The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 304

Chapter 304: Alpha-Mark Heat Without A Blood Moon

The water was ice. Agnes had made sure of it.

She’d drained the bath twice and refilled it with water so cold her teeth were chattering before she even stepped in. Warmth was the enemy. Everything below her waist was the enemy, and had been since she woke up at midnight with her skin on fire and her wolf howling loud enough to split her skull.

Heat.

She knew the signs all too well, and she had every intention of handling this with dignity.

What she hadn’t expected was for it to happen now.

Yes, marking is what triggered heat cycles. Agnes was marked. Fine.

But she had never heard of a woman going into heat without a full moon, let alone a woman marked by an Alpha. Alpha-mate heats were tied to Blood Moons. Once, maybe twice a year. Some years, none at all.

The moon was barely a sliver tonight.

Garrett was born a Gamma. He carried an Alpha aura now, but only because of the Ascension Rite. Maybe that was why? A transferred aura instead of a born one. It had to be.

If it wasn’t that, then there was something wrong with her, and Agnes Viremont was not broken. She was a limited edition.

She sank deeper into the freezing water. The cold helped for about ninety seconds at a time before her body overruled it, heat flooding back through her veins with a vengeance that felt personal.

Agnes squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her forehead against the rim of the tub. The stone was cold. Good. She needed cold. She needed a glacier, an ice age, a full extinction-level winter event aimed directly at her reproductive system.

What she needed to avoid was Garrett Darkhowler finding out.

Because Garrett would help. That was the problem. Garrett would take one look at her, recognize exactly what was happening, and respond with the full earnest, decent, horrifyingly tender weight of his personality. He would hold her. He would ask what she needed. He would mean every word.

And she would break.

She’d been keeping herself together through sheer force of will for weeks. The guilt lived in her chest like a second heartbeat, and heat had a way of stripping defenses until there was nothing left to hide behind.

Her father’s face flashed through her mind. The letters. The coordination. The things she still hadn’t told Garrett because telling him would mean watching that steady, trusting expression collapse, and she wasn’t ready for that. She might never be ready for that.

A thought kept circulating in her head.

He deserves to know. You are afraid he will leave.

Agnes’s throat tightened. She pressed harder against the stone rim until it hurt.

"I’m protecting him."

You are protecting yourself. There is a difference, and you know it.

Agnes slammed her palm against the water. The splash hit the floor and the wall and she didn’t care. Her body was burning through the cold faster than the tub could replenish it, and the cramps were getting worse, deep and rhythmic and demanding in a way that made her want to scream.

She heard the door open.

"Agnes."

Garrett’s voice. Low. Careful. Already knowing.

She didn’t turn around. "I’m fine."

"You’ve been in here for two hours." He paused in the doorway. "The water is ice cold. I can see your breath."

"I enjoy cold baths. It’s a skincare ritual."

"In the middle of the night."

"Skin has no schedule, Garrett."

Silence. She could feel him studying her. That infuriatingly patient, methodical assessment he did before making a tactical decision. The same look he gave battle maps and border disputes, aimed at her shaking shoulders.

MATE.

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