The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate (Jason and Laila) by Caroline Above Story novel Chapter 103

But, I didn’t want to fight in front of Ava. So, though I knew that William was wrong and that I wasn’t going to change my mind and want to be with him, still said, “I’m sorry.”

It wasn’t entirely untrue, I supposed. I was sorry that I hurt him. I still cared about him as a dear friend.

I just didn’t, and couldn’t, love him in the way that he wanted me to. I didn’t think any amount of wishing and hoping would change that.

“There,” Ava said, clapping her hands together. “Now you are friends again.”

William smiled. “I guess that wasn’t so bad.” He turned his smile to Ava and winked at her.

Ava giggled.

I smiled too, not wanting to ruin the moment, but my heart was heavy. Not just from this, but from everything.

Jason was finally going to marry Brittany. And the thought of it made me a little sick to my stomach.

Jason’s POV

In my dream, I held Laila as tightly as I could against me. I was so very sorry for what I was about to do. I had already betrayed her once, but now, to marry another woman, I felt as if I was betraying her all over again.

“I’m so sorry,” I told her. “If I could have put this off forever, I would have.”

“This is not your fault,” she told me, her voice soft. “You were born to obligation, and now you must carry out those obligations.”

“It should have been you. You were the one I cared for, I wanted. I don’t know why I couldn’t see that at the time. Now you are gone, and I… Laila…”

My heart was cracking straight down the middle. She leaned back, lifted her hand up to my face, and placed her palm flat against my cheek.

I turned into her hand and kissed it. In a blink, she shifted from Laila to Vanessa. Another blink, she returned to Laila.

Even my good dreams were torturous to me.

Laila and Vanessa were not the same person. I had proof of that. Yet, I couldn’t seem to cast the idea out of my subconscious mind. Such cruelty, my own mind cast on me.

“I only cause you pain anymore,” Laila said.

“No,” I wanted to argue.

“But it’s true, isn’t it? When you look at me, it hurts. And I’m the reason you can’t do your duty.”

“You should have been my wife.”

“I’m gone now, Jason. I can’t be anyone’s wife anymore.”

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I started to lower my head, ashamed, but the press of her hand on my cheek became more insistent. She forced me to raise it.

“I love you,” she said. “I always loved you. I don’t want you to suffer.”

“I wish you were real,” I told her, chest heavy.

Then, unable to maintain distance anymore, I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers. I kissed with all of my withheld passion. Years of it. Rekindling the flames that had burned when she had been alive.

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I tangled myself around her, as her arms curled around my neck.

I licked my tongue into her mouth, tasting her as I remembered. She hummed and moaned, then even gasped a little.

She was so responsive, just as I remembered.

Too soon, I could feel myself waking up.

Too soon, this dream was going to come to an end.

I tried to hold onto her, tried to keep kissing her. If I could only keep kissing her, then I wouldn’t need to wake up. I wouldn’t have to go and marry Brittany for real.

If I could just stay here in this dream with Laila…

My alarm buzzed and I sat upright in my bed, waking with a start.

I was sweating, my arms aching to hold someone who just wasn’t there anymore. Disappointment flooded through me and I slumped back down onto the mattress. I reached out beside me, but no one was there.

No one had been there for quite some time.

Gods, I missed Laila. But I had to keep reminding myself she was gone. She had to be my past now.

For the good of my pack, Brittany had to be my future.