The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 154

Chapter 154: Why Didn’t You Say Goodbye

The jet stream seized them, dragging them through the cold. For thirty seconds, they were drowning sideways through the dark, lungs screaming.

Then the current spat them out the other side, and Serena couldn’t tell the sky from the lakebed.

Fin swam with her in his arms, following the light at the top. Which was upside down from where they had been.

They broke the surface in a violent spray of water.

The first breath burned worse than the water had. Serena coughed until her whole body shook with it, and Fin held her above the surface the entire time, breathing like he’d sprinted a mile underwater, which he basically had.

"Are you alright?" He called over the waterfall thundering above them.

"Never better," she answered, chest heaving.

They’d just been sucked through fifty feet of enchanted water, launched through a jet stream, and ejected into another pink lake.

Serena started laughing first.

Then Fin lost it, the sheer absurdity of what they’d just done hitting him. He burst out laughing, utterly done with the laws of physics and common sense. It bounced off the water and came back louder, and Serena was fairly certain no one had ever heard Finnick Shadowclaw sound this unhinged.

"That was insane," he wheezed between laughs, still holding her afloat. "Absolutely ridiculous."

Their eyes met and the laughter faded, replaced by a sudden, jarring tension. She held his stare until the air between them felt too thick to breathe, then she dropped her gaze to the water.

"Hold onto me," Fin said over the waterfall. Serena didn’t argue, holding onto his back as he swam across the lake to shore.

His alpha speed was back.

He swam with the casual efficiency of a man who had been doing combat drills since he could walk. A torpedo that occasionally checked on you over its shoulder.

As soon as he could touch the bottom he stopped, pulling her in front of him.

He touched her cheek with his thumb, looking at her in a way that made her want to lean into him for more. Sparks crackled under her skin where his thumb pressed against her cheek.

She was well-aware of her physical reaction to him. But she needed to keep a clear head.

She’d rehearsed in her mind how she’d handle this if she ever had the chance. But what came out instead were the two questions she’d been choking on.

"Why didn’t you say goodbye? And why wasn’t I allowed to know?"

Her voice cracked and her eyes were reddening. She swallowed another lump in the back of her throat, refusing to acknowledge that.

Gods, she didn’t want to get emotional. But she didn’t understand. She needed closure because the way things happened didn’t feel right.

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