The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 452

Chapter 452: Is It Dark? Yes.

DRAKENFELL — WAR ROOM

Tiberon Drakenfell did not open with pleasantries because Tiberon Drakenfell did not do pleasantries and every person at the table knew it.

The war room held five people. Tiberon at the head. Hyran to his right. Dexmon across from Hyran. Finnick Shadowclaw beside Dex, having portaled in twenty minutes ago with the specific energy of a man who had been summoned and whose summoning had better be worth the portal.

Serena sat at the far end, her hair still damp from a bath, her training suit already on, her body carrying the residual stiffness of a woman who had been shifting and fighting for days and whose body was running on fumes and discipline and the specific stubbornness that Tiberon had come to recognize as her primary fuel source.

A velvet box sat in the center of the table. Nobody had touched it.

"I am going to be realistic," Tiberon said. "The rest of you can be optimistic on your own time."

He looked at Dex. Looked at Fin. Looked at Serena. Held each look for exactly one second.

"Serena is going to shift on her own tomorrow when a miracle falls out of the sky and lands on her head. She has been training every day. We are on a clock. There’s no way around that. She has shifted many times under Alpha command. Her shift duration has improved from twelve seconds to six, which is progress. Her ability to initiate the shift independently has improved from zero to zero, which is a problem."

Serena didn’t react to that. She appreciated Tiberon’s directness.

"When she shifts, you feel her pain every single time without exception. I have watched both of you bleed from the nose, stagger, drop to your knees, and lose motor function for six to twelve seconds while she transitions. In a training arena, that is an inconvenience. On a battlefield, that is a death sentence."

He let the sentence sit.

"Her shift broke both of you out of your own shifts. If she has to shift while either of you are engaged in combat, you will lose six seconds of motor function at the exact moment your body is supposed to be fighting. Six seconds is enough time to die three different ways. If a hostile force identifies the pattern they will use it."

Serena’s face drained of color at this part. Yes, she had known they felt her pain. But she hadn’t realized the full extent or the full implications until right now. She also didn’t know it broke them out of their own shifts until now.

"That is a liability," Tiberon continued. "A significant one. Three of you linked. Three of you sharing pain in real time. Three of you dropping simultaneously if one of you takes a hit. That makes you vulnerable as a unit."

He paused. Looked at the box.

"We have a solution. It is temporary. Most of you are going to hate it. All of you are going to use it anyway because the alternative is worse and the worse is dead."

Fin leaned forward. "Solution?"

Tiberon looked at Hyran. The looking was permission. Hyran took it.

The mage slid the velvet box across the table to Serena.

She glanced up at him.

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