“Just tell me, Jasmine,” he started in a matter-of-fact tone, not even bothering to give me a glance, while vigorously washing his hands, “What are you playing at?” The cuts that had briefly adorned his hands were now completely gone. “The real question is,” I smirked slightly, giving him an annoyed look, “what are you playing at?” A small smile made its way onto his face, and, for some interminable seconds, he stared at me intently before averting his eyes and telling me softly, “I just want to get to know you.” “So, you just barge in here and tell my parents I’m your mate?” The edge in my voice was quite distinct, even though I tried to keep it neutral. He shrugged nonchalantly and it just made me so mad at him that I couldn’t help myself; I pushed him a little by his shoulder and yelled in a whisper. “You’re such a conceited, arrogant bastard!” In a heartbeat, he had my back against the wall. “I’m your 

  It was nearly six in the evening, Karl and my brothers had gone out god knows where, my father was in the living-room watching TV whereas my mother was keeping me company in the hall as I waited for Tim. He had texted me about ten minutes ago saying he was leaving his house. He’ll be here soon enough, I inwardly sighed, my eyes darting to the window. “I understand what you must be feeling, darling,” my mother went on, oblivious to my total lack of interest “but please honey, don’t anger your mate. Nothing good will come out of that…” And the lecture continued. When she had told me she’d wait with me, I had been surprised but kept silent, trying to convince myself there was nothing to it. How wrong of me! Since when did she like waiting? As I gave her yet another bored look – for I had been hearing the same little speech ever since that fateful evening when he had told them the news – and resisted the urge to fake a yawn, knowing she’d b

There wasn’t much Tim said or did that night that I didn’t giggle to. Doing just that, I had managed to successfully ignore Jonathan a total of seven minutes – yes, I was counting. I had my flirtatious mode on, and I could tell it affected both my date and my mate, in totally different ways. One was probably thanking his lucky stars for my good mood, the other cursing my being his mate.   Even though I was busy with Tim, dazzling him with smiles at times, narrowing my eyes in a purposefully teasing manner at times, there was no denying the fact that I could feel Jonathan’s persistent gaze on me… I could feel it so much, in fact, that I was bothered by it. Waving my hand lightly in front of my face, fanning it ever so slightly, trying to ease away the heat I felt, I couldn’t help but think any she-wolf would be more than thrilled – and probably impossibly happy – to be the alpha-ultra’s mate. He could have gotten any female he wanted within any pa

The rest of the night was spent calmly, peacefully, pretty uneventful. I had kept shamelessly flirting with Tim, feeling all the while Jonathan’s gaze on me. I had thankfully managed to get my act together before stepping out of the bathroom. I had showed up at the table as collected as ever, as if nothing had happened. I could only assume it had unnerved him since he didn’t stay at the restaurant long enough to have desert. He had left some ten minutes before us, the skank he had brought trying to keep up with his angry strides but not quite managing to do so. I had inwardly grinned at that while keeping my face impassible, not showing any emotion whatsoever that might indicate the feeling of satisfaction I was experiencing. Truth be told, the game seemed silly at times; nevertheless, it was serving its purpose just fine and that was what mattered most to me. The drive back home was enjoyable; Tim and I joked around and teased each other a little bit. It the

Jonathan's pov:    She had purposefully accepted all of his touches and even initiated some. She had not shrugged his arm off in the cinema theater. She had brushed her hand against his so he would hold it. She might have even kissed him when I had gone to bring Katherine along. And who knew what else she might have done when he had dropped her off. All of her cunning smiles, her giggles, and her flirtatious attitude had driven me crazy with jealousy, and I had snapped and kissed her despite my resolution not to –though I did not regret it. I was almost ashamed to say I had dragged a fellow werewolf into my mate’s little game; but then again, it wasn’t like Katherine minded it one bit. On the contrary, I was sure she’d have no qualms bedding me on the first opportunity she thought she might have. She had even gone as far as try to tempt me last night, with her following me into my room after we had come back to the pack house in nothing but a flimsy