Only In My Dreams

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.

Jim’s smile tickled the bite mark Gabe had left behind. “When did you get a hickey, Sarah?”

Her eyes went wide. “Um…”

“Did you burn yourself with curlers or something just to make him jealous?” He leaned back and put his arm around her shoulders, smiling at Gabe. “Gotta love a smart woman, eh, Gabriel?” he shouted across the table.

Gabe smiled back, showing more teeth than should be humanly possible. “Some women are smarter than others, I’ll grant you that.”

Her lashes lowered at the look on his face. She had the feeling that if they’d been in their dream her ass would be burning right now.

“Sarah? I need to speak to you privately.”

She looked up at Gabe and noted the smile had turned into fierce determination. She opened her mouth to reply, not quite sure what she was going to say. Her heart was pounding, partly in fear, partially in anticipation.

Jim interrupted her before she could speak, kissing her cheek. “Are we still going dancing after dinner?”

She smiled sweetly up at Jim, taking the out he handed her, ruthlessly ignoring the seething man across the table from her. She knew at some point there would be a reckoning, but for now she was going to enjoy the support of her friend. Something about the way Gabe was watching her reminded her of what he’d been training to do for the last several months. “Sounds great!”

Jim picked up her hand and kissed her fingers again. A small shiver went through her, but not because of Jim. The two fingers Gabe tapped against his plate were a warning, and she knew it. Luckily the restaurant’s animated animals chose that moment to begin their screams, distracting Jim from the golden-eyed glare Gabe was sending his way. That had to be giving him a headache. She’d never seen a Puma’s eyes remain gold for so long.

Gabe’s sudden turn-around was startling, and she didn’t quite trust it. He’d spent the better part of two months ignoring her in favor of Chloe, but a couple of hours of Sarah flirting with Jim had him doing a countdown to a spanking? Hah!

The Pride leaders were standing, laughing and joking about dancing the night away over at Universal Studio’s nightclubs. Her plan was to dance and have fun with the blond god next to her. She would deal with the consequences tomorrow. Tonight she had a date with a good friend and a little white pill that guaranteed her a dreamless sleep.

Gabe stood next to one of the many sofas that surrounded the dance floor and watched as his mate shimmied to the music with Jim. Part of him wanted to storm over and cart her off into the sunset.

The other part was stuck listening to Simon and Adrian while he sipped a beer and pretended to listen.

At least she wasn’t dirty dancing with the asshole.

Actually, he couldn’t call what she was doing dancing. She looked like she was having spasms. He hid his grin behind his beer as he watched her happily gyrating to the music. The look on Jim’s face as he watched his partner was priceless. He doubted the man would stay on the dance floor with her for much longer. He at least seemed to know what he was doing. Sarah, on the other hand…

“She looks like someone’s poking her ass with a stick.” Simon cocked his head, watching as Sarah’s body bowed in a way that should have been physically impossible while standing. In fact, Gabe was surprised she was still standing.

Adrian shook his head sadly. “What I want to know is, does she thinks she’s actually dancing?”

Simon cocked his head the other way, like he was studying some strange alien life-form and didn’t quite know what to make of it. “That’s dancing? I thought it was some sort of weird religious thing. I know I saw a few of those moves on the Discovery Channel.”

“Yes, but were they done by humans?”

Gabe turned back to his two friends, not surprised to see them smirking at him. “Do I make fun of your mates?”

“Have any of them given you such a good reason to?” Adrian took a sip of his own beer, his gaze straying over to his pale fiancée. She sat on the sofa behind them, her sensitive eyes carefully shielded from the strobe lights by big white sunglasses. She was laughing and chatting with Becky and Belle. Rick hovered over the women, a small smile on his face as he listened to them chat, his massive arms crossed over his chest, hard, cold eyes softening as they rested on Belle.

“I don’t think any of our mates would be, ah, brave enough to step out onto the dance floor like that,”

Simon laughed, his own gaze straying to Becky’s wild head of curls. The big glass artist’s face was full of happiness.

Gabe rolled his eyes, his attention drifting back to Sarah. Jim was laughing at something Sarah had said or done, but he kept his body at a distance, possibly fearing for his limbs. Gabe was okay with the way they were dancing together…for now. The moment a slow song came on, however, he was going to be on the dance floor. There was only so much he could stomach. Seeing Sarah in another man’s arms was not an option. “I still need to mark her.” And he had to do it before Jim got any closer to Sarah than he already was.

“You should have taken care of that before you left.” Gabe shot Simon a look. The Beta slammed one large hand down on Gabe’s shoulder. “What the hell were you waiting for?”

Gabe grimaced. “The Hunter who trained me told me it would make things a lot more difficult for both of us.” He ran his fingers through his hair wearily. “I’m beginning to think taking his advice was a huge mistake.”

Simon frowned. “Damn. Six months, knowing who your mate was but leaving her unclaimed? The dreams must have been driving you insane. I know they’re what finally made me realize what my Puma had been telling me for months. I just wish I’d acted sooner, before she got hurt.”

Gabe nodded. Simon would probably never forgive himself for not claiming Becky before Livia, the rogue Puma who had tried to make Emma and Becky’s lives hell, had managed to hurt her. “Seeing the hickey I gave her in one of those dreams was surreal. It just solidified for me how big a mistake it was.”

It took him a moment to realize that the two men were staring at him, shock on their faces. “What?”

Adrian was the first to recover. “You bit her in a dream and the mark showed up for real?”

“Hickey. I gave her a hickey.” What would have happened if he had marked her in the dream? Would they be going through this now?

“Whatever.” Adrian frowned. “As far as I know, that’s impossible.”

Gabe shrugged. That jived with what Gabe knew, but nevertheless the mark was there. “Obviously not.”

Simon kept watch on the women while Adrian and Gabe chatted, but Gabe could tell they had the Beta’s full attention. The fact that the Alpha and Beta had been made, not born, meant that the two men occasionally ran across some aspect of being a shifter that was still new to them.

And wouldn’t he have loved to be a fly on the wall when Jonathon Friedelinde, the old Alpha, had bitten the two men? He wondered how all of them had handled the inevitable arousal that would have spiked between them. He’d heard the sensation was incredibly intense. He figured their girlfriends must have walked funny for a week afterwards, but no way in hell would he say that out loud where Emma and Becky could hear it considering they’d been dating Livia and Belle at the time.

Come to think of it, perhaps he shouldn’t mention it in front of Rick, either.

Adrian shrugged. “Well, as far as I know, the mate dreams are just that: dreams. What you do in them has no impact on your mate whatsoever.”

“I know that’s how it normally works, but she knew it was there. She even covered it with her hand.”

Gabe watched as Sarah attempted to twirl and nearly fell on a nearby couple. Jim’s quick hands stopped her from a nasty fall. Gabe grumbled and wondered if he’d actually have to thank the asshole.

“Could it have something to do with the fact that she’s the Omega?”

Gabe felt everything in him still. For the third time that night he was stunned. “Excuse me?” Omega?

She’s the Omega? Since when?

Then something else occurred to him. But that means… He turned, glaring at his mate as she danced with Jim. That means she knows exactly how I feel about her being with Jim. Omegas were the heart of the Pride. Just as the Marshal could feel the physical well-being each Pride member, the Omega could sense their emotional state. Together they allowed the Alpha to zero in on individual problems within the Pride that he might otherwise overlook.

His grin was feral as he caught her eye and held up three fingers. Oh, baby. That’s three. He wasn’t surprised to see the hint of wariness on her face before she turned her attention back to her dance partner.

“Yeah. It’s been informally confirmed. We all agreed to hold off on the formal announcement until after you got back from your training.” Simon shrugged, looking vaguely uncomfortable.

“Really.”

“Gabe.” He turned back to Adrian, who was frowning at him. “You weren’t here. From everything we saw and heard you were pursuing Chloe, not Sarah.”

“What?” His jaw clenched. Sarah had leveled the same accusation at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Simon began ticking things off on his fingers. “The bracelet you gave Chloe for Christmas when you didn’t bother giving Sarah a gift.” Gabe flushed. He had a present for Sarah, he’d just wanted to give it to her in person. “You talk to Chloe almost every day, but don’t call Sarah at all.”

“Sarah stopped answering her phone.” Gabe was becoming pissed. Even the Pride leaders thought he’d betrayed his mate with another woman?

Things were worse than he thought.

“And Chloe constantly talks about you and what you’re doing, while Sarah knows next to nothing.”

He frowned. That wasn’t what he’d intended at all. Chloe was supposed to befriend Sarah, keep her company. When she’d stopped answering the phone he’d become worried about her. And from what Chloe had said Sarah was spending a lot of time with…

Aw hell. Please tell me that Chloe didn’t deliberately sabotage my relationship with Sarah. “Christ, what a mess. I have to fix this.”

