The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 33

Chapter 33: 99 Problems But A Moose Ain’t One

Gav laid Serena flat, bracing her on one side.

Dex dropped to the other side and held her down, still gripping her hand like letting go might end her. His jaw was tight, eyes locked on her face.

She started coughing again, harsh and wet, each breath a broken rattle as her flooded lungs fought for air.

Don’t you dare die on me. Don’t you fucking dare.

Her panic washed into him through their matebond. He wanted to tell her to breathe and help her calm. But she couldn’t breathe, so the words died before they reached his mouth.

"Hold on, baby. We’ve got you," he said instead, forcing the words past gritted teeth. It was all he could manage. He surged calm into her through their matebond and gave her hand a squeeze, knuckles white, trying to keep his own emotions in check.

Hyran tore his shirt, ripping a strip from it. He wrapped the cloth around his hand and grabbed what was lodged inside her.

He didn’t look at any of them when he did it. There was no time for explanations.

The cloth caught fire instantly. But he didn’t flinch or pull away. He stayed exactly where he was, skin blistering as flame ate through fabric and flesh.

A guttural sound tore from Dex’s throat as her pain slammed through their matebond. It stole the breath from his lungs. And this was only a dim mirror of what she was feeling. Just a fraction of it.

It hurt more than any wound he’d taken. He could feel it was corrupted. Embedded deep and latched on like a parasite.

Serena’s tears came silently, her whole body locked tight against the scream trying to claw out.

But the pain overtook her.

Instead of a scream, a high-pitched whimper tore from her throat, cut short by the sick gurgle of blood bubbling up from her flooded lungs.

Her panic surged up, cutting through the calm Dex pushed to her.

Dex wiped her tears with his thumb. "Hey... hey... easy," he said in a soothing voice, though his own was cracking. "Just a little longer."

He had seen warriors bleed out and die on battle fields. But nothing could have prepared him for this. She was dying and she was not in his arms.

He noticed blood all over her, and not just her blood. He wondered how long she’d been out here, alone, bleeding, fighting for every breath.

Alaric was supposed to fetch her in the throne room. Did that not happen? Clearly not.

Mindlinks were down. If he’d have known, he’d have returned for her immediately. The only reason he didn’t bring her with him to begin with was because her wounds were critical. Alaric was on his way to the throne room, she should have been safe.

He ignored his instincts with Serena twice today. And he was wrong for it both times.

There was no doubt in his mind who had stabbed her. None.

He knew something was off with Elara earlier. He sensed it. And he ignored it.

Never again. Fuck protocol. Fuck everything.

He felt Serena’s pain when she was alone with Elara. He knew she was stabbed then. It was the same sensation from the day they met, when she took a blade for him.

But today he wasn’t able to get to her. Attackers overtook the castle, and worse, he didn’t know where she was.

Unacceptable. That ended now. She would never be out of his reach again.

Then he felt nothing from her for hours. That scared him more than anything.

To his absolute horror, her body was thrown onto the throne room floor. Her pain finally flickered back through the matebond, but it was dim.

She was kicked. Cuffed. Choked. Forced to catch a blade barehanded.

He watched her almost die again and again.

How many times? How many fucking times today?

No. Never again.

He wiped more tears from her eyes with his thumb, and was about to tell Hyran to stop so he could pull her up against his chest. Even if her lungs couldn’t fill all the way, it was better than what she was suffering through.

Just as Dex opened his mouth, Hyran finally yanked the blade free.

His hands were black, the smell of burning flesh thick in the air. He did not react.

Gold light flared from his palms and poured into Serena, washing over her like liquid warmth. As his magic healed her, it healed his own hands in tandem.

Through the matebond, Dex felt her pain fade and warmth replace it, deep and steady.

The inferno burning through the mark on his arm dimmed in symmetry, heat receding to a low simmer.

Dex looked up at Gav sharply, who had been watching him. Almost as if he was waiting for Dex to connect that. They held eye contact for a heartbeat in silent understanding. The connection was unmistakable.

✦✦✦

Elara was panting, tears falling. Archibald and Thalen’s hands were lit. Both tried to heal her.

Archibald shook his head. "She’s not healing either."

"I sense something," Thalen added. "But no dark magic is surfacing."

Elara was panting hard now, chest hitching as tears slid down her face. She looked terrified and exhausted, like she was holding herself together by sheer will alone.

Hale’s wolf knew what to do.

And Hale let it.

He had nothing left to lose. She was dying and whatever rules he had been clinging to no longer mattered.

It surged forward hard and fast. His fangs sank into her neck, marking her.

It was an urge he’d been fighting for over two weeks, shoving down every instinct, every pull. He didn’t want to rush her. He wanted to give her time, space, a choice.

Gods, though. It made everything so much easier to stop fighting it.

He knew she would heal faster and be stronger with his venom. Her eyes fluttered closed as it surged into her.

He let go of her neck, and felt their fated bond snap into a full matebond.

For two weeks he had felt her emotions, distant, like echoes. This was different. This was sharp and immediate.

It felt like his own pain now, his own fear, his own breath hitching in her chest.

He would be able to protect her.

She was his.

"I think it is..." His voice trailed off as his eyes dropped.

He reached carefully and unzipped her training suit, pulling it down.

A bronze medallion, the size of a coin, sat on her shoulder. It was metal, solid, like someone had placed it there and it had somehow stayed. Markings were etched into it.

Hale didn’t feel any pain coming from it through their matebond. But, he felt it didn’t belong.

Thalen’s eyes widened. "If this is what I think it is, then there is another one. Always in pairs."

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