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?”