The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate (Jason and Laila) by Caroline Above Story novel Chapter 99

Jason’s POV

I sat at my office, my elbows on the desktop, my fingers buried in my hair. Marcus stood before me, holding his hands in the small of his back. There was a fan of papers in front of me, a mountain of transfer requests.

Pack defects reached a record–level since Dustin began his verbal crusade against me. In addition, protestors were now surrounding both the pack house and the Alpha building. Even if my pack members weren’t leaving, they were still angry with

1. me.

They wanted a change, either a return to tradition or a new Alpha entirely.

This division sewed weakness, and slowly I was starting to worry that my own army wouldn’t fight for me anymore.

I wasn’t a coward. I would fight alone if I had to. But alone on the battlefield against an army, I was sure to lose.

“I have to call Alpha Dustin,” I told Marcus. “If I speak to him man to man, Alpha to Alpha, perhaps I can get him to back off.”

Marcus hesitated. “Are you sure, Alpha?”

“I don’t see that I have any choice, Marcus. It’s at least worth a try. If I talk to him, if I prove that I’m capable, maybe he will see that he is wrong about things. I only need to convince him, and the rest will follow.”

Marcus continued to seem unsure but he nodded. “I will connect you,” he said and left the room.

When Marcus stepped out, I exhaled, allowing my own mask of confidence to fall. The truth was, I wasn’t sure this was going to work either. In fact, I basically knew that it wasn’t. But I wasn’t going to sit back and allow Dustin to steamroll his way over me and my pack.

I would do whatever I could to stop him. First with words, then with a fight, if necessary.

Even if I had to fight alone… Perhaps I could challenge him….

My phone rang. Marcus must have made the call.

I picked up.

“This is Alpha Jason.”

“Alpha Jason,” came Dustin’s voice through the phone. I recognized it at once after having listened to so many of his press conferences and interviews. “Your Beta said you wanted to beg.”

No way in hell did Marcus say that.

“I’m going to disappoint you,” I said. “I only want to talk. No begging here.”

“You should beg,” Dustin said. “That’s what weak Alphas do.”

“You will soon find that I am not a weak Alpha. I will do what is necessary to maintain this pack.”

“What is necessary? Sure. Anything except mating your Luna and having heirs. Is it a lack of vitriol? A lack of passion? I don’t care either way. But it is weakness.”

“I am a warrior,” I said. “Any implication otherwise is a grave insult.”

“Maybe you are, but what would that matter without your pack behind you. Unless you believe you can take on my entire pack of warriors all on your own?” He laughed.

The mockery stung.

“The traditions are outdated,” I said.

+25 Bonus

“That hardly matters,” Dustin said. “The facts are the facts, Jason. You have no Luna. You have no heirs. The people don’t like that. Therefore you are losing your people, and your land is now up for grabs. I almost feel bad for you. Almost. Instead, I think I’ll just take your lands.”

“I’m not going to just let you.

“I’d be offended if you did,” Dustin said. “But have heirs. I have a Luna. Your people look to me and see an Alpha. They don’t see the same in you.” He laughed again, louder. “Thank you for gifting me so many advantages. All of your best, strongest pack members are now mine. Pretty soon, the rest will be mine too.”

Laila’s POV

Without being able to talk to Jason, I could only do so much to actually help him.

I spent far too much time sitting on the phone, trying to get through to him. I knew that if I could just tell him about Ava, it would solve this pack crisis. Jason had an heir. He just didn’t know it yet.

But no matter how many times I tried to call, it would only ring and ring, or I’d be put on hold.

Eventually, Jason’s assistant would come back on the phone just to tell me, “Are you sure you want to keep waiting?”

“I need him to listen to me,” I said. “It’s really very important. I promise I wouldn’t keep bothering him otherwise.”

1

“I’m sorry, Ms. Harper,” the assistant said. “I don’t think it would matter if it’s important or not. You must see what our Alpha

has been dealing with. Unless you know of a way to save our pack, then I’m going to have to keep this line clear.”

“Maybe I do know a way.”

“Excuse me?”

“I might,” I said. “If I could just talk to Jason.”

“Sure,” the assistant said, and I was back on hold where I had started, no closer to speaking to Jason.

I really didn’t want to tell Jason this over the phone. I wanted to be there with him, for him to see my face and mine his. I wanted to read his expression to know how he truly felt. So much could be lost over the phone.

But if this was how it had to be, then so be it.

I waited, and then waited some more. I was determined to talk to him, but… the longer I waited, the more doubts filled my mind.

1

Maybe these delays were a sign from the Moon Goddess, telling me not to go this route. Or maybe I was just being too hasty. Did I really want to put Ava in the limelight? Telling Jason, having Jason publically declare her his hair would drag her straight into the public spotlight.

I wanted to help Jason, but what if in doing this, I was putting my little girl in danger? If it was just me I had to worry about, would be a no–brainer. But with Ava…

The more time I had to think, the more I wasn’t sure.

Still, I stayed on the call, hoping I would know what to do once I heard Jason’s voice.

As I waited, my phone started beeping with another call. I checked, and it was William.

I didn’t want to lose my place on hold, but I couldn’t ignore William. I ended my call with Jason’s office and switched over to William instead.

“Hi, William.”

“I hope you are sitting down.”

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