Page 2 of I Don’t Believe In Fated Mates!

"I don't care. Out!" She points dramatically at the door.

"Whatever. I don't have time for this anyway," Jesse grumbles, and I hear him stand up. "I'm going to find this skinbag Lane and hand him his ass. When I'm done with him he won't go near another shifter pack for the rest of his miserable life."

Oh, so now he thinks I'm a guy? I'd laugh - if he weren't about to mess with my livelihood.

But he is, and I'm not going to sit there and take it. I hate bullies.

I was bullied a lot when I was younger, growing up in foster homes, bouncing from school to school. I was chubby, I was a redhead, I was always the new kid, I was the first kid to have boobs and hips, you name it, I got grief for it.

By the time I was in high school, I vowed not to put up with it any more.

I started sticking up for myself, and for my best friend Alexis. I got in a few fights, and word got around that I wasn't a pushover. And I just started carrying myself with the attitude that I wasn't going to take any shiznit.

I'm not going to sit here and listen to this anymore.

I reach into my purse, grab a few bills, and throw them down on the table to cover my coffee and a tip.

Then I slide out of the booth and leap to my feet, spinning around.

The two men in the booth are also standing now. They're both well over six feet tall, with broad shoulders, wearing t-shirts and jeans and work boots.

Both of them are drop-dead, heart-stoppingly gorgeous, but my eyes are drawn to the man who I instinctively know is Jesse.

He's got the kind of presence that makes the air feel charged. Power rolls off him in quiet waves, heat and danger wrapped in muscle and instinct. I want to run my fingers through his thick, silky brown hair. His strong jaw is cut and shadowed, his full lips made for sin.

I see him before he sees me, and my pulse shoots through the roof. I have to tip my head back to look at him. He's all lean muscle and raw, restless energy.

Knock it off, Lane. He's a bully and a jerk and you are not attracted to him! I scold myself.

Yeah, right. My hoo-ha apparently has not gotten the memo.

When his gaze lifts and locks on mine, it's like being hit with a live wire—every nerve goes bright. His eyes are dark pools, rimmed with gold.

For some reason his eyes widen as he stares at me. It's like – he recognizes me, and he's surprised to see me here. Weird. I'm from Indiana and we're in Arkansas, and we have never met.

I'd remember.

Well, whatever. Current mission: Put one arrogant human-hater in his place.

I manufacture a sarcastic smile. "Hello, I'm Lane. That's Skinbag Lane, to you. And I will be going to that interview on pack lands today, thank you very much. Just try and stop me, and I'll – I'll tell your mother what you just said about me."

I turn around and march past him, my whole body tingling, my knees weak.

Did I actually just threaten to tell his mommy on him? Could I have made a bigger fool of myself?

And worse, I'm now faced with two terrible options.

Either I won't get this job, and I'll be stranded in shifter territory in Arkansas, flat broke and out of gas, or…I will get the job, and I'll be trapped living in the same territory as Hottie McButtface, enduring daily humiliation as he laughs at me for threatening to tell his mommy on him.

Chapter Two

JESSE

"Jesse? You're freaking me out, man." My brother stares at me as I struggle to gain control of myself. My wolf is howling inside me, struggling to free itself.

Holy hell. I just met my fated mate.

And she's a human.