The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 302

Chapter 302: Alphas Don’t Cuddle (Redacted)

If anyone had asked Alaric Kestrel how his evening was going, he would have said quiet, productive, and nearly over.

His shift was supposed to end at 10 o’clock, and he was already tasting sweet, glorious freedom.

At 9:57 he left his office whistling like an idiot, when the universe flipped him off and set his plans on fire.

Rewind sixty seconds. On an ice continent, two Alphas, a Queen, a Gamma, and three Master Mages stood in darkness.

The ancestors had just counted down and their flame was gone. All three mages stood with their hands up, magic ready, producing zero portals.

"Any time now," Maelor called. "One-second window my ass."

The ancestors did not respond.

The floor rumbled.

CRACK.

The door they’d come through cracked straight down the center like something on the other side had hit it.

"Son of a bitch!" Aeron yelped, nearly jumping out of his skin. "Portals! NOW!"

He didn’t need to say it. Hyran and Maelor felt the suppression lift at the exact same moment. Three portals ripped open in perfect sync.

They’d spent the last four hours bickering about glyphs. Now they were casting in flawless unison. Turns out mortal peril was the team-building exercise they needed.

BOOM.

The crack split wide. A figure filled the gap.

Black magic flooded the chamber like smoke.

Without hesitation, Gavriel scooped Serena up and bolted through Hyran’s portal, only to trip halfway through. Serena flew out of his arms, and he crawled the rest of the way.

Hyran and Aeron grabbed Dex just as the entire entrance detonated, stone fragments ripping across the chamber. They dove into Aeron’s portal sideways, falling in a tangle of limbs.

Fin was limping through black magic while getting pelted by stones, trying to get to Maelor’s portal. What happened next, he would remember for the rest of his life.

Maelor ducked under his good arm, took his weight, and hauled him through the portal. They hit the other side wrong, both landing with the grace of two cats tossed in a bath.

As the portal began to close, Fin glanced up and locked eyes with the High Emperor of Orosia, who was sprinting directly at his face with murderous intent.

He was going to make it.

"Maelor!" Fin’s voice cracked on the second syllable, the shout collapsing into a wheeze as his torso punished him for the volume.

He saw the rest unfold in slow motion.

The High Emperor lunged through the threshold, one knee and half his face already in Drakenfell, when a pink portal ripped open directly in front of Maelor’s.

Somewhere behind Fin on the floor, Serena had lifted her hand and started making one before Fin finished saying Maelor’s name.

The timing could not have been better.

The Emperor’s momentum hurled him through one portal and directly into the other. Both portals slammed shut with a violent crack.

Fin glanced at her and saw those vivid green eyes. Not gold. That was all Serena. His Serena.

The moment was short-lived. Her insides burned viciously, and the agony ripped through their matebond, completely overwhelming his own pain for a heartbeat. She was at her breaking point.

"Serena," he began.

"I know," she said softly.

No other words were needed.

Hyran and Aeron and Maelor looked at her.

"Well done," Maelor panted. It surprised everyone, including himself. "Where did you send him?"

"Void Glass Dunes," she breathed. "I think."

"You think?" Gav asked.

"I was aiming there."

"And if you missed?"

"Then he’s somewhere else far away."

Fin then noticed a very confused Alaric standing with his jaw open. The portals had deposited them in the medical wing of Drakenfell.

"Is anyone going to explain why my hallway smells like lake water and dark magic, or should I just start guessing?" he asked.

No one answered.

Alaric pinched the bridge of his nose. "How many of you can walk?"

Silence.

"I’m going to ask that again, slower, in case any of you misheard it as a trick question. Can. Anyone. Walk."

Nothing.

"How many of you can sit up?"

Dex grunted. That was it.

"Fantastic. Who is in the most critical condition?"

"Dex," Gav answered. "Serena next, then Shadowclaw."

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify