The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate (Jason and Laila) by Caroline Above Story novel Chapter 251

Jason’s POV

I returned to the pack house too early in the morning for anyone else to be awake, so I went to my room and after showering, tried to get some rest. My mind was reeking though, so I tossed and turned without finding much sleep.

Around mid–morning, I changed and went downstairs. “Marcus?” I called, but he wasn’t there yet. I told one of the staff,” When he arrives, send him straight to my office.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

Laila had said she didn’t want to return to the pack yet, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t start paving the way to make it easier for her when she would change her mind.

Yet, just as I reached my office door, my father stopped me. “We need to have a talk.” His voice was stern, his face serious.

1

I already knew I wasn’t going to enjoy this talk. Though lately, things with Dad had always been tough. There were only a handful of conversations with him that I actually did enjoy. Mostly, he just wanted to tell me all the things I was doing wrong, or where I was falling short in his eyes. How I’d disappointed him.

I imagined from his dire expression that this would be one of those kinds of conversations. Even so, my father wasn’t the kind of man you just said no to, so I gestured into my office.

“After you.”

My father entered the room and I followed him. He hobbled some on his feet, so I was relieved when he sat down in one of the chairs facing my desk.

Sitting behind my desk felt too formal for a conversation with my father, even one where he might be annoyed with me, so instead I sat in the chair beside the one he had taken.

“What’s this about, Dad?” I asked, when we were both settled.

He cleared his throat. “I heard that Laila has returned.”

I stilled. To my knowledge, not many people knew about that yet. I was sure Laila would have to come forward, but she had been

so reluctant to share her true identity, that I was certain the list of people who knew for sure was short.

“How did you hear that?” I asked.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s true,” he said. Watching me, he could likely see that it was.

Seeing no point in arguing it, I went on, “I fully intend to welcome Laila and our child back into the pack.”

“You can’t do that,” Dad said at once.

“It’s not your choice-”

“You’d be throwing away any chance you had at actual happiness. And that’s not even getting into the strength of the pack, which she would only bring down.”

“Laila is alive, Dad. And you want me to turn my back to her? She has always been a member of this pack. You yourself welcomed her before.”

“She had been a child then. An innocent. She is not that anymore.”

“She is still innocent.”

“Would an innocent person masquerade as a dead woman?”

“She had her reasons,” I said.

Tw

(૫)

+30 Bonus

“No. That she even was able to convince you of that shows the depths of her manipulations. Jason, you need to be careful with

her.”

“I treated her poorly in the past. It makes sense for her to keep secrets from me. But she doesn’t want anything from me now. I’m the one who wants her and our child to rejoin the pack.”

“That’s what she wants you to think. This is at a big scheme. I wish you could see that.”

“I wish you could see that it isn’t.”

Dad shook his head. “You called her child, ours.”

“Because she is. Ava is the daughter of Laila and me,” I said. On this, I wouldn’t budge.

“And you don’t see how even the act of her getting pregnant could be a manipulative tactic? She’s been wanting to be more than she is in this pack from the start. When Brittany cast her out, she’s been biding her time, making plans. Now that you and Brittany are having some disagreements, she’s back.”

“Brittany and I are having more than just disagreements, Dad.” I had wanted to hold off on this news until he was feeling better, but there was no ignoring it anymore. I wasn’t going to continue to allow him to talk about Laila like she was an enemy and Brittany, who had drugged me more than once, like she was some kind of angel.

Chapter 252