Simon pointed with his chin towards the dance floor. “Go dance with your woman. Sounds like they’re about to start a slow song.” The big artist winked, grinning. “And with all those bodies dry-humping out there no one will even care if you give your mate a bite, will they?”

Gabe watched as the lights dimmed and Sarah stepped into Jim’s arms. “I think you may be right.”

It was past time to claim what was his.

Sarah knew the moment Gabe stepped up behind her. His heat and masculine scent enveloped her, despite the fact that she was in another man’s arms. He reached around her and tapped Jim’s shoulder.

“May I cut in?”

Jim made a great show of reluctantly letting Sarah go, scowling at Gabe before giving her a light peck on the cheek and stalking away. She almost stopped him, terrified of what Gabe had planned for her. His emotions beat against her back, anger and remorse mixed with a primal need to stake his claim on her.

His hands slipped around her waist, cradling him to her. His erection pressed against her lower back, the heat from his cock and the savage satisfaction that broke through at his touch making her weak in the knees. With him touching her there was no way she could completely shield herself from his emotions.

She searched frantically for a distraction, the thought of those three fingers he’d held up worrying her.

She found it when Jim got stopped by Chloe. The two spoke for a moment and, with a shrug, he pulled her into his arms and onto the dance floor. The lust pouring off both of them was incandescent.

“Sarah.”She shivered as he licked the mark on her neck, her attention suddenly riveted to the man behind her. His teeth scraped the sensitive juncture of her shoulder and she twitched. “Hold still, baby.”

Oh, no you don’t. Not that easily, and especially not in public. She pulled away, hunching her shoulders against his fangs. “No.”

“No?” A feather-soft kiss caressed the nape of her neck. “Why no?”

She growled. “Gee, I don’t know. Should we start with Chloe?”

“I told you I didn’t sleep with her, Sarah.” She turned in his arms, not surprised when he pulled her firmly against him. He patted her rear. “Or do I need to remind you of that conversation?”

She sniffed, her irritation growing when he smiled down at her lazily. “Fine. How about we talk about the fact that you’ve basically been ignoring me?”

“I called and you didn’t answer. Or when you did, we fought.” His jaw worked, the tension rolling off him almost nauseating her. “You couldn’t come to me and I couldn’t go to you, and it was driving us both insane.”

“So you turned to another woman?”

He shook his head. “Chloe was supposed to make friends with you, to help you. Damn it, Sarah! I was worried bout you.”

He had an odd way of showing it. “You’re joking, right?”

“Chloe wasn’t supposed to give you the impression we were dating. She was supposed to make sure you were all right. That’s all. I promise you, the only thing I feel for Chloe is…God, she’s like the sister I never had and now I’m glad I didn’t get.”

If it wasn’t for the sincerity she could feel coursing through him, she’d cry bullshit. One of the things she’d discovered since becoming Omega was that it was damn difficult to lie to her. The guilt most people felt when lying tended to bleed through. Still, if he’d actually been that stupidly gullible she’d have to make sure he never, ever did something like that again. “If that was your plan, I have two words for you. Epic fail.”

“I’ll talk to Chloe. I promise you I will straighten this out.”

She sneered. “Sure you will.” And she would spend that time with Jim. At least he didn’t leave her senses reeling.

“Sarah. You’re my mate. You. Chloe is just a friend.” His shoulders slumped, his head landing on her shoulder with a weary sigh. “I should have told James to fuck off and marked you before I left. You have no idea how sorry I am that I didn’t.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. She couldn’t see anyone who wasn’t Pride stopping Gabe from doing what he wanted to do unless he didn’t want to do it.

He lifted his head. Whatever he saw on her face had one brow rising arrogantly. “Don’t you think I regret not marking you before I left?”

“Not really, considering you’ve been free to get a fucking girlfriend.”

His expression darkened. “That’s five.”

“Five?” She pushed back against his chest, straining against his hold. She just wanted to put a little space between them, but he wasn’t allowing it.

“One for sitting next to Jim. Two for agreeing to go dancing with him. Three for doing it knowing exactly how I felt about it.” His hand curved around the nape of her neck, holding her possessively. “Four for turning away from my mark. And now five for thinking I would ever betray you that way.” The hand not caressing her neck smoothed down her back, landing to rest just atop the curve of her ass. “Care to make it six?”

