I could barely breathe with my mate this close to me. I already knew that she was right for me, but right now, the urge to mate with her in the middle of this store was nearly overwhelming. If I didn't have supernatural self-control, she would be screaming my name while naked right now. Instead, because I was a paragon of virtue, I had the worst case of blue balls I'd ever had and an overwhelming desire to turn her over my knee for running out on me before fucking her until she could no longer move.

"What do you think of these?" Blue sauntered out of the room like some Italian runway model and turned around.

"They're pants," I said.

"Those look great on you!" Jasmine countered, walking forward and touching Blue's upper thigh. "We should buy these." She slid her wallet out of her purse.

"You're not buying his clothes," I growled. The pack could take care of itself, and if it couldn't, I had an outside business that provided for our income. "Not ever."

"You don't own me," she tossed back. She rubbed Blue's upper thigh. I could see in his eyes that he was already wrapped around her little finger, even though they’d barely met. I knew that he could feel the tug of the mate bond. "You won't stop me, will you?"

"Not as long as you promise to keep rubbing me," Blue whispered to her. Fuck my shifter hearing. They were looking at each other like they were already falling in love. I'd met her first, but somehow he was ahead in the relationship stakes. I didn’t like being in second place.

I was used to being respected. I ran a construction company full of shifters. Construction was hard on human bodies, but with our supernatural strength and healing abilities, we were a little bit better at it than the average human would be. And I had different sorts, but being a wolf alpha was always good enough to bring people into line.

Until Jasmine. She'd walked out on me in that restaurant. I didn't know if I should be offended or fall at her feet. She was the first person in a long time to actually deny me anything. If she'd come back to the table to chew me out, we would've had our first fight and I wouldn't have had to watch her so easy and comfortable with Blue in this store. With my beta, she was fine. With me, our personalities clashed. She was the right mate for us, no question, but whether she'd accept it was up in the air.

I watched as Blue gently shouldered her out of the way as he paid for his own pants. No werewolf, beta or no, would let her pay for his own clothing unless the card was linked to his own account. Blue was my second-in-command. My right-hand man. He sweet-talked Jasmine into getting his way and the formerly bored teenage saleswoman was even laughing. Blue had a fun charisma that made everyone love him.

I made everyone fear me. Children didn't run screaming from me in the street, you understand, but I was good at getting my voice heard.

But part of being a leader is knowing when to shut up. And my instincts were screaming that I'd run off my mate if I moved too fast. So I just stood there and watched as the saleswoman carefully wrapped the pants in tissue paper and put it into a box.

Blue was holding the box in one hand while still wearing his stained pants, which had black marks on them, and in his other hand was Jasmine's. And the smile on her face was radiant, so effortlessly beautiful that I could barely breathe. I wanted her to smile like that because of me.

Jealousy sank its sharp claws into my heart. The three of us were meant to be together. We were fated mates. But it seemed like Jasmine wasn't ready for that.

If I were a kind man, I'd leave Jasmine with Blue. They'd fall in love. And with his help, I could get her into my bed, too.

But I was not a kind man. I wasn't courteous. I wasn't going to let Blue encroach on my property, although he had equal rights to her. She was our mate, after all. But there was no way that I'd let him steal the moments we were supposed to have together.

I trailed behind them as they walked toward her car.

"My car," I interjected.

She gave me some stink-eye, flipped me off, and slid inside of her car.

I went to my car and followed her out. I didn't care that I had no idea where her address was or even what her last name was. She was spending tonight with two men, not just one.

When her car came to a stop, it was outside of a pretty little two-story house with pretty flowers around it. Autumn was coming, but her roses were still blooming. Some of the other plants were ready for winter.

She took my breath away when she got out of her car in a graceful movement. I wanted to see her do it again. And again. I had no idea that standing up could be so alluring until I watched her step out of the car.

When she opened the door, she motioned for Blue to come in.

"I'm coming in," I told her.

"I won't stop you, but if you come in, you have to promise to behave."

"I'll behave." Our definitions of behaving might be different, but I'd do my part.

With a moment of hesitation, she let me inside of her home.

For a large family, her home would've been too small. But somehow it fit her personality. There was artwork on the walls and cheerfully colored cushions on the couch.

"Looks like a home," I said.

"Of course," Jasmine said, her voice a little tight. "It's my home."

Blue broke the tension by flopping down on her couch and picking up the remote control. "What do you want to watch?"

"Pick a romantic comedy. It could be a classic. I'm going to pop some popcorn."

I sat down on the other couch, the one that Blue wasn't sprawling on top of. My hands were sweaty because I was nervous about a girl for the first time ever. I wasn't ashamed of the number of girls I'd charmed into bed when I was a little younger, but it had never been particularly hard. Jasmine wasn't going to take one look at my face and shifter body and fall into bed with me.

I could hear the sounds of popcorn popping in the microwave.

"Is this how normal people feel?" I asked Blue too softly for anybody but a shifter to hear.

"It's a normal date, if that's what you're asking." We had gone to different schools. My father had wanted me to experience the jungle of public school. Blue had been cosseted as a college prep school. "Lighten up. I think you're trying too hard. Your hands are shaking."

I looked down at my hands. That was another first. I was a wreck and it was just our first date. She'd rejected the restaurant plan. We were at her home now, which was definitely good. I wondered if she had any high proof liquor like grappa. I couldn't get drunk all that easily, but I could try very hard.

I wandered into the kitchen. She didn't see me for a moment, her back turned to me, so I just admired the view. The swell of her hips under her small waist was so tempting that I wanted to go over and sink my teeth into her hip. But it would scare her, so I didn’t, no matter how hard the wolf pushed me.

"Almost done," I commented as I watched the microwave hit ten seconds.

She jumped a little. "You scared me." She swatted my chest lightly with the back of her hand.

I wanted to kiss her. Her brown eyes were so warm and full of laughter. She was much more playful than the women I was used to. Blue could handle this sort of thing. I found myself at a loss, because women didn't really act like this around me. I normally controlled the conversation.

"Can I help?"

"It's just popcorn," she replied. "I'll throw it in a bowl, grab a popcorn shaker, and call it a day."

"Popcorn shaker?"

"Yeah, I like flavored popcorn." She took the steaming bag out of the microwave, threw it into a giant glass bowl, and picked up two shakers from inside of the spice cabinet. "Come on."

She marched into the living room with her popcorn in tow. I followed her in. Blue's eyes were half shut. She jumped onto the same couch as him, nudging him with her thigh. As soon as she sat down, Blue was pulling her into his lap and giving me a smug look. I rolled my eyes. My beta wanted to take victories where he could. Jasmine set down the bowl of popcorn as Blue hit the play button on the movie.

I fell asleep during the first scene when the main character broke her heel.