Chosen By My Mate's Father-in-law novel Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Bitter Wine

“Smile, Jasmine. You’ll crack your face if you keep frowning like that.”

It was Mindie, my best friend. The only person who knew everything about Elliot and the pain I’d buried. About the bond that nearly broke me.

Her voice was low and teasing, but I heard the concern underneath it. She hadn’t let me face this night alone. Said if I was going to walk into hell, she’d walk beside me. Right now, she was the only reason I hadn’t bolted through the door.

I forced a smile. The kind I’d worn like armor for months. Bright, controlled and empty. But no smile could shield me from what I saw next.

Elliot. His hand cupped Isabella Laken’s cheek, gently. My stomach twisted. Then he kissed her, slow, deep and tender. In front of everyone. The same way he used to kiss me.

I couldn’t breathe. I turned away, heart pounding. My wolf whimpered inside me. She curled in on herself, wounded and weak. Just like she had been the day he rejected me... having marked me a week earlier.

He didn’t even wait for the bond to settle.

I stared down into my wine glass as I twirled it in my hand. The crowd clapped and cheered as if this was the fairytale ending everyone hoped for. Except, I wasn’t the princess in this story.

I was the discarded and shameful past.

“Still standing?” a deep voice said beside me. It instantly sent shivers down my spine. A woody musky scent overwhelmed me. What?

I blinked, startled, and turned. The man looked older. Maybe forty-five or fifty. He was tall, broad-shouldered, with a sharp jaw. A streak of silver ran through his dark hair, but it was his eyes that caught me.

Storm-gray and unreadable. They locked onto mine and I couldn’t look away. Something about them pulled me in, like a moth to the light. My breath caught, and even my wolf stirred inside me, alert and tense.

Who was this man? I swallowed hard. “Excuse me?” I looked around frantically for Mindie wondering when she left my side.

“You looked like you were about to faint,” he said, nodding at my trembling hand. “Wouldn’t be nice collapsing in the middle of an engagement party.”

I glanced down. My wine trembled, the stem barely steady in my grip. I tightened my fingers around it and forced a light laugh. “Just a little warm in here, that’s all.”

He tilted his head, studying me like I was a puzzle he wanted to unravel. Then, without a word, he turned and beckoned to a passing server. Within seconds, a chilled flute of sparkling water was in his hand, which he offered to me.

“You might prefer this.” I hesitated. Then I took it.

“Thanks.”

He didn’t smile, but the corner of his mouth twitched, like he was used to people thanking him and didn’t care much either way.

My head was spinning, trying to figure out who he was. That powerful aura... the way he stood, the way he looked at me like he saw straight through me. No other man had ever made me or my wolf feel this small. He must be a very powerful alpha.

Then it clicked. “You’re... Gareth Laken, right?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I am.”

Of course he was. Isabella’s father. The Lycan Chairman. He was royalty personified. And me? I was just the girl whose ex was marrying his daughter for power. I had no business talking with him.

“I’m here to support the groom,” I said, when I realized he was waiting for me to explain myself.

Gareth’s eyes darkened slightly. Shit. Had he heard the rumors? Did he know?

There was a long pause. Then he said, “Funny. You don’t look like someone celebrating.”

I lifted my chin. “You must be mistaken.”

The air between us crackled. His gaze dipped briefly to my neck where Elliot’s mark used to be...and lingered there. The look in his eyes said he hadn’t missed a thing. What’s he searching for?

“I see,” he said softly.

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify