The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate (Jason and Laila) by Caroline Above Story novel Chapter 172

Jason’s POV

“I have my own reasons for being here,” I told Vanessa. “I didn’t mean to run into you. But now that I have. Why are you so against me helping you?”

“Just forget it, okay? We shouldn’t talk to each other. We shouldn’t even be around each other. What if someone sees? After what happened…”

“I can handle that,” I said.

“I’m not so sure, Jason. I have enough on my plate. I can’t really handle this too. I have to get back to the hospital. Please excuse me.”

“Vanessa,” I said, too loudly. The librarian shushed me. Vanessa didn’t look back, walking all the way out the front door.

I hadn’t been lying. I really didn’t come here to see her. It had all been a coincidence. But, upon seeing her, I had been drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Just being near her put me more at ease, like my tension was just draining away in her presence.

I was unable to stay away, even when I had every reason to. I was mated. She was engaged, with a date set.

Yet, even before questions of Ava’s parentage, I had been pulled into Vanessa’s orbit like I belonged there. My wolf inside of me was also more content in her presence. Now that she was leaving us again, my wolf urged me to follow. I had to force us both back.

She didn’t want us to follow. We needed to respect that.

Turning back toward the computer where she’d been, I remembered what I had seen on her screen before she had abruptly closed the tabs and logged out.

Something about an accident, and the name Harper… Vanessa’s family?

I was about to ask the librarian when I noticed a small notebook beside the keyboard. Vanessa’s handwriting was scribbled within. I knew I shouldn’t look, it wasn’t my business, but even glancing at the opened page told me a lot.

Her parents had died in a car accident. They’d hit an ice patch. Beside that note, Vanessa had written, Heat wave?

Something clearly wasn’t adding up for her.

At the bottom, she had scribbled, Need case files. Contact police office?

Grabbing the notebook, I folded it closed.

Γ

I’d come here to try to research Vanessa’s family myself. I’d been hoping to try to find some connect between Vanessa and Laila, not just that they might be the same person, but that they might have known each other from before.

Though I was confident Ava was my daughter, I had no proof that Vanessa was Laila. Vanessa could have just been someone who had adopted Ava, if Laila had truly died.

I needed actual evidence to fully understand the connections here. But this…? This felt important too. And more, I wanted to help Vanessa. It felt like an instinctual need deep done in my bones. I needed to help her in any way I could. And in this, I could help

her.

The police likely wouldn’t work with her, even if she was connected to the family. But they would listen to an Alpha. They’d take my requests seriously. They had to, because of my station.

I’d failed Vanessa in so many ways, but I wouldn’t fail in this. Between helping Ava, and helping Vanessa with this investigation, I would finally be doing more good in their lives than harm.

Laila’s POV

Chapter

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