The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate (Jason and Laila) by Caroline Above Story novel Chapter 78

Jason’s POV

Her words left me stunned.

She truly believed that I was treating her like a substitute for the deceased Laila as a means to calm sume of my terrible guilt? Gods, was I doing that without realizing? I didn’t think so, but I didn’t want to invalidate Vanessa’s feelings. If I had made her feel that way, then I needed to correct things.

The first thing I could do was set the record straight.

“It’s not like that,” I explained. “I felt guilty for troubling you before and I wanted to take up for it.”

Vanessa looked at me with clear skepticism, her lips curled down into a severe frown, her brows low over her eyes.

I had to do better.

“I did lose someone very important to me, and you do share… similarities with that person. This led me to act as I did, mistaking you for that person.” I cleared my throat. “But I know the truth of it now, and I apologize for that behavior. But it isn’t guilt that drives me now to offer to help.”

“What is it, then?” she asked me. “You must have some reason.

“Truly, I think you are a good person. A good businesswoman and a good mother. And I like Ava. I see you struggle at times,” I said carefully, not wanting to overstep. “I find that I want to help where I can, simply for the sake of the two of you.”

She blinked once, twice, as some of the angry aggression smoothed away from her face, leaving a bit of slack surprise in her expression. She looked at me now like she wasn’t sure what to make of me.

I tried to keep myself open, wanting her to see that my intentions and my words were genuine. I didn’t have anything to hide in this. I was apologetic, I wanted to make things right, but I also just wanted to help for no other reason than I just liked them.

Vanessa and Ava were a brave pair who had struggled through some hard times. If I could help them, I would, however I could. The difficulty here would be convincing Vanessa to allow me to do so. She was fiercely independent and didn’t seem to like me. Though with how I had been acting, always seeing her with suspicion, convinced she was Laila in disguise, I couldn’t blame her for her dislike.

After a moment, Vanessa seemed to recover from the shock of my words. Lightly, she shook her head.

“I deeply appreciate what you’ve done here today, especially when you introduced me to many who I did not know,” she said.

I started to say something but she hastily continued before I could.

J

“Please let me finish. While I am grateful, I can’t accept any further help from you. I want to do things on my own.”

That didn’t make sense to me. If she was a woman carrying so much weight, burdened by so many problems and trials, why wouldn’t she want help? I was right here, a strong and capable Alpha, leader of a prominent pack. But she was acting like I would only add to her troubles, not help solve them.

“I have done everyone on my own until this point,” she said. “I can continue to do so.”

“But you don’t need to do that,” I said, trying to understand. “I’m offering you help. You could take a break-

“I don’t need a break,” she said forcefully. “I don’t need anything from you, least of all your pity.”

Her conviction gave me pause.

“Can you respect that?” she asked me.

I didn’t see how I had any choice. To force the matter would only be to make things worse.

+25 Bonus

“Yes,” I said.

“Thank you,” she said. “Twill be leaving now.”

“I’ll let the others know you had a pressing engagement.”

She nodded. “Thank you again.”

With that, she turned away from me and walked down the hallway back to the lobby of the hotel.

My chest tightened, watching her go. From this angle, she truly did look like Laila, walking away from me, leaving me forever.

I knew that couldn’t be possible. Laila was gone, and she wasn’t coming back. I had already been too harsh with Vanessa,

pushing the mistaken identity onto her when she never deserved that kind of attention from me.

Yet, still…

I placed a hand to my chest, gently massaging over my wounded heart. I wondered if the pain of Laila’s loss would ever truly

heal.

I doubted it.

With a sigh, I shook my head. I needed to get over this feeling, at least in terms of this impossible connection between Laila and Vanessa. It was nothing but a delusion, and I needed to accept that. I needed to stop allowing my foolish heart to see Vanessa and hope.

There was no hope for me now. Laila was gone, and Vanessa was her own person with her own life who wanted nothing to do with me.

At that same moment, William walked into the lobby from the outside entrance. Spotting Vanessa, he smiled wide and waved. She went to him.

My heart ached more fiercely, feeling as if it was locked in a vice, slowly twisting tighter.

I forced myself to turn away.

This wasn’t my business. It wasn’t my place.

If Vanessa wanted to be with William, that was her choice, and I had no say in the matter.

I just missed Laila.

Laila’s POV

I had no idea what William was doing here. We hadn’t talked about meeting here, though I did mention that I was coming to this

event. 1

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify