The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 203

Chapter 203: Sloppy Seconds Was The Wrong Damn Card

Xeon: The Drakenfell prince is speaking. I would like to bite him.

Fin: This is his house. We play by his rules.

Xeon: He is looking at her. I would like to bite him for that as well.

Fin: Xeon. Enough.

Serena was speaking with Elara and Hale, acting completely fine. But she was absolutely, catastrophically, the opposite of fine.

The last time the three of them shared a room, it ended badly. She remembered. Her body remembered. And her matebond was broadcasting it to both of them.

Fin leaned against a stone column across the room next to Aeron, face giving nothing away. For one terrible second, he was certain she was crying. He looked at her.

She held her composure so convincingly that anyone without a matebond would have believed it entirely.

Fifteen feet away, Dex’s attention forked, half on Tiberon’s mouth forming sentences, half on the woman thirty feet away whose distress was flooding him like cold water through a cracked hull.

His eyes moved from Serena to the far end of the chamber and found Fin already looking back.

Their eyes met.

It was brief. Three seconds, maybe less. But in those three seconds, an understanding passed between two men on opposing sides.

Dex looked away first. Fin exhaled through his nose and uncrossed his arms. It was the most cooperation they’d managed since the fight, and it happened without a single word exchanged.

Members continued filtering out. Aeron lingered near the runes on the far wall, fingers hovering over inscriptions he desperately wanted to trace, his restraint visibly costing him.

Serena turned towards Fin, taking a step, but then froze. She said goodbye to him the last few mornings before leaving for Drakenfell. She was about to train, and it was muscle memory to tell him goodbye. But Dex was right there, and she didn’t want to hurt either of them.

She looked away, turning, sadness crossing her face.

Xeon: She is sad. Fix it.

Fin: I saw.

Xeon: Then why are you still standing here?

Before Fin could move, Gavriel materialized at Serena’s side with the focus of a predator tracking three different animals at once.

"Frostborne. I need to show you something on the scrolls." He tilted his head toward the chamber door. "Shall we?"

He said it like it was nothing. The kind of request that gave her a reason to move, that didn’t require her to say goodbye to anyone.

Serena refocused, and nodded, then moved towards the exit with him. As they passed through the archway, Gav’s hand settled against her lower back, guiding her through the doorway. The gesture of a Gamma who’d been steering this girl through difficult rooms since the week she arrived in Drakenfell.

Fin clocked it. His eyes narrowed on Gavriel’s hand for two full seconds before his expression smoothed back to neutral.

Xeon: The Gamma touched our mate.

Fin: I saw.

Xeon: His hand was on her back. That is not where hands go on women who are not yours.

Fin: I said I saw.

Xeon: You are calm. I do not trust your calm.

Fin: Good.

✦✦✦

They made it halfway down the east wing before the voice found them.

"Quite the morning."

Bellatrix looked from Serena to Gavriel. Then back to Serena. Then to Gavriel again, slower this time, the path she traveled loaded with implication. "How thoughtful of you to spread yourself so evenly among the leadership. Two alphas and a gamma. Add a beta, and you’ll have a full hand."

Serena didn’t bother reacting. Some people weren’t worth the facial muscles.

"Tell me, does Shadowclaw know the Gamma walks you to private rooms, or is this something you do on his days off?"

"Bellatrix." That tone coming from Gavriel was rare, and carried a warning that most people would have heeded.

Bellatrix was not most people.

"Don’t Bellatrix me, Sterling. You’re escorting her through my corridors to your private study. I may be many things, but I am not oblivious." She turned back to Serena. "I’ve seen bitches in heat with more selectivity. At least they make them earn it first."

Serena held Bellatrix’s stare. She’d been insulted by experts. Bellatrix was amateur compared to Guinevere and Agnes. Frankly, she was unimpressed.

"If the Knotty Omega is your primary intelligence source, Your Majesty, I’d recommend diversifying."

"Your mother died before she could see what you’ve become. A mercy from the Moon Goddess." Bellatrix took a step closer, her lips pulling into a tight smile.

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