Page 45 of Game Over

Jesse scoffed. “Yeah.”

“But, it is what happened,” Tara said. “And now we need to… move forward.”

I nodded, but Jesse looked out the window. “So you guys are pack now, and I’m just… what?”

“My partner,” Tara said quickly, squeezing his arm. “You know I love you Jesse, and this doesn’t change that.”

They shared a moment that I almost felt like I was intruding on. Jesse’s face was still fairly neutral, but there was an intensity in his eyes, one that told me they believed her.

He sighed. “Okay. So then, what about… you guys?”

Tara looked at me then. “Well, Charlie and I are… mated. We’re… also together.”

Her words made my heart pound.Together.The word stuck to me.

Jesse, however, did not seem so easily swayed. “I get that you’re bonded, but he hasn’t even taken you out on a date. You met him yesterday. He can’t just waltz in here and claim you like some heathen.”

Each word stung as it hit its mark, but they were only partially true. Did Tara want to tell them that we’d known each other before? I was leaving her the lead for now. She chewed in her lip, her indecision obvious.

It was when I decided to step in, at least for now. “Technically, I didn’t mark anyone,” I said, with a smirk that didn’t quite reach my eyes.

Jesse didn’t find it quite amusing. “Either way, you guys know nothing about each other. You can’t just say you’re together.”

“Jess,” Tara started. “I know it’s not conventional, but we are… mated. And…”

“I have no plans on just… being together,” I supplemented. “I will obviously take her on dates and do all the normal things. I’m not a dickhead.”

He softened at that just a bit. “I didn’t say you were.”

The silence was tense around us. “So Tara and I will go on a date.”

“Fine,” Jesse said, seeming far from satisfied.

“Great,” Tara said, trying to feign some enthusiasm. “Can’t wait.”

A datewith Charlie was just about the last thing on my mind when Jesse was still stomping around irritated.

Well, at least that's the impression I was getting from his texts. God, we really needed to move in together already. He had this tendency to clam up when he was annoyed by something, which, honestly I sort of understood… but it did feel a little bit like being iced out. And I didn’t love that.

Hard to ignore somebody when they were right there all the time.

Right?

But I wasn’t someone who went back on my word, and knowing that Charlie and I really needed to talk about… well..everything…I got dressed in an inviting black sundress and curled my hair all the same.

It’d been—I mean a while,obviously—since I’d been on a first date.

Plus, this wasn’t the usual ‘let’s grab dinner and drinks’ first date. This was time spent with my alpha. Solidifying our bond. Getting to know each other.

I was a little nervous, a little excited and a whole lot anxious—a group of feelings I knew Charlie was experiencing too thanks to our bond. I could feel him at the fringes of my consciousness, both of us trying to keep out of each other's way as much as possible.

I didn’t… I mean I hadn’tmeantto bond him. Not really. It was a mix of heat hormones and the scent match and… everything else compiling into a snitty omega fit that had long term consequences for both of us. If anything, I was embarrassed and more than a little ashamed of the way I’d acted.

I love Jesse, I trusted him. There wasn’t a single reason for me to feel possessive of some alpha I barely knew, to resource guard him like a fucking chewtoy.

Or like how Inky was with one of those wet food tube treats.

All growling and swiping with claws and yeah, there was biting involved.

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