Stealing My Best Friend’s Mate

Crazy

Sloane’s POV

"Sloane!" I hear Kai shout, but he's not my boyfriend, right? He said Xavier is...

Xavier exhales sharply, then the kiss deepens naturally, slowly, until my fingers curl into the front of his shirt without me realizing.

Warmth spreads through my chest. Not butterflies like I used to get with Kai, but steadier. Safer is what I feel every time we exchange saliva. I guess kissing Xavier feels this way because he has alpha blood. He is destined to make everyone feel protected.

Just as before, his tongue darts into my mouth, and he wages a battle with mine while I melt against him for the next few seconds.

Applause and shouting erupt around us, and it breaks the spell I’m under. “Whoo, get ‘er cap!”

Another lets out a loud wolf whistle, and it’s followed by a few others. Then the room erupts with cheers, hoots, and exaggerated zoo noises, followed by a round of applause as Xavier and I finally step apart.

Across the room, Kai is glowering at us.

His jaw is clenched so tightly I wonder if he's about to c***k a tooth, his eyes locked on us with barely restrained fury. Judy’s face is twisted in anger.

Hmm, why?

Unable to resist making things worse, I tilt my head towards Xavier and ask with an innocent frown- after all, I have no idea why my boyfriend’s best friend and his girlfriend would be looking at us this way. "Why is Kai looking at us like that?"

__

"I need a word." Kai's voice slices through the empty parking lot when we are about to leave, and gives me the look of a wounded animal.

Kai stands beneath one of the parking lot lights with both hands shoved into his jacket pockets, wearing a scowl.

Nodding, Xavier tells him to hold on and walks me towards his car. My heart races faster because I know this is the part where Kai will want to tell Xavier to stay away from me. It thrills me to know he is hurting as well.

This is what he wanted for me, right? Well, now it’s returned to him. I'm certain he felt the slight betrayal stings every time his best friend kissed me, but he didn't understand it, just as I didn’t until I did.

Seeing us kiss and feeling the pain of the betrayal of the bond is when it clicked tonight.

Hah. How do you like your meal now, Kai?

“Can't you guys talk tomorrow?” I must play my role of Miss Forgetful well, so I add a yawn to show Xavier the extent of my tiredness. Yes, I am exhausted, but they think I have lost my wolf since the accident, so they are under the impression I am weaker than usual.

My hand reaches up to the back of his neck when he leans over me to pull the seatbelt on, and Xavier stills. I can feel his excitement, but he clicks the belt in place and murmurs, “It’ll take a minute… babe.”

Zia weakens herself when she almost lurches forward to-

My cheeks sting with the word, but I nod my head slowly, and he gets out, closing the door silently and heading back across the parking lot to Kai.

"What the hell was that?" Kai, who is restless, practically shouts when he nears him.

Xavier doesn't answer, and Kai shoves him. "You kissed her! You f#cking kissed my girl!”

Had my wolf really been missing, I would have only heard the distant sounds of the conversations, not actual words, but she’s here, unknown to them, so I heard everything.

Xavier is forced back a few steps but holds his ground. "It was a party game."

Kai laughs without humor. "You enjoyed it."

Silence. Then, “It was a game that you and Judy shoved down her throat. She’s injured and in recovery, and this is what you did. How do you think she feels, hmm? I’m her boyfriend, aren’t I? She’s supposed to want to kiss me. I can't refuse her.”

The wolf prowls restlessly beneath Xavier's skin. Every werewolf can sense another's wolf when they're close enough. It's as natural as breathing. To everyone else, my wolf is still recovering from the accident because she is that weak. They sense her, but only faintly, as though she's a shadow- there but not.

Exactly what we want them to believe because my wolf would have detected the lie Kai produced in the hospital room, had she been present.

Xavier forces the wolf back, and Kai steps closer, a finger dabbing Xavier's chest. "Listen carefully."

Rain begins to drizzle, glittering in the overhead lights, and neither of them seems bothered by it.

Judy makes her way outside, then, with a group of others, and her bright smile falters when she sees Kai and Xavier. She bends her head, pulling in her lips, but quickly finds her pretend self when she’s poked by another girl and partakes in the conversation with them.

"Sloane's confused," Kai is ranting while Judy and the others converse, and her eyes find mine. I smirk at her, and her eyes harden, but I turn back towards my entertainment, courtesy of Kai. He really has some nerve.

Xavier says nothing and turns his head to the side, towards the dark playfield now that the huge bright lights are off, but not actually watching anything there.

"This thing with Judy," Kai shrugs carelessly. "It's temporary. When Sloane remembers everything, she'll come back to me."

Hear that, you witch? Kai doesn’t feel anything resembling a relationship with you, my eyes scream at her. I’m positive she’s listening in on them too, despite her nonchalant appearance.

Kai mistakes Xavier's silence for agreement. "So don't start getting ideas." His blue eyes harden. "She's my mate. She loves me."

Xavier finally lifts his gaze. "I know."

"I mean it." Kai pokes again, and this time Xavier’s hand comes up to cover the area, and Kai's hand drops.

"Got it."

Kai studies him for another moment before nodding once. "Good." He turns and walks away- hah- towards Judy, who is now standing aside from the group, waiting.

Shameless. Both of them.

From the front seat passenger side of his car, I watch as Xavier finally moves towards his car. Rain soaks through his dark hair, his hands clench into fists.

Getting into the car, his chest rising slowly, he suddenly has his lips on mine, and it’s not in the way we kissed before. Sure, we kissed in a way that left me wanting more, but never this way- rushed.

As if there would be no tomorrow. As if drowning and this was survival…

It was open and raw. His hands groped me in ways he had never done. He’s always been gentle when he touches me, but he never goes past certain limits.

"Sloane, baby, you're driving me crazy." His rough, breathless words send a wave of heat curling through my stomach.

No. We can't do this. It's all pretend. And Xavier is pushing every boundary, and now I don't know where is unreal and where is real.

My breathing turns uneven as my fingers bunch the fabric of his jacket, pulling him closer without meaning to. His hands slip from my waist and glide slowly up and down my back, each touch sending a shiver racing beneath my skin until it prickles along my scalp.

His lips brush the curve of my neck, and my thoughts begin to unravel. I can actually feel them slipping away. ‘Zia- I need help-’ Oh, she’s dulled herself.

Then a sharp knock against the driver's side window shatters the moment. Reality crashes back between us.

Xavier jerks away, his heavy-lidded gaze snapping wide open. He swallows hard, his Adam's apple bobbing as if he's only just remembered where we are and who we are.

Kai. Mate bond. Lie.

Xavier knows it’s a lie, even if he thinks that I think it's real.

He tenses so suddenly that I feel it beneath my hands before I snatch them from his chest. His wolf is... alarmingly excited.

Xavier eases my seat farther back to shield me from view, then he turns to the person standing outside the window.

Seriously? Is this what happens when an unmated wolf gets a little affection? Do they completely lose all sense?

‘Did you think his hormones should have officially declared mutiny?’ Zia is quick with her comeback, feeling betrayed by both Kai and me. Kai, because of the mate bond, and me, because I enjoy Xavier’s lips.