She scowled up at him. “Care to get your ass kicked?”

He threw his head back and laughed. “I thought so.” His hand landed against her ass, smacking her right there on the dance floor. “Go ahead, baby. Keep pushing.”

She glared at him but refused to answer. The flutter in her lower belly wouldn’t let her. She was afraid if she opened her mouth she’d say something stupid like Please fuck me.

“Sarah.”

She lowered her eyes. She couldn’t help herself.

“Look at me, Sarah.” She looked up at him to find that his expression was full of regret. “You stopped answering the phone. You stopped talking to me. So I asked Chloe to make friends with you so I’d know you were okay. I had no idea she’d give you the impression that the two of us were dating.”

The pain of loss was still thrumming through her, and she wasn’t certain she believed him about Chloe. It was the reason she’d turned to those little white pills Dr. Howard had given her. “Uh-huh. Sure. I called you back more than once, but you never returned those calls. Was that when you started turning to Chloe?”

“Chloe is only a friend.” He growled when she snorted her disbelief. “Sarah.” She shivered at his tone.

She’d heard it in dreams, but never in reality. It demanded her attention, her obedience, and without thought she started to comply. He leaned down and blew on the side of her neck, right where the hickey was. She shivered in response, his smile tickling her skin. “You are my mate. The only woman I dream about is you.” She could feel his arousal, the sensation heightening her own. She could also feel his determination and his possessiveness. Instead of smothering her, she felt cocooned by it, a warm blanket she could cuddle under for the rest of her life. He licked her neck. “Did you know that the dreams we share aren’t normal?” He caressed her ass, moving her in time to the music, his fingers brushing the bottom curve of her ass. “Most people only dream of making love to their future mate.” He lifted his head from her throat, catching her chin on the edge of his hand and turning her face up to his. “You and I actually make love.”

“Why?” When he frowned down at her, she added, “Why did we wind up connected that way?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it was because we didn’t speak for so long, or maybe because you’re the Omega.”

That reminder was all she needed to pull back from him and the warm seduction he was tempting her with. “Or maybe it’s because you didn’t really want me.”

“Damn it, Sarah.” His long-suffering sigh was music to her ears.

“So you turned to Chloe.”

His eyes narrowed, determination filling his features. “I’m not going to explain myself again. Listen carefully. You are my mate. The thought of touching anyone other than you is disgusting. Do you understand me?”

She lowered her lashes, hiding her gaze from his. He might think they were done with the topic, but she was far from done. “What happens when you leave again?”

He sighed and pulled her in close, cradling her head against his shoulder. “Don’t worry, baby. Right now wild gorillas couldn’t drag me away from you.”

She sniffed, resisting the temptation to snuggle into his warmth. Damn, he smells so good. “What about wild waitresses?”

His chest rumbled as he growled. “That’s seven.”

He still wasn’t sure why he’d allowed her to stop him from marking her right there on the dance floor, but he had to admit just the freedom to hold her in his arms was incredible. No more doubts, no worries, just him and his mate caressing each other with their bodies as the music seduced them. He buried his face in her hair, wallowing in her scent, imbedding it into his memory. He wanted to cover himself in that scent, to have her covered in his until he couldn’t tell where one of them ended and the other began. And despite his words he knew he had a lot to make up for.

She tripped, almost pulling them to the floor. He caught her easily.

“Sorry.” She buried her flaming cheeks against his chest again after granting him one glance full of embarrassment.

“I know how to keep you safe from falling.”

She eyed him warily. “How?”

He smiled and lifted her so that her feet were dangling, enjoying her shocked gasp.

“Put me down, Gabe!”

“Look at me, Sarah.” He used the same tone he used during their scenes, knowing what her instinctive response would be. He smiled gently when her head lifted, her face turning up to his. “Trust me.” The uncertainty there tore at his heart, but it was his own fault, damn it. He’d do whatever it took to get her to believe in him again. “I will never let you fall.”

“Don’t you mean never again?”

“Hmm?” He rocked her gently to the music, her toes barely brushing the tops of his feet. He barely felt her weight. He frowned, studying her. Damn . She was thinner. Why hadn’t he noticed before? He’d have to make sure to fix that, too. He couldn’t let his baby get sick.

“You’ll never let me fall again.” She lowered her lashes, once again hiding her expression from him, but not before he saw the disbelief in her face and knew it wasn’t a physical fall she referred to.

“Stop it.” He set her down on her feet but kept her close. “I’m going to prove to you that you can trust me.”

