Page 58 of Baseball and Shifters

I trust my mate. He’s probably telling her he’s taken and she’ll storm off any second.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. Instead, she puts her hand on his chest and I see red. I’m all for women supporting women and we lift each other up, not tear each other down, but that bitch just touched my mate.

My fox growls in my head and all sense leaves me as I snarl at the woman who had the audacity to put her hands on what’smine.

“Get your hand off my mate!” I know it’s me saying the words, but I don’t recognize the viciousness in my voice.

She startles away from Bas with wide eyes and he turns to me with a smile the size of Texas on his face. Lucas finally looks up from his comics and his eyes flick between me, Bas, and the girl.

“A little jealous there, Moonbeam?” Lucas chuckles.

“I kind of love the murderous gleam in her eyes,” Bas says, his smile not dimming. “You have nothing to worry about, Firefly. I told her she couldn’t hold a candle to my mate.”

His reassurance and giddiness have me relaxing as my fox huffs and curls up in the back of my head, apparently pacified by his response. The girl disappears while my mates distract me but I’ve suddenly lost the desire to separate her hand from her wrist.

Odd.

“You ready to get out of here, nerd boy? I think our mate is ready to move on,” Bas says, that stupid smile not leaving his face.

“Sure, let’s go somewhere else. Maybe I can get hit on next and she’ll get all possessive over me.” He winks at me and I roll my eyes.

“I did not go all possessive,” I huff.

“Whatever you say, Moonbeam. That was some serious “pissed off female” energy. I bet they felt it on the other side of the market.”

“Whatever,” I grumble, walking away from my insufferable mates. They follow, laughing, and I mutter to myself until I see another sign that makes me stumble to a stop.

“What is it, Firefly?” Bas asks as I stare at the ‘We embroider’sign.

The wheels spin as an idea surfaces. Ignoring my mates questions, I walk up to the table, scanning the items, hoping they’ll have what I’m looking for. I smile when I find a black padded camera strap and a lens cleaning cloth as well.

This time the attendant looks happy to be here and greets me with a smile.

“Find what you’re looking for?”

“You know? I think so. Can I get these embroidered?” I raise my spoils up and hold my breath.

The old man takes them from me and motions me to the side of the booth.

“What do you want on it?” he asks with a kind smile.

“Do you think… would it be too much if…” I stammer, suddenly not sure it’s a good idea.

“We can do anything, sweetheart. I’m sure whatever design you think of isn’t too elaborate. Trust me, we’ve had some interesting demands in the past,” he assures me.

Sighing, I look him in the eye and ask, “can you put a wolf head on the strap and then maybe just his name on the cloth?”

“Easy as pie!” he quips. “Come back in about thirty minutes. I’ll have this done in a jiffy.”

After finishing up my order we move on, stopping in random booths and buying a few things here and there. We’re almost to the end of the aisle when a dress in a booth a few stalls down catches my eye. Without thinking, my feet carry me directly to it, and I reach out to touch the fabric. The yellow fabric is buttery soft and so flowy, I almost want to strip right here and try it on. I pick it up and hold it up to myself, the wrap style dress falls just below my knee and has sleeves that just barely cap the shoulders. I do a spin imagining wearing the dress until I look down and notice the price tag. Regardless of how beautiful the dress is, I won't be paying that much for it. I go to hang the dressback where I found it when Bas comes and snatches it out of my hands.

“Excellent choice, Firefly. I’ll be right back.” He spins on his heel and marches over to the checkout before I have a chance to protest.

When he strides back over to me, a cocky grin firmly in place, he has not one, but four purple plastic garment bags slung over his arm.

“What did you do, Bas? One dress was way too expensive for me, why do you have four?” I glare at my mate.

“What? One from each of your mates.” He shrugs.

---