Sebastian

I couldn't process a word Samantha was saying. I heard what she was yelling but wasn't really listening. I was too focused on what my other senses were telling me.

Both my eyes and my nose told me the same thing: my fated mate had been intimate with the Omega. His scent was all over her. The rich smell of her arousal was faint but unmistakable, suggesting she'd been very wet not long ago. Her lips were swollen from kissing. Her hair was a sexy mess from rolling in the sheets.

The only reason why I could keep the jealousy at bay was that Samantha did not bare a mating mark on her neck.

I was also glad she had been satisfied at least once, albeit not by me. The panther had done one thing right, I gave him that.

"Hellooo? Earth to sasquatch!" Samantha snapped her fingers in front of my face, two steps away from her as I was standing.

She had to go on her tiptoes to achieve that, since her head barely reached the level of my chest. Next to my burly physique, her lush figure looked so fragile...

When I made her mine, I had to make sure I didn't use my full strength, lest I hurt this delicate gift Mother Nature had bestowed upon me. Unlike the Omega, however, I was going to make Samantha orgasm more than once.

Then, while she writhed in the throes of passion, I was going to give her my mating mark. That way she would feel no pain when I linked us together for life. I would give her only pleasure, and such that would erase the memory of the Omega from her mind. And then I–

"Sebastian!"

My name on her lips returned me to the present moment, where her eyes were throwing daggers at me.

I would have those eyes darken with passion soon enough. Now I had to face the reason for her anger, which required me to hear what she was yelling about.

"Finally, you use my actual name," I said for starters.

Before I could say more, she erupted again.

"I'll use your name when you start acting like a normal, reasonable person, and not an instinct-driven animal! First you disregard my free will yesterday. Then you disregard my wish to sleep alone in my own apartment. And now you barge in here uninvited because the pawn you sent to take Eric away left empty-handed. All because your tiger considers me his property, normal human behavior be damned!" She barely took a breath in before continuing. "Guess what, Sebastian: I'll keep calling you sasquatch!"

"Fine," I grunted. If calling me names would make her feel better...

"Fine?" Her eyebrows shot up. "Won't you at least pretend to be sorry for your behavior?"

I frowned. "Why should I be sorry? I worry about you and act accordingly, darlin'."

She went red in the face. "I'm not your darling!" She poked me with a finger in the chest, her eyes meeting mine in a challenge few males would dare issue to me.

Lust surged through my vanes as unexpectedly as the crackle of electricity that her brief touch sparked between us.

She pulled her hand away in shock and took a step back from me. Whatever she saw written on my face made her blush.

The fact that she was flushed added fuel to my desire.

"There was nothing to worry about," she resumed her ardent accusations, "until you tried to have my guardian – who you set me up with, by the way - arrested!"

I snorted. "It was you who set yourself up with this 'guardian', choosing a criminal over me and Dean. I did my duty as a law-abiding citizen once the night you had agreed to spend with him was over. Or should I have acted like a caveman and done whatever I want?"

She growled in frustration, which only made her more irresistible. "Don't twist my words from yesterday, Sebastian! You know darn well this is not what I meant!"

"Wasn't it?"

She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring.

The only thing that move achieved was push her breasts up, until now barely outlined under the ugly onesie Samantha was wearing. Not that the ridiculous clothing had managed to keep my lustful thoughts at bay thus far.

Again, something must have shown on my face, because she immediately moved her hands to her hips.

"You know there was nothing law-abiding in how you kidnapped me yesterday. Just like you know Eric is no criminal. He drove those assholes around, so what? He did it for his sister's sake, to be accepted in the pack where she had the crappy luck to be mated. He was worried about her and acted accordingly, and no one got hurt in the process." She raised a brow at me. "Sound familiar?"

A smile tugged at my lips and I passed a hand through my beard. "So you admit that me kidnapping you out of worry, without anyone being hurt in the process, is no crime?"

She gaped, temporarily at a loss for words. "That's... That's different!"

My smile grew: Samantha was losing the argument and she knew it. "How so?"

"Eric did what he did for his sister, and I am no one to you!"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "A fated mate is sacred. The bond between fated mates is sacred."

She sighed. "When will you get this into your thick head? I am not your fated mate. I have not accepted your mating mark. There is no sacred bond."

"Yet."

She rolled her eyes and threw her hands up.

I was right there with her on the exasperation part. "You can't just ignore the connection between us. You let the Omega in your bed because of that pull, despite him aiding the criminals you barely escaped from yesterday. Now you owe me and Dean, who have shown you nothing but care and protection, at least the chance to woo you."

Samantha stayed silent for a bit.

Looking for new arguments, I bet. Why was she so stubbornly against giving me and Dean a chance? She had said otherwise last night, but I knew she had packed a travel bag after meeting us at the diner. I saw it at the back seat of her car this morning during my visit to the crime scene.

"Don't compare yourself to Eric," Samantha eventually said. "He is an Omega, not a dominant male trying to control my life. He is a sweet guy, otherwise I wouldn't have trusted him enough to allow him in my bed, the pull between fated mates be damned."

I growled low in my chest. The Omega was sweet, she said, implying I wasn't. And she was right. But she didn't need all three of her fated mates to be copies of each other, did she now? Dean could give her sweet. I was going to give her something different.

And if she trusted me, the dominant male, enough when alone me with to yell in my face, issue eye challenges and poke me in the chest, then she should have seen this coming.

I captured her lips with mine. Took the distance separating us, cupped her soft face with both my hands and bent down to steal a kiss.

A jolt shot though my system at the contact, setting all my nerve endings ablaze. The fact that Samantha slapped my hands barely registered.

I did let go of her at the slap, of course.

But then I saw her cheeks flushed. Her chest rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath, amber eyes locked with mine. Her not stepping away from me, leaving our bodies a breath apart.

So when I also smelled her arousal perfuming the air, I dove back in.

This kiss was hungrier, deeper, especially after her lips parted invitingly against mine. I tangled my tongue with hers, dizzy with the taste of Samantha.

I didn't give a fuck that the Omega's scent was mixed with hers. For I would replace his with mine soon enough.

I moved one of my hands from the nape of her neck down to the small of her back to pull her closer. The feel of her body flush against mine made me growl in satisfaction.

She tensed and pushed against my chest.

This time I growled in protest but found the willpower to let go of her.

I would not take what wasn't given freely, as much as my tiger begged to disagree: my fated mate smelled ready for the taking.

Samantha quickly stepped back, shaking her head. "This is madness!"

Fuck. Were we back to arguing again? "Why?"

She didn't reply. Instead, she moved away until the couch was between us and she wrapped her arms around herself protectively.

I exhaled deeply to steady my racing heart. "Darlin'–"

"This isn't me." She sounded as if she was talking more to herself than me. "I don't make out with strangers, least of all two within an hour. I'm not a hussy!"

I grunted. Samantha was back to being unreasonable. I should be the voice of reason then, but it was hard to when most of my blood was centered in my cock, which was painfully straining my jeans.

"I would not be a stranger if you get to know me."

She sighed. "Okay. But I already told you I need time and space, Sebastian. If you would just give me a day or two..."

Yeah, right. So she could put as much miles between us as her tiny car would allow, before Dean and I came looking.

Fuck being reasonable. "You're having dinner with me tonight."

Her brows shot up.

"Yes, you heard me right, darlin'. You and I are going on a date."