The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 172

Chapter 172: Matebond Miracles & Motherfucking Multitasking

She did not tell him.

Actually, she was running a fever, not feeling well at all when she returned to Shadowclaw, and he tucked her into bed.

His bed. The one she’d been sleeping in for four days now. Which was fine. Completely platonic. People slept in other people’s beds all the time. Soldiers did it. Prisoners did it. Hospital patients did it. This was no different, except for the part where he smelled incredible and she kept waking up with him wrapped around her like a koala with attachment issues.

She also accidentally kissed him goodnight.

There was no version of that sentence that held up to scrutiny. ’Accidentally’ implied a lack of intent. She had looked at his mouth, leaned in, and made contact. That was not an accident. That was a choice her brain made without consulting her.

A minor hiccup. Fixable. She would address it tomorrow

She didn’t know when sleep took her.

When she opened her eyes, she was standing in a stone room she didn’t recognize with no windows. Water dripped from somewhere above, pooling in uneven rivulets across a floor slick with grime and something darker.

His skin was a canvas of fresh wounds layered over older ones, some still bleeding, some crusted black at the edges where dark magic had cauterized the flesh wrong. His head hung forward, chin to chest, breathing shallow and uneven.

"Dex!"

Dex lifted his head slowly, not toward her, but downward, toward the puddle of filthy water collecting beneath his boots. His reflection stared back at him, gaunt and bruised, and then his eyes shifted, catching something behind his own face in the water.

Her.

"Serena?"

His voice was wrecked. Raw and cracked and stripped of every ounce of confidence. He said her name like he wasn’t sure it was real, like he’d said it a hundred times already and no one had answered.

She cut her hand open without hesitating. Gold blood hit his body, running towards his wounds in rivulets that moved with purpose, seeping into his body. His skin knit together where the blood touched, bruises fading from black to green to nothing.

He exhaled, something between relief and a sob.

Then the room shifted. Figures emerged from the dark edges of the cell, hooded, faceless, their hands trailing black smoke. They pressed their palms to his temples, and the smoke poured into him like liquid through a funnel. His body seized, spine arching against the chains, every muscle locked rigid.

He screamed.

It wasn’t the sound of pain. It was the sound of something being ripped out of him, something deep and rooted and fundamental, torn loose by force. His eyes rolled white. The veins in his neck went black. He screamed again, and this time the sound didn’t stop, it just kept going, raw and animal and endless, until Serena couldn’t tell if she was hearing him or feeling him.

Serena woke up panting, drenched in sweat, her heart slamming against her ribs so hard she could feel it in her teeth.

Fin wasn’t in the bed and Onyx wasn’t in his basket, which meant it was still early evening.

She bolted out of bed, threw on her bra under her silk camisole and pulled on a pair of socks from the bag omegas packed for her. She grabbed her cloak and boots and moved.

She tried to make a portal.

Her insides burned the moment the Fae magic answered her call. Not the usual strain of channeling on low reserves, but something vicious and wrong. She hunched over in agony, one hand braced against the wall.

The pain... she realized it wasn’t all hers.

Some of it was Dexmon. A combination of whatever her body was doing and his, tangled together so tightly she couldn’t separate one from the other.

Her Hidden Flame mark flared molten white hot against her skin. She pressed her palm over it and panted through clenched teeth, waiting for it to pass, knowing it wouldn’t.

Her legs gave out. She slid down the wall, back scraping stone, until she was on the floor with her knees drawn to her chest and her hand still pressed over the mark.

"Serena!" Fin was in the room kneeling in front of her instantly. Onyx was with him, tilting his head.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify