The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 282

Chapter 282: Temple of Vyramer

Gavriel Sterling had been chased, stabbed, frozen, trapped in a pink bubble, and stared at by a prince. He was not prepared for what came next.

Later, he would divide his life into two categories: before the temple, and after. He just didn’t know it yet.

Serena turned to face the group.

"This is where things get difficult. Stay with a mage at all times. It will try to separate us. If you don’t know an answer, make a portal back into the hall you were in."

Gav raised his hand. "When you say ’try to separate us,’ do you mean psychologically or physically?"

"Both," Serena replied.

Fin processed the instructions the way he processed all battlefield briefings. Silently. Completely. Already running contingencies before she finished talking.

"An answer to what, Serena?" Dex asked.

"You’ll know when it asks," Serena said.

Dex exhaled. Noted. He didn’t like it.

Hyran stepped forward. "What manner of trials should we expect?"

"I don’t know," Serena said. "The texts weren’t specific."

"So we’re walking into an ancient temple that will attempt to separate and test us, and the preparation is ’stay near a mage.’"

"Yes."

Hyran nodded once. "I’ve worked with less."

"When? When have you worked with less?" Maelor asked.

"Frequently. You’ve simply never been present for it."

"And where will you be?" Dex asked, voice light. The lightness was a lie and everyone in the group knew it.

"In front," Serena said.

"Of course you will," Dex said. "Of course."

He positioned himself at her right side and stayed there.

Nine people. One temple. No plan anyone was comfortable with.

She turned toward the temple. Her eyes flared pink, bright enough to catch on the vines.

She placed a hand on the ancient doors and spoke in Glaciovox, her voice low, resonant, and older than the language had any right to sound through her.

The doors shuddered, then groaned open, stone grinding against stone.

Behind her, Hyran translated for the group, his voice hushed.

"She said, ’We who bear the flame seek entrance, and the temple shall obey.’"

The jungle fell completely silent as the threshold yawned open before them.

They stepped inside, and the air shifted at once. Cooler. Still. Touched with the scent of old stone and long-faded magic. The warmth of the jungle vanished behind them as though a door had closed, though none had.

The corridor stretched ahead, lit by nothing. Serena lifted her hand and pink light bloomed from her palm, casting the passage in a soft glow that revealed walls covered in frescoes, ancient and cracked, depicting dragons and wolves intertwined in scenes too faded to read fully.

She moved ahead of them, pausing when a fractured slab of stone caught her attention.

She crouched, lifted it, and the instant her fingers brushed its surface, a rune flared to life across it. She pocketed the stone and kept walking.

They were only a few minutes deeper when she stopped so abruptly that Fin and Dex both felt the jolt through their matebonds before they heard her voice.

"Wait."

Panic and urgency threaded through the single word.

Dex recognized it immediately. It was the look she wore right before she did something selfless and stupid and irreversible. The look that said: I’ll take it from here.

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