The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate (Jason and Laila) by Caroline Above Story novel Chapter 5

Jason's POV

"Laila?"

The name slipped out before I could stop it. Like a reflex I couldn't control.

The woman at the nearby table went stone-still. Her brown eyes found mine across the restaurant. One heartbeat. Two.

Something passed between us. Recognition maybe. Or fear.

Then she was shaking her head, backing away from our conversation. "I'm sorry. You've got me confused with someone else."

I studied her face like I was trying to solve a puzzle. She looked nothing like the Laila I remembered. Different hair. Fuller figure.

The resemblance was barely there. Maybe I really was losing my mind.

"I apologize," I said, running a hand through my hair. "I haven't been feeling well today."

She nodded quick and returned to her friend. But I caught her glancing back. Like she was listening to every word we said.

My family had gone dead quiet after Marcus's bomb about Laila maybe being dead. The whole table felt heavy.

Everyone processing the news in their own way.

Mother broke the silence first. Her voice came out soft but clear in the restaurant noise. "So she's really gone."

Real grief shadowed her face. She'd always had a soft spot for Laila. She'd been the only one who asked where Laila went when she disappeared. The only one who seemed to actually miss her.

"If a human dies, then they die," Brittany said with a shrug. Her voice pitched just loud enough to carry. "She was nothing important anyway. Just another mouth to feed."

I couldn't believe how cruel Brittany could be.

How had I ever convinced myself I could live with someone so heartless? How had I let this woman stand beside me for years when she had zero capacity for compassion?

The contrast between her and Mom's genuine grief was stark. Painful.

It reminded me why I'd been trying to find a way out of this engagement for months.

"Laila wasn't suited for pack life anyway," Brittany added with malicious satisfaction.

That's when I noticed the woman at the nearby table tense up. Her shoulders went rigid when she heard Laila's name. Her coffee cup froze halfway to her lips.

Her friend leaned closer, whispering something that made the woman's face go pale.

They were definitely listening. Too closely to our family's private conversation.

But something about the woman's reaction felt personal. Like our words were cutting her as deep as they were cutting me.

"We should discuss this somewhere more private," I said, glancing around. Too many ears here.

But my father was already warming up to lecture mode his expression stern. "Brittany's right though. The pack would never really have accepted a wolfless. Not to mention a wolfless... luna."

He talked about Laila like she'd been a liability. A political problem solved by convenient disappearance.

The cold calculation in his voice made my stomach turn.

I wanted to argue. To defend Laila's memory. But the words stuck in my throat like glass.

What right did I have to defend her now? I'd told her she was just an experiment to me when she was alive. And then she left me immediately without a word.

The fact that we probably had nothing left in between before her death somehow made me feel angry about myself.

Mom's voice cut through the cruelty like a blade. "You're both wrong."

Steel in her tone I rarely heard. "Laila was a sweet girl with a good heart. Kinder than most wolves in our pack, if I'm being honest. She deserved to be accepted by everyone."

Her voice cracked with real emotion.

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