Page 67 of Seized By Magic

Nope. That was me.

And I had no idea what to do about it.

Theo wasn’t acting any differently around me. Would he be walking around half-naked if he knew what I was thinking? If I dropped my mental shield and let him hear my thoughts, would he freak out? Would he say he felt something too?

I would never know because I was pretty positive I would never be able to tell him. I couldn’t ruin the relationship we had. Our friendship meant too much to me.

And now, I had four other people to think about. Every decision had to be made with them in mind. I couldn’t be the reason a wedge was driven between us because I knew what would happen.

They would all choose Saige. Rightfully. They would put her needs first. She wasn’t supposed to be our nucleus. We were all supposed to be equal in this relationship, but we all loved her.

I would never want to hurt her. I would never want to make the bond and this life harder for her. She was already struggling with school, her magic, the entire concept of the bond, and what it meant for our future. I wouldn’t add to that.

So I turned and focused on draining the noodles while catching up on the conversation between Kaden and Theo.

“I sent Masie a text when I got out of the shower, but she hasn’t replied yet. Hopefully, that means Saige is up, and she’s helping her.”

Kaden tasted the sauce and gave a satisfied nod. “Then we’ll eat, finish our homework, and continue to wait.”

He dished up a plate and covered it before placing it in the fridge for Niall as promised.

“Was he not feeling well?” Theo asked as he poured the sauce over his plate.

“No, he was exhausted. I’m pretty sure he's gotten less than five or six hours of sleep since Saige was moved,” Kaden explained.

Theo glanced at me. He told me he felt guilty, as if he wasn't doing enough to help, and I had to convince him that the best thing we could do was carry on.

Not drawing attention to ourselves was the role we were assigned to play. We had to trust Mrs. Hedgings to take care of the school side of things for Saige, and Niall knew what he was looking for. We would have slowed him down. He told us on three separate occasions.

Us being seen in classes, practice, and the dining hall kept the majority of questions at bay. Hannah was acting normally, too. If we were all here, then Saige must only be sick. Not that anyone on campus got sick all that often. There was normally a potion or spell to remedy it, but every so often, someone came down with something unique enough to warrant an extended stay at the clinic.

As far as her teachers and our peers were concerned, that was all that happened to Saige. Maybe she was hesitant about potions because she grew up human. Maybe it was a particularly nasty flu, and she couldn’t keep anything down long enough for a potion to work.

We spread a few rumors that served us and hoped Saige would be back soon.

“We’re going to hear something soon,” I told both of them. “It’s only a matter of time at this point.”

Theo nodded and dropped his eyes to his plate.

I sat next to him at the bar, and the three of us ate in silence.

Sometimes traumatic events brought people together, connected them through mutual emotions and experience. Sometimes it pushed them apart.

In our case, it didn’t do either. Our relationships froze where they were when Saige got sick.

Well, Kaden didn’t feel like as much of an outsider, but having him around was still strange. Part of me wished this whole ordeal brought us closer, for Saige’s sake, but without her, none of us seemed to know what to do or say.

Maybe we didn’t want to change too much without her here.

Maybe no one else noticed. Or cared.

Maybe I was overthinking like I tended to do.

I missed her.

I missed her confiding in me. I missed the feeling of being needed. Of being her person. I hadn’t even shifted. It felt wrong without her. My tiger didn’t want to come out, not without her being there to run her fingers through our fur and whisper her secrets.

Theo jerked next to me and leaned over, pulling his phone from his pocket. I caught a glimpse of the screen right before he answered.

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