbothered—but I’m not sure it works.
Hayden keeps one arm slung around Siobhan’s waist as they stride up to me, then they grip the back of my neck with their free hand and tug my mouth to theirs.
I grin into the kiss, feeling Hayden doing the same, then they pull away and nudge Siobhan back into my arms so they can greet Jayce. The two murmur quietly together for a moment, foreheads pressed together, then Hayden turns and washes their hands.
I follow their lead as we get to work on the beans that were soaking overnight, intending to make bean and cheese burritos with avocado, pico de gallo, and corn.
“So, I interrupted earlier,” Hayden says, glancing between me and Siobhan. “How was your day, little witch?”
She flushes at the nickname and I lick my lips, wishing I could lick the blush that travels down her neck. Jayce gives me a knowing look from across the counter where he’s chopping the tomatoes.
Siobhan sighs, and all of our attention returns to her. My brows pinch as I frown. “Don’t love how that sigh sounded, Moonbeam. What’s up?”
“Ugh,” she groans. “Just Helen being Helen again.”
“What did she do this time?” Jayce almost growls, but manages to hold it in.
Siobhan proceeds to read through a series of message exchanges between herself and Helen, and it’s no surprise that the tension in the room grows with every word she says.
“She’s manipulating you,” I grind out when she finally stops. “She gaslit you into agreeing to do a ritual you’re not comfortable with.”
“I know that,” Siobhan says, clearly aggravated.
“Are you going to tell her no?” Jayce demands.
Siobhan rolls her eyes and Hayden visibly tenses next to me. “No, I’m not going to back out. I’ll deal with it.”
Jayce’s hand slips when he squeezes the tomato too hard. It shoots off the cutting board and across the counter before landing on the floor at Siobhan’s feet with a wet splat.
We all stare at it. For an eternity, there’s resounding silence.
And then Siobhan snorts.
My eyes shoot up to her face to see both hands covering her mouth, cheeks red around her fingers and eyes watering as she tries not to laugh.
Bunny leaps onto the counter and settles primly next to her, then lets out a scornful sounding meow.
I grin, and that seems to do her in. She giggles, and I chuckle.
Then she starts laughing so hard she ends up bent over with one arm banded around her stomach.
I’m cackling right along with her, while Hayden looks between the two of us with amusement.
Jayce is glowering at all five of us—me, Siobhan, Hayden, Bunny, and the tomato—from his side of the counter.
“Alright, alright,” Hayden says, snatching up the tomato and tossing it in the compost. “You two are ridiculous.”
“Us?!” Siobhan screeches and points a finger at Jayce in outrage. “What about him! He’s the one who threw a tomato at me!”
“I did not!” Jayce splutters. “It slipped! I didn’t throw it. I would never—”
“Oh, it slipped?” Siobhan interrupts, still laughing. “It slipped all the way across the counter—” gasping laugh “and onto the floor—” another gasping laugh “right in front of me?”
Jayce rubs his chest and it’s only then I realize his face isn’t red from anger. I think he’s trying not to join in our laughter.
“Whatever,” he grumbles, turning his face down in an attempt to hide his smile.
Hayden drops a fresh tomato from the fridge onto Jayce’s cutting board, slaps my ass on their way by, then fists their hand in Siobhan’s hair and tilts her head back. Her laughter slows and her perfume floats into the air around us.
“I want more of that,” Hayden says. “More laughter, more teasing, more fun, more you.”
“Yes, alpha,” she breathes.
Hayden’s eyes flare with heat, but they loosen their hold, then smooth out her hair. “Dinner first. And in the meantime, we have a plan for Helen.”
“You… what?” Siobhan says, pausing her avocado mashing to stare between me and Hayden. How does she know that’s who they meant by ‘us’?
Jayce also glances up, brows pinched. “What’s the plan?”
“We’re going to come with you—” I start to say.
“Absolutely not!” Siobhan growls.
“—as your backup videographers and photographers,” I finish.
Siobhan freezes, fists halfway to her hips and eyes not-quite-spitting mad. “As my…?”
Hayden nods. “Aury can take video and Jayce or I will photograph. We figure you can frame it as getting candid shots and behind the scenes footage. If you don’t tell her ahead of time and we just show up and do it, she can hardly say no.”
She blinks once, twice.
“That way you have us there as backup, but not in a threatening way,” I say. “Just as like, this is an extra bonus and isn’t it so awesome we’re there to help with this, type of way.”
“Wait,” she murmurs. Her eyes unfocus as she thinks about it, and then a slow smile stretches across her face.
All three of us lean away, because that is not a nice smile.
That’s an evil witch smile if I’ve ever seen one, and I’ve never seen a look like that on Siobhan’s face.
And I’ve been admiring her gorgeous face for years.
“Especially,” she purrs, focusing her slitted eyes on us, “if one of you goes live and streams it to my followers. We could give them a fun little behind the scenes peek at what it takes to be a witchy content creator. And if that accidentally exposes who Helen truly is to the world?” Siobhan raises her hands and gives an innocent looking shrug that sends a shiver down my spine.
“Oops!” she says in a falsely innocent voice.
“I never want to get on your bad side,” I murmur.
Her grin turns less evil and more mischievous. “I’m sure you would never do anything to deserve that.” The hair on my arms stands on end and my smile drops. I take a half step behind Hayden, and Siobhan straight up cackles.
Jayce grunts, sets down his knife, and strides around the counter. Then he scoops her into his arms and fits his teeth around the curve of her neck. She falls limp instantly.
“Naughty omega,” he growls into her skin. “Don’t freak out our beta like that.”
I stare at them in shock, wondering why on earth my cock is hard right now. Hayden glances down at my crotch, then back up at my face to smirk at me. I swallow hard, so confused.
“Sorry,” Siobhan says, not sounding sorry at all.
Jayce grunts again. “I can tell you’re not sorry. I can also tell you have far too much fun torturing us, pretty omega.”
Torturing us? I have no idea what’s going on anymore.
“I like this plan,” Jayce continues. “You’ll allow me to come and take pictures of you, yes?”
Siobhan glares at him, but he simply holds her tight to his chest and waits patiently for her response. She finally gives in with a huff. “Fine, yes. It’s a good plan.”
The tension drops from the room and Jayce sets her back on her feet. “Perfect omega,” he murmurs, and we all pretend we don’t see how she preens at the praise.