She stopped dancing. “I begged for you. I cried for you. And you turned away from me. Do you know how that feels?”

“No. Sarah–”

“It feels like this! ”

Sharp, cutting pain, deep despair, rejection, jealousy, Gabe felt it all. Got savaged by what he’d done to his mate. He’d stayed away from her, tried to protect her from their separation. Instead, in refusing to claim her he’d nearly destroyed her. He damn near dropped to his knees, the agony ripping through him almost more than he could bear.

“Now all of a sudden you want to claim me? How can I trust that?”

The feelings, her feelings, shut off abruptly, but lingered in his heart, mingling with his own until he couldn’t tell where his left off and hers began.

The tears in her eyes clawed at him. He wanted to lift his face and scream from the pain he’d inflicted on his sweet Sarah. “What do you want me to do, Sarah? Beg? Cry?” Because he’d do both just to get that look off her face, those emotions from her heart.

“No.”

“Then what?”

Determination filled her face. “I want the same treatment you gave Chloe.”

What? “What, exactly, do you mean by that?” Gabe was starting to get seriously pissed off. The fact that Sarah still believed he’d somehow been with Chloe rankled. How could she continue to think he’d do that to her?

Easy, dickhead. Your friend went out of her way to make Sarah think it. He needed to sit Chloe down and find out what the hell had been going through her head. She knew how important Sarah was to him. Gabe almost growled in frustration but contained it. Sarah deserved her pound of flesh, but damn if he’d let her take too much or too long.

“I want to be asked out .” Gabe blinked in surprise at her fierce tone. “I want dinner. I want dancing. I want to know that I’m the only one you want to be with. I want a fucking bracelet for Christmas.” He winced. She didn’t know it, but he’d gotten her something much better than a bracelet, but since she hadn’t been home he’d held on to it. It wasn’t the kind of gift he wanted her opening by herself. She blew out her breath, running her hands through her soft, shining hair. “I may submit to you in the bedroom, but I will be damned if you treat me like an unwanted toy outside of it.” Her eyes narrowed. “When you’ve proven that to me, then I’ll claim you.”

He clenched his teeth and nodded. As punishments went this one wasn’t all that bad.

“And no sleeping together, either. You’d probably mark me right in the middle and I’m not ready for that yet.”

Okay, it was rapidly getting worse. “What am I allowed to do on these dates?”

“It’s simple.” She pulled out of his arms, her eyes weary and defeated, like she couldn’t believe that he meant what he said. “Show me you love me.”

He stared, stunned, as she turned and walked away from him. Finally he just shook his head. “Fuck.”

Show her he loved her? She was the goddamn Omega! Couldn’t she feel it? His entire being ached for her!

He headed for Chloe, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from Jim Woods. “What the hell were you thinking?”

She blinked up at him, startled. “What?”

“When did we start dating, Chloe?”

Her mouth flew open. “Aw crap. Sarah too?”

Gabe looked over her shoulder to see Jim staring at them with a disgusted look. “Shit.” He turned his gaze back down to Chloe. “I wonder where they got that idea.”

“Don’t you turn this back on me, Gabriel Anderson.” She shook her finger in his face, looking for all the world like his grandmother. “You’re the one who stopped calling your mate.”

Fuck. She was right. “You’re the one who did talk to her. What did you do, tell her I was calling you but forget to mention all we talked about was her and Jim?”

She grimaced. “She didn’t give me many chances. I tried telling her how you were doing, what you were doing, but she started shutting me down.”

Because it had looked like he was opening his life to Chloe but not to Sarah. “Damn it.” He scrubbed his face. “And you were jealous of the time she spent with Jim.”

Her face filled with guilt. “Maybe.”

So whether they’d meant to or not they’d both screwed up their relationships with their mates. “We’re so screwed.”

“I’m sorry, Gabe.” She put her hand on Gabe’s arm in apology.

“I can make things up with Sarah, don’t worry.” He watched Jim stalk away, anger in every line of the other man’s body. “But I’m not sure what we can do to fix you and Jim.”

“Double crap.” Chloe’s shoulders slumped. “What do we do?”

He knew he looked like the predator he was when she shivered. “We claim our mates.”

When the Pride leaders headed out the door of the club he followed, intent on one thing and one thing only.

Winning back Sarah’s trust. Because whether she wanted to acknowledge it or not, he already knew he held her heart, just as she held his.