The Alpha in her Dreams

Jealousy

The bell on the door announced their entrance and every head turned to gawk at Shepherd. He didn’t seem bothered by it and walked towards a corner booth as the eyes followed him across the room. Once they were seated, everyone returned to minding their own business. After a quick look around, Laurel made an embarrassed face at Shepherd.

“Perks of living in a small town,” she joked apologetically.

“I don’t mind. I know I’m eye candy,” he replied with a wink.

“Mr. Humility over here,” Laurel rolled her eyes, which made Shepherd reach under the table to tickle her. “Hey! None of that!” she protested.

“Well, look who’s here! Laurel Davis! It’s been years since I’ve seen you.”

Shepherd and Laurel both stopped laughing to look at their server, who laid their menus in front of them while smiling at Laurel. Laurel recognized her from school.

“Hey, Jane! How are you?”

She and Jane hadn’t been close during school, but she was always friendly. Laurel heard that she’d married Seth a couple of years after graduation. Seth had been Laurel’s only serious boyfriend in high school. She’d known even then that she was going to move away for college and was happy when her aunt told her he’d gotten married.

“I’m doing great! Seth and I are expecting our first baby in December,” she said as she rubbed her belly.

“That’s great, Jane! You look radiant! It looks like Seth is treating you well. Tell him I said hello, please.”

“Well, he usually comes by for lunch at noon. You can tell him yourself. He’ll be glad to see you, Laurel.”

Jane’s smile reached her bright blue eyes and Laurel could tell that there were no ill feelings because she and Seth had dated. The same couldn’t be said for Shepherd, who was eyeing her suspiciously. She shot him a “don’t be ridiculous” glare before returning to Jane.

“That’ll be great!”

“I better stop chatting and get back to work. Do you know what you’d like to order?”

After Jane walked away, Laurel pretended to read the dessert menu. She knew it would frustrate Shepherd and wanted to tease him. Finally, he growled low and pulled the menu from her hands, setting it to the side. “Who is Seth?” His voice was low. There was a roughness to it that made her look up to meet his scowl. Hmm, maybe teasing wasn’t the best idea. She was surprised that he would react this way. After all, he knew that she was with Henry before. He couldn’t imagine her to be a virgin before she met him.

“Seth was my high school boyfriend,” she said with exasperation. “Come on, Shep. Am I the only girl you’ve been with? Don’t be this way.” She knew he was trying to calm himself, or perhaps trying to calm Angus as she could see his eyes were flickering between green and black. She reached across the table to grab his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Hey. I only want you. I haven’t even seen Seth since graduation.”

Shepherd’s eyes darkened when she mentioned Seth’s name but returned to green when she started to rub his hand with her thumb soothingly.

“Did you guys ever…?”

She c****d her head to one side. “You sure that’s a smart line of questioning?”

“I know it’s not, but I need to know.”

Laurel sighed, knowing she should just refuse to answer. But she wasn’t ashamed of it and didn’t think that either of them had to hide their exes. She couldn’t imagine acting jealous of any of Shepherd’s exes.

“Seth was my first.”

Shepherd’s jaw clenched and he winced. They sat in silence for a while. By the time Jane brought their drinks and burgers, everything had returned to normal. But Laurel was still bothered by Shepherd’s extreme jealousy.

“Will it always be this way?”

Shepherd sighed and ran his hand over his face. “I know I’m overreacting, Laurel. I’m doing my best to control it. Angus is on edge because we’ve bonded but you’re not marked, so it’s definitely worse than usual. But I’ll be upfront, I am never going to like the thought of you with another man. I will always be overly protective of you and want to keep men or unmated wolves away. That’s just the way it is. But it’s worse before you’re marked, right afterwards, and when you’re pregnant.” Her eyes widened as he spoke. “I’m just being truthful with you.”

“That seems extreme. Don’t you trust me?” Laurel’s hurt expression made Shepherd’s heart ache. “I mean even when I met you and the feelings were there, I wouldn’t cheat on Henry with you. And I wouldn’t cheat on you either. It’s not who I am, Shep. You don’t have to worry about that with me.”

Seth and now Henry. His wolf was really getting worked up at the mention of all these males with connections to his Laurel. Shepherd had to take a few calming breaths to stay in control.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Laurel. It’s our nature to protect you and our bond. But another reason we don’t like unmated males touching our mate is because our sense of smell is so sensitive. It's very upsetting to smell someone else on our mate, and it drives our wolves crazy. At first, when I smelled Henry on you, it angered me. The more time I spend with you and without us being properly mated, it just gets worse. When I smelled Henry on you during that business trip, it nearly drove me insane. It took so much energy to control my wolf.”

