Chapter Twenty-Six

Jasmine’s POV.

After Regan had told Nana about our relationship, he made no effort to hide it any longer .

I knew for a fact that probably everyone in our pack already knew or at least suspected that I was the Alpha’s woman.

Both man and wolf seemed totally alike in one regard.

They were both incredibly clingy.

Having Lena on my side was a great blessing I could not stop being thankful for.

She constantly reassured me and stayed by my side each time we were out.

I had taught that the whole of Regan’s pack had accepted me.

I thought wrong.

Though almost everyone was pleasant to me, however, when Regan started to openly show his affection towards me, it seemed like not everyone was happy with the idea of their Powerful Alpha with a wolf less she-wolf.

The fact I had no wolf was no secret in the pack.

However, it seemed that even though they didn’t care about my wolf less state, it meant something entirely different from when it was in regards to their Alpha.

Lena told me to ignore them as they would eventually come around.

Personally, a part of me completely agreed with them. It was no secret that the wolves of Midnight Wolves pack absolutely adored their Alpha.

They respected him and held him in the highest regard. So it was no shocker to me that not all of them were very thrilled with seeing him openly show me affection.

Something I had learned he had never done before.

Since I already had Lena and Nana’s approval and acceptance of our relationship, my heart was at ease knowing that the two most important people to me were at least on my side.

Nana being on my side meant that no one in their right minds would dare to say anything to oppose us. That was the sort of influence she held.

Although not officially, it was common knowledge that after the Alpha’s orders, Nana’s words were to be heeded and obeyed.

Everyone knew that Regan held Nana in the highest regard and treated her as his mother.

Therefore, she was given the respect due to the mother of the Alpha.

But despite the immunity that Nana’s acceptance and Regan’s affection provided, I could not help but notice the looks I received on occasion. Especially from the unmated she-wolves.

When I had called her attention to it, Lena had simply dismissed it as them being envious that it had been me who had managed to catch the Alpha’s eye and who now held his interest.

I chose to believe her words simply because it assured one less thing for me to worry about.

We had finished setting up and preparing for the evening meal and had opened the huge doors to let the pack members in.

Since we were finished with all that we were supposed to do, Lena and I briefly returned to the house to clean up before coming back to the pack house’s dining hall for our dinner.

As usual, it was a loud and noisy affair.

The moment we walked in, I felt his eyes on me.

How I had become so familiar with him and how easily I could feel and notice his presence was something that still left me puzzled.

As I took my seat beside Lena, I looked up towards where he sat, knowing he would want my eyes on him.

He studied my expression briefly before nodding to the empty seat on his right where Luke should have been sitting, but for some reason, was not.

I immediately knew what he meant.

He wanted me to take Luke’s seat and be seated beside him. But I knew that doing so would only draw more attention to me and I was not sure that I was completely comfortable with that

So, I subtly shook my head and mouthed the words “I am alright”, to let him know that I did not want to.

I frown took over his face.

I knew he did not like being refused but stills did it and looked away.

I had just gone back to picking at my when I felt his presence move towards me.

I pretended not to notice until he was standing behind my chair, heard the chatter at our table reduce drastically.

“Come and sit on with me”, he said, loud enough for the occupants of our table to hear.

I shut my eyes briefly, wondering why it had ever crossed my mind that he would not try to get his way.

Aware of the eyes on us, I simply nodded.

“Yes, Alpha”, I replied quietly and pushed back my chair to stand.

He reached over and grabbed my barely eaten plate of food as he pulled my chair back for me to move away from it.

Grabbing my hand with his other one, he gently pulled me towards his place at the head table and pulled the chair beside him for me to sit.

I did so and he placed my plate of food back before me before going to take his seat.

Staring pointedly at my plate, I resisted the urge to buy down up my lip nervously when I felt the eyes in me.

“Stop looking at her and eat!” He suddenly snapped at them, making everyone resume their meal and chattering.

A part of me was glad that he had interceded but another part of me blamed him for their attention in the first place.

He poured water from a jJug into a cup and handed it to me.

I took it grateful, just then realizing the dryness of my throat and gulped it down.

As soon as I placed it down, he refilled it and leaned back into his chair to resume his meal.

I did the same, and while I ate, I noticed that my plate never ran out of berries no matter how much or how many I had eaten.

Against my wish, my lips curled into a smile at his attempt to please me.

I knew for certain that he was aware of my love for berries, though how he had come about that knowledge remained a mystery.

He finished his meal and simply sat staring at me and while I ate.

I could feel the heat of his gaze burning into my face but chose to act oblivious.

“Will you not eat more?” He asked when I pushed my almost empty plate away.

I turned to him.

“I do not have much of an appetite”, I told him.

A slight frown appeared on his brows and my hand itched to smooth it over.

He leaned closer.

“Is it because of me?” He asked. “Because I did something to upset you?”

The fact that he was concerned about being the reason I was upset erased even the tiniest bit of annoyance I felt towards him.

I shook my head.

“No”, I told him. “I have never really had much of an appetite unless if I am very hungry”.

“So if it is not me that has caused you to be upset, who is?” He asked.

I looked away from him.

“I am not upset”, I said.

“Yet it is clear as day for me to see that something troubles you”, he said.

I immediately shook my head.

“It is nothing”, I assured.

“It is something”, he countered. “And I wish to know what it is so that I may solve it”, he said.

I looked back up at him.

“I am grateful that you are concerned”, I told him. “But I do not need you to solve all my problems”.

“And why not?” He asked.

More then his question, what touched me was the absolute innocence behind it.

He genuinely wanted to know why I did not need him to solve all my problems.

A smile appeared on my lips before I could stop it.

His grey eyes took in my smile a nod instantly looked puzzled.

“Does my question amuse you?” He asked.

I shook my head yet again, though still smiling this time.

“No, it does not”, I assured me. “It makes me happy to see how concerned you are for me”, I said truthfully.

A corner of his mouth lifted in a half smile at that.

“I will always be concerned for your well being”, he told me.

My smile widened. “I know”.

“Tell me something about you”, he said all of a sudden from out of nowhere.

After recovering from my surprise at his question, I looked around at the noise chatter that surrounded us.

“At this very moment?” I asked looking back at him. “Here?”

He seemed to suddenly become aware of our surroundings and broke into a wide smile.

“We could take an evening stroll if you would like”, he suggested. “That is, if you can convince Lena to let me have you for some time”, he said with a teasing smile.

A giggle escaped me at that, knowing Lena would not be very thrilled with it.

“I suppose you’ll have to ask her and find out”, I said.

A playful groan escaped him and I laughed softly.

“Very well then”, he said pushing back his chair. “Would you like to come with me?” He asked with a hand stretched towards me.

“Oh certainly”, I readily agreed, pushing back my chair as well to stand. “I would not want to miss this”,

I took his outstretched hand and allowed him pull me back towards where Lena was sitting.

He pulled out the chair I had earlier vacated and let me take my seat before turning towards Lena.

“My dear, sweet Lena”, he began.

“What do you want?” She asked immediately, eyes narrowed in suspicion and arms folded beneath her chest.

“I was wondering…” he attempted to continue but was cut off.

“Oh I bet you were”, she cut in with an eye roll. “Just tell me what it is you want so we can both be done with this awkward conversation”, she said.

I bit down on my bottom lip to hide my smile that threatened to break out when I saw Regan’s jaw clenched in annoyance.

Lena could be positively infuriating when she wanted to be.

And she knew just where and how to needle Luke and Regan in ways that were certain to cause annoyance.

“I would like to take Jasmine out for a stroll”, he said plainly.

She looked him up and down.

“When?” She asked, maintaining her position.

“Now”, he answered, eyes determined as he stood before her.

“For how long?” She asked again.

“I do not know but I will not keep her out late”, he said.

She said nothing for a while as they held each other’s gazes before she finally broke eye contact and turned to me.

“Very well”, she said, eyes on me. “Won’t you be too tired for our nighttime talks?” She asked.

I shook my head.

“I can come back and even sleep in your room tonight so we can talk. I know we have a lot to discuss” I assured her.

She nodded her consent before looking back at Regan.

“Keep her warm”, she said. “She gets cold easily”.

“I know”, he said, and bent to place a kiss on her hair.

As he withdrew, she asked. “Does this mean you’ll ask my permission whenever you wish to spend time with her?” , a smile of mischievous curled her pouty lips.

“Certainly not”, he denied firmly. “This is the first and last courtesy I will pay you as her dearest friend”, he told her which caused her to laugh.

“We will see about that”, she told him. “Off you both go now”, she said and placed a kiss on my cheek that I returned almost immediately.

Taking the hand he had once more stretched towards me, I let him pull me to my feet again. This time however, once I was on my feet, his arm snaked around my waist to pull me closer to his side as he led the way out of the dining room.

As we walked past, I could not help but notice those looks of disapproval from the mate less she-wolves.