The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 199

Chapter 199: Fin Feels It Too

The portal had been closed for four seconds and Fin was already staring at the wall where it had been.

Xeon: You’re staring at a wall.

Fin: I’m thinking.

Xeon: You miss her.

Fin turned, jaw tight, and moved towards his study.

Work. Structure. Routine. The three things Fin Shadowclaw used to survive emotions he didn’t like. He sat behind his desk, pulled the first report, and started reading.

Xeon: Assign this to your Beta and Gamma. Go check on her.

The first spike came at nine.

A lance of pain through his left shoulder that made his pen drag across the page. Fin straightened, hand going to the spot instinctively, and breathed through it.

It was going to be a long day. They were already putting her through it.

He went back to the report.

✦✦✦

By ten, he’d cleared his entire desk.

Days of work done in a few hours because sitting still was not an option and productivity was the only socially acceptable form of panic.

Approved three trade routes. Denied a border request. Reassigned two patrol units and written a letter to the Thornvale regent that he’d been avoiding for a month.

He moved into meetings, and was mid-sentence with his Beta and Gamma when another spike hit his ribs. His words stopped. His Beta glanced at his Gamma.

He exhaled, slow, through his nose, and picked up where he left off as if his mate hadn’t just taken a blow hard enough to make his vision swim.

Xeon: She is being hurt.

Fin: She’s training.

Xeon: Training should not feel like this.

He was right. This was past normal exertion. The rhythm had changed. What had been steady, controlled effort had shifted into something sharper. Irregular. The cadence of a body being pushed past its design limits by someone who didn’t care where the line was.

Fin stood in middle of the meeting. Sat back down. Stood again.

Everyone was watching him. His Beta and Gamma exchanged a look that communicated volumes. The look said: he’s doing the thing again.

He didn’t notice.

Xeon: She just fell off a dragon.

Fin: You are not helping.

After the meeting ended, when he was back in his study, pain lanced on his forearm. It was strong enough that his vision whited at the edges. He sucked air through his teeth and pressed his palm flat against the desk.

Xeon: Portal. Now.

Fin: No.

Xeon: She is in pain. We carry her home and never let her leave again.

Fin: That is not a plan.

Xeon: It is the only plan.

He was pacing in his study. The reports were abandoned, the trade dispute forgotten. Their matebond was a live wire now, every sensation arriving amplified and unfiltered. Her pain, her exhaustion, the grinding determination underneath both that said she was not going to stop no matter what it cost her.

That was the worst part. He knew she wouldn’t stop. She never stopped. She’d crawl before she’d quit, and he knew because he’d watched her do exactly that.

No. He was done.

"Aeron."

His Master Mage appeared in the doorway within thirty seconds, which meant he’d been close. Which meant he’d anticipated this.

"Don’t," Aeron said.

"I wasn’t going to say anything."

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