The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 156

Chapter 156: Mommy, Look!

All of Fin’s instincts said no and to turn around. Xeon was clawing at the walls of his mind, furious, and Fin couldn’t blame him.

The underground chamber materialized around him. The others were there. Gav stood facing the portal arms crossed, clearly waiting for Serena. His usual humor was gone. Hyran stood perfectly still with the expression of a man knowing exactly what was about to happen.

Fin turned immediately, seeing her on the other side of the portal. But blood was coming from her nose. Not gold, red. She hunched, clutching her ribs.

"SERENA."

He moved at Alpha speed to go back to her. Alpha speed is very impressive right up until the moment you use it to run face-first into nothing. The portal snapped closed before he could get to her.

"FUCK."

He punched the ground so hard his knuckles bled.

✦✦✦

Serena touched under her nose, felt blood, and fell to her knees. The portal snapped shut so quickly she didn’t realize it happened until after.

"Don’t panic," she said to herself aloud. "I just need to recharge."

Don’t panic is what she would usually tell Elara right before they both would absolutely panic.

She wiped the blood from her nose with the back of her hand and forced herself to assess. Open clearing. Tall grass. No cover. If anyone was watching, she was a target sitting in the center of a bullseye.

She climbed a tree to the top, to get a view.

Serena: Aurelia, if you can hear me, I want it on record that I climbed this tree with grace and athleticism and did not almost fall twice.

No response.

On one side she saw the ocean and islands, which confirmed she was in the southern part of the continent. In the opposite direction, she saw a fortress.

Even if she wanted to go back to Drakenfell, she couldn’t. She needed to recharge. She came to Orosia on a mission and that was to get everyone returned home safe. Dexmon and Tiberon were out there and every second wasted was a second they didn’t have.

She sighed knowing full well, she would get a stern talking to about this if she survived. But she’d already crossed the line where "going back" stopped being a direction and became a memory.

What was her plan? Go in there and ask for a portal to the capital? Why would they help her? They probably wanted to kill her.

Walking into a foreign court and asking for a favor was the diplomatic equivalent of sticking your hand in a wolf’s mouth and hoping it found you charming.

Still, something told her to try. ’Something’ as in, she had no other options and stubbornness was free.

She climbed down the tree and pulled the top half of training suit on, over her sports bra. It was hot and uncomfortable.

Then she broke out into a sprint. To her relief, she was able to go at Alpha speed. At least one thing still worked. She’d take it. Beggars. Choosers. Enemy continent.

A little girl spotted her and tugged at her mother’s skirt.

"Mommy, look! The pink lady from the story. Did she lose her dress in the woods?" The collective breath of the crowd held until the child added, "She looks much more tired than the drawings. And she has a smudge on her nose."

Serena swallowed, nodding to the onlookers as she made her way down the street. She had absolutely no plan, but her instincts told her to be direct with this fortress.

Give trust to get it. And sneaking into a palace was not the way she wanted to start. If Hyran were here, he’d have told her that walking into a Fae palace uninvited was the diplomatic equivalent of lighting yourself on fire.

People continued to freeze, moving out of the way for her. Almost like they couldn’t believe she was real.

Then, one knelt. To her horror, more followed.

"Oh, please, you don’t have to—" she started to say in High Orosian. "That’s not...you don’t need to bow to me."

There was no use. Most lowered to one knee, some were full-on bowing, noses on the ground.

She picked up her pace, debating if she should just run at Alpha speed or if that would scare them.

After about a minute, she decided it was worth the risk. She was attracting entirely too much attention, and wasn’t trying to start a rebellion or take over.

She sprinted at Alpha speed towards the palace.