The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 428

Chapter 428: His Soon-To-Be Ex Was On That Road

DRAKENFELL — WAR ROOM

Colonel Varflarous entered the war room at a pace that communicated the information he was carrying had an expiration date and the expiration was approaching.

Tiberon was at the head of the table. Dex was beside him.

Varflarous stopped at the end of the table. "The prisoner transport to Maximus South was intercepted two hours ago on the eastern road."

Tiberon’s eyes lifted from the document in his hand.

"Dark magic," Varflarous continued. "Mage screen deployed across a quarter-mile stretch. Guards were neutralized before they could send a signal. The reinforcement horn was triggered by a perimeter ward, which is the only reason we received notification at all."

"Casualties," Tiberon said.

"One confirmed dead. Dark Fae signature on the incendiary compound used in the screen." Varflarous set the report on the table. "Guinevere Ashford was the target. She is gone. The second prisoner was left in the carriage, unharmed. He stated she ran during the extraction, which means abducted may be generous. The extraction team pursued her through a portal. Mage residue on the road confirmed the portal signature as eastern origin."

Tiberon’s jaw set as he assembled a picture from data points and the picture was acquiring detail faster than he liked. Extracting a prisoner off Drakenfell’s own goddamn road was either genius or suicide, and Tiberon was going to make sure it was the latter.

"Protect her dragon. I want a full security detail on the juvenile enclosure."

"Get reinforcements on the eastern road immediately," he continued. "Full patrol complement. Mage pairs at every intersection between here and Maximus South. I want the road swept for residual ward anchors."

"On it, Alpha. There is one more thing."

Tiberon waited.

"The stablemaster logged a second carriage on the eastern road this morning. The queen’s royal carriage departed at dawn for the Eastmoor Orphanage." Varflarous looked at Tiberon. "She was scheduled to return two hours ago. The carriage has yet to arrive, and the stablemaster has received no communication from her outriders."

The war room went quiet.

Tiberon and Dex processed the information at different speeds and arrived at the same place simultaneously. The eastern road. Dark Fae magic. Neutralized guards. A portal extraction with enough force to take out a military escort. And the queen’s carriage, carrying the queen, traveling the same road, on the same day, due back two hours ago, and missing.

"Why did she leave?" Tiberon asked.

"The stablemaster said the queen was visiting an orphanage, Alpha." Varflarous delivered the sentence with the professional neutrality of a man who understood that the sentence was absurd and whose job did not include editorializing the absurdity. "The Eastmoor Orphanage."

Tiberon looked at Dex.

Dex looked at Tiberon.

The look between them lasted two full seconds and communicated an identical reaction: confusion so profound it temporarily displaced the urgency. Bellatrix Drakenfell, a woman who had never expressed interest in orphans, charity, or any activity that did not directly benefit Bellatrix Drakenfell.

Dex ran the sentence through his head again. His mother. At an orphanage. Voluntarily. Around children. His brain tried to construct a mental image, but the image refused to render. What in the actual fuck was she doing at an orphanage.

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