Laurel grimaced as she thought back to how Shepherd had sniffed her at the airport and the look on his face. Now she understood why. And when she remembered what she and Henry did the night before and that she hadn’t been able to take a shower that morning, her face blanched.

“How good is your smell?”

Her face revealed her horror. Shepherd’s face darkened threateningly. She didn’t feel afraid. She knew he was just remembering the same thing she was.

“Really damn good, Laurel,” he growled. He shook his head as if to rid himself of the memory. “Unfortunately, it may get worse before it gets better. Now that we’ve been together physically, Angus is even more determined to mark you. I would never rush you, Laurel. But I want you to be aware of why I respond to certain situations the way I do.”

Laurel ate quickly. She wanted to be gone by noon. Feeling relieved as they reached the door to leave the diner with still no sighting of Seth, she stepped into the street and ran directly into a tall man. She let out a scream of surprise and before she could react, Shepherd roughly pushed the man from her and stood in front of her, menacingly staring the man down.

“Whoa,” she could hear the guy saying. “My apologies. I wasn’t watching where I was going. Is your friend alright?” She leaned around Shepherd to see the man. Of course it was Seth. “Laurel, is that you?” Seth’s face showed his shock. He stepped towards her, but Shepherd mirrored his movement and Laurel could tell that his body was tense, and his breathing heavier. Seth stopped and looked from Shepherd to Laurel with concern. “Are you alright, Laurel? I’m sorry for running into you. Did I hurt you?” He glanced warily at Shepherd again.

She stepped beside Shepherd, simultaneously grabbing his arm so he didn’t step in front of her again. She knew he’d explained why he was protective and jealous, but this was ridiculous. She’d clearly been the one to run into Seth, and he was the one apologizing.

“I’m alright, Seth! I’m the one that plowed into you. I should be asking if you’re alright!”

Seth laughed good-naturedly. “Oh, that’s no big deal. I’m just so surprised to see you. When did you get into town? And do you want to introduce me to your bodyguard?” He smiled at Shepherd, but Shepherd’s expression remained stony.

“I came into town yesterday to visit Lucy. This is my boyfriend, Shepherd. We were just grabbing a burger before we head back to New York. We already saw Jane. Congratulations, Seth. I’m so happy for you.”

“Yeah, we’re having a baby in December. Did she tell you?”

“She did. It’s so exciting!”

They stood awkwardly for a moment. Shepherd didn’t relax his stance.

“So, what are you doing in New York? Last I heard you had graduated from Cal State.”

“Oh yeah, I moved there after graduation. I’m an administrative assistant at a firm there. What are you up to?”

“I work at the factory. Like most everyone around here, you know. It’s a job,” he laughed. “Well, it was good to see you again, Laurel. Next time you’re in town, let’s grab a drink.” Shepherd let out a disgruntled sound before Seth quickly added, “All of us, of course.”

“Sure, that would be great. We need to be going, but it was so good to see you again.”

“You too, Laurel. I’m glad you’re doing well.” He held out his hand. “And it was good to meet you, Shepherd. Take care of this one.”

Shepherd paused before Laurel nudged him. He begrudgingly took Seth’s hand. “I plan to,” he ground out.

Seth nodded to them both before ducking into the diner. Shepherd let out the growl that he had been holding in and grabbed Laurel’s hand, walking briskly towards the car.

“Shepherd, that was ridiculous back there. Seth is an old friend!”

“An old boyfriend,” Shepherd replied with a scowl.

“An old boyfriend who is married with a baby on the way!” she reminded him.

Shepherd’s face relaxed but he kept a firm grip on Laurel’s hand. He didn’t say anything else though and guided her to the car, opening the door for her before walking around to the driver’s side. They rode in silence to the airport, Shepherd calming himself and Laurel looking out the window in frustration. She didn’t like jealousy. She saw no reason for it. She’d already explained she wanted no one but him and that she wasn’t the cheating type. She didn’t think she’d feel jealous with him around other women. It was a trust issue for her. And she trusted Shepherd completely.

Truett was waiting for them on the plane when they arrived. Once the flight was underway, Shepherd worked on his laptop and made multiple calls to Beck. There seemed to be an issue in Silver Moon, but Laurel couldn’t glean much information from Shepherd’s side of the conversation. She made her way to the bedroom and put a movie on. Halfway into her second movie, Shepherd came in and lay beside her, draping his arm around her waist and breathing in her scent.