The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Moose Down - A 6’7” Warrior Had No Game

"Is Hale your fated mate?"

Serena finally broke, asking the question that had been on her mind.

Elara stopped mid-step. "Why would you just say that out loud? In his wing of the castle? Where sound travels?"

Serena danced a half-step ahead and spun on her toes to face Elara with a look of pure mischief. "You are the boldest person I know, yet you blush at the topic of your fated mate. What am I going to do with you?"

"Ideally? Not bring it up again until I have had at least two glasses of wine."

Elara wrapped her arms around herself, looking suddenly smaller in the wide hallway. "Besides, he hasn’t said anything about us being fated mates... or anything at all. I don’t think he is fully interested. He is still deciding whether he even wants a mate, let—"

Serena held up her hand, cutting her off mid-sentence. "There is no chance of that. None. He was so excited the night you met him."

Elara huffed quietly. "Or maybe he is just polite."

"He’s nervous around you. But taking it slow doesn’t mean he’s unsure. He wouldn’t give you flowers daily if he was unsure, or invite us to his private wing before a ball."

Elara’s expression clouded, her hope clearly warring with her common sense. "Will you watch tonight and tell me what you think? Be brutally honest. I need to keep my expectations level."

"Of course. If he is messing with you, I will punch him."

Elara rolled her eyes. "You are terrifying."

They stopped before a heavy oak door, reinforced with iron bands etched in Drakenfell Beta sigils.

As Elara lifted her hand, a voice answered from within before her knuckles could even graze the wood, as if he’d been standing right on the other side.

"Come in."

When they entered Hale’s study, he was leaning against his desk with the composure of a man who had not just run across the room to pose the second the door opened.

He took a step toward Elara, caught his foot on the rug, and only just managed not to faceplant, though his whiskey glass slipped from his grip in the scramble.

He lunged, catching the glass without spilling any whiskey. His forearm clipped a nearby candle stand in the process, and the candle toppled onto his desk. A loose paper caught fire instantly.

He began stomping it out, muttering to himself, whiskey sloshing out of his glass as he did so.

Then he went perfectly still.

He looked up at Elara with the face of a golden retriever who had just knocked over the Christmas tree, hopeful that she’d somehow missed all of that.

Serena stepped forward, ready to do wha help this man at all costs.

"Hale, it is good to see you. Isn’t she beautiful?"

She fed him the line like a stage manager saving an actor who had gone completely blank in front of a live audience. It almost worked.

"Yes," he said. "You. Pretty. Are."

He closed his eyes briefly, as if asking the gods for a merciful death. "I mean. You are pretty. Very. Gods."

Elara giggled, the sound easing the tightness in his chest.

"Careful. Keep complimenting a girl like this and she might start believing it."

She closed the distance between them.

Hale opened his mouth, likely to produce another broken sentence, but Elara kissed him before he could do further damage to the Common Tongue.

He froze, the tips of his ears going scarlet before the rest of his face caught up. Then a boyish grin broke across his mouth, like a man who had spent the last five minutes setting things on fire and still came out ahead. He grabbed both of Elara’s hands without thinking.

"She’s not the only one," a voice called from the corner.

Serena looked up to see Gavriel lounging, glass in hand.

For a man never short on words, Gavriel had gone quiet. She was stunning, and for once, even he knew better than to interrupt the moment too quickly by opening his mouth.

Silence stretched for a second too long, neither looking away.

Serena broke first, offering him a warm smile meant to ease the tension before it snapped.

"Great to see you as well, Gav."

It worked. Mostly.

He stood slowly and poured her a glass of whiskey. "Lovely gown."

"Yes." Her fingers brushed his briefly as she took the glass. "I owe you much thanks. And for the earrings and shoes. They are lovely."

His eyes flicked to the earrings, then the shoes, then returned to her face.

"Surprised you agreed to wear it," he said, voice lowering with amused approval. "It is bold. But then again, so are you."

It was the most coherent sentence Serena had ever heard from him, and pride bloomed in her chest. She noted he was still holding both of Elara’s hands, too. Big day for the Beta of Drakenfell.

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