Chosen By My Mate's Father-in-law-Chapter 92: Plus One

Anger and jealousy tore through Gareth. He wanted more than anything to wipe off the hopeful look on his nephew's face. He wanted to tell Axel that he shouldn't bother asking Jasmine to be his girlfriend. Gareth wanted to tell his nephew that a woman as mature as Jasmine would never date someone as juvenile as him.

Gareth opened his mouth to say just that, but he closed it when his anger was replaced with a realization that made his stomach queasy. He had no right to interfere with Jasmine and Axel's love lives. Especially not Jasmine's. She had made it very clear that she wasn't interested in any kind of relationship with Gareth this morning. If Jasmine wanted to keep their relationship purely professional, Gareth would honor her wishes.

Begrudgingly, he admitted to himself that Axel was a man around the same age as Jasmine, and his nephew seemed to be very smitten with her. If Axel treated her well, who was he to be the one to keep them apart?

Gareth cleared his throat and put his hands behind his back.

"Jasmine is an independent, mature woman who can make her own decisions. I have no idea how she will respond."

Even though those were the words that came out of his mouth, Gareth's hands clenched into tight fists. Just the thought of another man touching Jasmine's soft skin, kissing her plump lips, or seeing her beautiful face when she came, made him want to rip out someone's throat. Even if his nephew was the man she eventually ended up with, Gareth knew this hot jealousy would always be burning inside of him when it came to Jasmine. His feelings for her were much more than surface level.

Gareth leaned toward Axel, making sure that he would truly hear what he was about to say. "Jasmine has been through a lot and not just in these last few days." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Axel nodded. "I know that."

Gareth shot him a warning look. "If you hurt her, I won't hesitate to make your life a living hell. I don't care that you're my nephew. That girl has been put through enough pain already."

"I never want to hurt her," Axel said with sincerity shining in his eyes. "I want to protect her. I want to take care of her. I want to love her."

Gareth's jaw clenched. Yeah, those were all the things Gareth wanted to do. But Jasmine wouldn't let him.

"I swear I'll treat her right, Uncle Gareth," Axel promised. "You have my word."

"You better," Gareth grumbled, then left his nephew standing there.

The barbed wire was back, but this time, it wasn't tangling his thoughts but his intense emotions.

***

"Welcome home, Isabella!" Michelle yelled when Gareth and she walked through the door.

His youngest daughter threw her arms around her sister and held her close. Gareth smiled. The two girls might fight sometimes, but when push came to shove, they truly did love each other.

Gareth had just picked up Isabella from the hospital. Beta Kevin had offered to get her after he dropped off Jasmine, but Gareth wanted to be the one to be there for his daughter and talk to her doctor.

Thankfully, Isabella's head wound had been superficial, and her brain scans didn't show anything concerning. Her wounds were healing, and her bruises were fading quickly. They only had to keep her in the hospital overnight because they wanted to monitor her after the amount of wolfbane injected into her system.

Now, the drug had mostly left her body, but Isabella was still pretty groggy and needed to allow her body and mind to rest in order to heal.

As they entered the dining room, Isabella's face fell.

"Did Jasmine already go home? I wanted to thank her for being the strong one when we were in that awful cell. She's the only reason I survived. Well, she and Elliot."

"She wanted to get home to see her mother." Gareth kept his voice neutral. He put a gentle hand on his daughter's shoulder and guided her to her seat. "You can thank her later. Both of you just need to focus on healing your body and mind after what happened."

Gareth, Michelle, Isabella, and Axel took their places, and the servers placed their drinks and plates in front of the four of them. Tonight's dinner was Isabella's favorite: duck with apricot chutney.

"I hope you now understand the importance of your bodyguards, Isabella." Gareth picked up his wineglass.

"I'll never ditch my bodyguards again," she promised. "What I went through…changed me. I realized what was really important in life." She picked up her fork and dug into her meal.

Gareth was glad to see that she had an appetite.

"Speaking of which…" Gareth shook out his cloth napkin, placing it in his lap. "I noticed that Elliot wasn't at the hospital when I got there. Nor is he here checking up on you." He raised his eyebrows. "Why isn't he here taking care of you? As your future husband, that's his job."

Isabella's face lit up at the mention of her fiancé. "Dad, as soon as we got to the hospital, Elliot never left my side. He held my hand while the nurse stitched me up, and the doctor examined me. Throughout last night, he told me how relieved he was that I was alright and that he loved me more than anything. He didn't even sleep." Isabella grinned and sighed wistfully. "When I fell asleep, he stayed up all night to protect me. He only left my side when you called and said that you were coming to pick me up. He had a bunch of work to get done."

Isabella looked around the table with her hands clasped together and joy in her eyes. "Isn't that just so sweet? He proved he loved me by saving me from death and then staying by my side to nurse me back to health."

"He did the bare minimum," Michelle chimed in, scrunching up her nose. "That's his job as your fiancé. He should protect you and stay by your side when you're in the hospital."

Axel nodded in agreement and sipped his wine. "Of course he saved you, Isabella. Who else would he have saved?"

Gareth noticed that Axel's eyes flashed with barely restrained anger. He knew that his nephew was probably thinking about Jasmine's feelings about being left behind after Elliot rescued Isabella.

They ate and chatted. Isabella seemed a little subdued because the rest of her family didn't want to sing Elliot's praises like her. But her spirits lifted when the mention of the gala happening this weekend came up.

"Windhowl is hosting the event," Isabella told Michelle excitedly. "And it's a masquerade ball, so everyone will wear masks. Isn't that so fun?"

"Beta Kevin told me that the invitations arrived today." Gareth looked at his youngest daughter from the head of the table. "I'm sorry, Michelle. You are too young to attend this event." He turned to Axel and Isabella. "You two are invited."

Michelle shrugged, not one for fancy parties, and dug into her cherry pie.

"Does my ticket have a plus one?" Axel asked.

Gareth's hands clenched around his wine glass.

"Why?" He knew why, of course. He just didn't want to admit it to himself.

"I want to ask Jasmine to be my date," Axel said as he added more whipped cream to his pie.

"Ooo," Isabella sang, turning to her cousin. "You totally should. Then Jasmine and I will have an excuse to go shopping again."

Gareth looked at his daughter sharply.

"You must stick with your guards at all times."

Isabella nodded solemnly. "I will, Dad. I promise."

Gareth didn't want to request another ticket for Jasmine so that she could be Axel's date, but couldn't think of a legitimate excuse to tell Axel.

"I'll secure another ticket," Gareth muttered reluctantly.

"Thanks!" Axel said, pumping his fist.

Isabella clapped excitedly, and Michelle asked her sister what kind of gown she was going to wear.

As his daughters talked, Gareth saw a dopey smile cross Axel's face. He knew that his nephew was imagining Jasmine in a fancy dress and a mask. Maybe Axel would even ask her to be his girlfriend at the gala.

Gareth stood from the table and threw his napkin down on the plate.

He had lost his appetite.