He watched them, so happy together, and wondered if he and Sarah would ever be that happy. The dream this afternoon had disturbed him on more than one level. Sarah’s defiance had startled him, turned him on and hurt him, all at the same time. Her pain had struck him deep, made him question his decisions like never before, even more than seeing her with Jim had. The only thing he could come up with was that his Puma was bound and determined to have him finally claim her as his own.
Even in dreams she’d never argued with him like that before. He’d been telling dream-Sarah the truth.
He couldn’t bring himself to lie to her, even there. He hadn’t slept with Chloe. He hadn’t been with a real woman in a long time. Hell, even his dreams were faithful to her! How could she think for even a second that he would betray their bond that way? The pain in her eyes had been too much for him to bear, and when she’d told him he didn’t have her any longer, he’d nearly broken down and ended his torment, marking her for all to see as his, if only in his own mind.
He had to stop this. He had to remember that they were only dreams, or that pain he’d seen in her would drive him mad.
Why had his dream of her accused him of infidelity? That really bothered him. Was he secretly attracted to Chloe? He tried to picture kissing her and shuddered in revulsion.
Nope. That isn’t it. The thought of touching any female flesh but Sarah’s was revolting. So why did Dream Sarah accuse me of that? What was his subconscious trying to tell him? Could his closeness with Chloe be the root of his problems with Sarah? But why?
He shook his head and wondered what Sarah’s dreams were like. How did he act in them? Did he bring her flowers and candy? Did he make sweet, gentle love to her? Did they argue constantly? One thing was for sure. He very much doubted he spanked her until she came.
He stopped, stunned by a single, horrifying thought. What if she doesn’t dream of me at all?
He heard Sarah’s tinkling laughter and turned towards the entrance of the restaurant, compelled to catch a glimpse of her. She was shaking water out of her hair, giggling up at the walking dead man beside her.
She was soaked through, her short red sundress clinging to her curves in a way guaranteed to raise the blood pressure of any male who wasn’t gay, showing off legs Gabe had felt wrapped around his waist more than once. Gabe stepped forward, instinctively looking for a way to shield his mate from other men’s eyes.
Before he could reach her Jim led her right over to the towels and began gently drying her off. “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart, I’ll just buy it for you.”
“Thank you, Jim.” She gazed up at the soon-to-be corpse with affection. Affection that rightfully belonged to him. When Jim’s towel-covered hands drifted dangerously close to her cleavage Gabe snarled, unable to hold himself back a second longer.
That’s it. Dickhead’s gonna find out what that towel tastes like.
The towel lifted just enough to reveal the side of Sarah’s neck, halting Gabe in his tracks. His entire being was focused on the mark on her neck.
The mark he’d put there not two hours before.
He stared at it, wondering what the fuck was going on. How the hell was that possible? He hadn’t actually bitten her! It had been a fucking dream, for God’s sake!
She caught him staring at her. Her expression turned wary, and her hand moved up to cover the mark.
He caught her gaze with his own, trapping her, mentally demanding answers she couldn’t possibly give him.
When her eyes lowered submissively, he nearly cursed out loud. His cock twitched, his erection growing to painful proportions behind his jeans despite their cold dampness.
She’d somehow been there in his dreams, in his arms, writhing on his cock, every damn night for months
. And she’d done everything he’d asked of her .
She blushed, pulling back, away from him and closer to the man who was going to become cat chow.
Gabe felt the purr of his Puma, a feral sound, one that he’d become familiar with over the last few months. Oh, hell no, baby. You can try to run, but I will hunt you down. And when I do I’m going to have a few things to say about your relationship with Dr. Deadman.
You’re mine.
Chapter Four
Gabe was watching her with obvious irritation as she settled in next to Jim, his growl of disapproval so low only the other shifters could hear him. The one time she’d dared glance at him, he’d smiled that sexier-than-hell grin of his, the one she’d seen only in her dreams, and held up one finger. She could almost hear him in her head.
That’s one.
He virtually ignored Chloe, who wavered between sending him questioning looks and smiling sweetly at Jim, who in turn ignored her in favor of Sarah.
This weird love triangle was beginning to look suspiciously like a rectangle. Gabe wanted Chloe (and Sarah, if the glare he kept steadily on Jim was any indication). Sarah wanted Gabe, Chloe wanted Gabe (and Jim, from the lustful looks she kept sending his way). Jim wanted…Emma? Maybe? The vibe she got off the vet was strange. He watched Emma when he thought she wasn’t looking with a sort of wistful regret, but when he looked at Chloe, he felt guilt, and enough hot lust to melt paint off the space shuttle.
He really needed to get over the fact that Chloe was only twenty-two and just make a move on her. If Gabe lets him, that is. Because despite his glare at Jim he’d seated Chloe next to him with a gentle smile he hadn’t bothered to give his mate.
She sighed and took another sip of her margarita. A love hexagon just doesn’t have the same ring to it somehow. She needed a distraction or she was going to wind up with a migraine from all the tension at the table. Luckily it wasn’t hard to be distracted in a restaurant like The Rainforest Café. Every few minutes the “animals” would squeal, squeak, roar or shout. It was hard to hear yourself think, let alone make conversation with someone else, but she and Jim managed it, mostly by leaning into each other and yelling in each others’ ears.
If it wasn’t for Gabe and Chloe glaring at the two of them it would have been a lot of fun.
“I think lover-boy is pissed at me,” Jim shouted discreetly in her ear over the “thunderstorm”. “He looks like he wants to beat me with my own head.”
She giggled, leaning into him. “Wouldn’t that be kinda hard?”
He cupped her cheek, conveniently hiding their mouths from Gabe. “Not if he rips it off first.” His lips touched her ear. “He’d probably have it encased in resin and use it as a bowling ball so the pain would be eternal.”
“I don’t think you’d be feeling much pain in your bowling ball.” She tapped his chin with her finger.
“Now, if he decided to use your hollowed-out balls as castanets?”
He blinked and quickly hid his face against her shoulders. “I’m frightened. Hold me?”
She threw her head back and laughed, ignoring the anger beating at her skin like a living thing, desperate to break through the façade of cheer she held in front of her like a shield. She knew whose anger she was feeling, but she completely ignored her mate in favor of the human sitting next to her. Quite frankly, after months of ignoring Sarah, Gabe deserved to see what it felt like.