The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate (Jason and Laila) by Caroline Above Story novel Chapter 174

Chapter 174

Laila’s POV

I stood speechless, entirely flabbergasted by the question for a long moment. What the hell could he possibly mean by that? What right did he have to ask me something like that? And for it to come out of the blue like that. Just who did he think he was?

I did not struggle through that hard pregnancy and birth – without his help at all, his abandonment – just to now be questioned by him. It was outrageous!

I gripped the edge of the box of case files now sitting on my desk, my fingers digging into the cardboard. It was all I could to keep myself from curling those fingers up into a fist and punching him in the face for saying something like that to me.

“Of course, Ava is my biological daughter,” I snapped. “How dare you ask me something like that? That’s incredibly inappropriate.”

“I didn’t mean to offend

“Well, you did. I’m not sure how you couldn’t have meant to by asking a thing like that.”

He opened his mouth like he was going to argue. I braced myself, readying for a verbal sparring match. But at the last minute, he closed his mouth and looked down. Then, after a breath, during which his shoulders slumped, he looked up again and said, You’re right. I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry.”

His quick apology took some of the wind out of my sails. I’d been expecting him to argue. I’d been kind of ramping up for a fight. Now that it wasn’t going to happen, I felt off–kilter. All that adrenaline had nowhere to go.

Worse, Jason just kept… looking at me. Like he wanted to take me apart and put me back together again.

I wanted to let him.

Which was exactly why he had to leave.

“Thank you for bringing this,” I said, gesturing to the box. “But you should go.”

“Not yet,” Jason said. “I put my foot in my mouth here, but… there’s something else I want to say.”

“You really have said enough.”

“I want to help you with your investigation. I’m serious about that, and not just as an apology. I’ve been investigating something too, and I think we can help each other.”

“What are you investigating?”

“I can’t say.”

Of course not. “And I’m just supposed to trust you?”

“I think you could use some help in this,” Jason said. “I can get people to talk to me that you might not be able to.

})

He wasn’t wrong, and the box of files on the table was a clear indication of that. I didn’t know what I’d find in here, and it was possible I would need to do more digging. That search would be a lot easier with an Alpha around. People would ask a lot less questions, for one.

“There’s another reason too, but you might not like to hear it,” Jason said.

“Out with it,” I prompted. I didn’t want any more secrets between us, especially if I was going to actually consider this.

“If you are suspecting what I think you are suspecting, then you could be looking into something that could put some dangerous people on your trail,” Jason said. “I don’t you to have to face that alone. You are going to need protection.”

“I don’t need that,” I said stubbornly.

Chapter 146

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“Are you so sure about that?”

I wasn’t, and that made me frown. Maybe he wasn’t wrong. Maybe I could use some protection, and some help wouldn’t be unwelcomed. But he was the very last person around that should have been willing to help me.

“You are mated now,” I told him. “You have a baby on the way. And with everything that has happened between us, it won’t be good for our reputations if we are seen together”

“I don’t care,” Jason said.

“Your pack will care.”

“I have spent far too long putting the needs of the pack before my own, and it has not done well for either of us. I am still miserable, and the pack still mistrusts me. I value my pack, and I take my position as Alpha seriously. But I must start placing my own emotions at least on the same level of importance as my pack.”

I blinked, never having expected that I would ever hear him say such a thing. To an Alpha, the pack was all there was. Everything else was secondary at best, if it was even considered at all.

“What I’m investigating is important to me,” he said. “As important as my pack.” He shook his head lightly, like he was shaming his past self. “I made mistakes in the past, prioritized the wrong things. But I won’t mess up like that again. Not this time. This time, I know what’s important.”

2

“And what is important?” I asked. “What are you investigating?”

His gaze returned to me and he stepped closer, coming to stand directly in front of me, well within touching distance.

Though we weren’t touching, my skin prickled like we were. My heart pounded in my chest. The air between us seemed to spark like it was filled with static electricity.

My body yearned for Jason’s, for him to touch me and kiss me, or claim me like he had in his office, but without the use of the drug that clouded his mind. Foolishly yet passionately, I wanted to be his, to not just feel him inside of me but to become one, heart and soul.

Lusty thoughts clouded my better judgement, and I stepped toward him, shortening the distance between us even further. I lifted my hand, bringing it up to the space between us. He lifted his too, almost like he was lost to the moment, just like I was.

His fingers brushed the back of my palm and I shuddered. My breath caught in my throat.

Such a tiny little touch, yet it was making me come undone.

“Vanessa,” he whispered, and his voice, so, so perfect, said the absolutely wrong name.

It hit me like a smack to the face, who I was, what I was doing. Who he was.

I stepped back like he had burned me and moved around the desk, stopping only when it was safely between us, a blockage to keep us from coming together again.

What was wrong with me? Why did I lose all sense when I was around him? He was so dangerous to me and to my heart. To my entire way of life.

“Brittany is having your baby,” I said. “You shouldn’t be here. You should go home.”

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