The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate-Chapter 110: They Clapped. CLAPPED.

The muscle in Fin’s neck was tight as a wire. He could feel Serena’s insides burning through their matebond.

Every arrow she shot was taking another fistful of whatever was keeping her alive, and she was spending it like a woman who had already decided she wasn’t coming back.

Her nose bled. She was vaguely aware, but not fully in control.

Two more arrows. Two more Commanders. Ash before the bodies hit the ground.

Fin looked up to see the final Dark Fae Commander still on his water dragon, coming for her. The dragon opened its mouth. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Serena!" he roared, wolf surging so hard he started to shift. He stiffened, catching the shift before it took hold, and shoved Xeon down through sheer will.

Too late. The water dragon’s power-shot of boiling acid collided with Serena’s gold orb of magic. The orb cracked on impact. Velkaris did a Truebond Veil.

Warriors and mages from other packs froze mid-battle. About half clapped. Clapped.

Velkaris gave a proud roar, soaring parallel to the field, Serena still on his head.

"Would you believe me if I told you she did that on her first damn dragon ride?" Gav said, clapping Fin on the back. As if what was happening was as normal as learning how to swim.

He was covered in ash, head to toe, and he left an ash hand-print on Fin’s battle suit.

"Don’t," Fin said darkly, eyes still on her.

The Dark Fae Commander raised both hands, and a concentrated beam of dark magic erupted from his palms, blasting towards her.

Before anyone had time to process, Velkaris opened his mouth and fired a gold beam directly into the dark magic mid-air.

The two forces locked, gold pressing against black in a roaring column that split the sky. The air itself vibrated. Heat rolled off the collision in waves.

Below, wolves and mages scrambled back from the shockwaves. One captain grabbed two soldiers by their collars and physically dragged them clear.

For three seconds, it held.

Then the dark magic pushed forward. Inch by inch, the black ate into the gold, compressing it, swallowing it. Velkaris growled, his entire body shuddering with effort. His beam flickered.

The Commander laughed. The kind of laugh reserved for a man who believed he’d already won.

Serena notched another arrow, so quickly her movements were a blur.

She fired.

Bullseye. Square in his chest.

His dark magic died the instant it hit, collapsing in on itself. Velkaris’s gold beam tore through empty air before he shut his jaw with a snap.

The Dark Fae Commander looked down, stunned. By the time his eyes found Serena again, he was already turning to ash.

Silence hit the field like a physical thing.

Aeron let out a low whistle.

Then the field erupted. Mages and wolves roared, banging their fists against their chests. The sound hit like a second shockwave.

Fin exhaled for what felt like the first time in minutes. His hands were shaking.

But the water dragon was still airborne, and affected by dark magic. It roared, moving towards Serena.

Dexmon, who had just grounded the fire dragons, looked up in time to see this.

"STOP," he commanded from the ground.

But the water dragon didn’t stop.

Velkaris groaned, already seeing where this was headed. He flew towards the black, volatile water dragon. Serena jumped as they passed.

Somewhere between Velkaris’s head and the water dragon’s back, she came back into full awareness and control. She was unfazed. Standard protocol. Muscle memory.

For the second time today, Fin fell to his knees. "Serena ... what are you doing ..."

He’d heard the mindlinks. He knew she was jumping from dragon to dragon last night. But he’d not seen it fully. And Gods, this was much worse than he’d imagined.

After this, he was going to have a conversation with her about risk assessment. A long one with diagrams and arrows pointing to the parts where she should have stopped and didn’t.

The water dragon roared, bucking hard. Serena went airborne, but managed to catch herself on its leg. She attempted to shove her magic into it with all her strength, but didn’t get very far.

The water dragon opened its mouth and power-shot boiling acid at her. Not caring if it burned itself in the process.

A gold orb of magic snapped around her instantly, on instinct alone.

It shattered on impact and some of the water dragon’s boiling acid got on her, burning holes in her combat suit. A high-pitched scream tore from her throat at the pain before she could stop it. It bled through the mindlink and everyone’s hidden flame mark flared hot.

She took a steadying breath. She needed to get a better grip on it and her muscles were shaking from trying to hold onto its leg.

In her hands, a glider formed, twin sheets of gold light. She pushed off the dragon and let the wind do the rest.

Hyran looked up in time to see this. He brushed ash from his sleeves with sharp, irritated motions.

"That," he snapped, "was curiosity having an orgasm."

Aeron stared up in awe. "By the gods ... she’s innovating with it."

Hyran rolled his eyes. "Knowing her, she thought of that days ago and couldn’t wait to try it."

Serena steered her glider behind the water dragon, then flung herself onto its back. She landed on her hands and knees, surging ice and gold into it with all her strength.

She wanted to laugh at the lack of survival skills she was showing at the moment. She’d done this so many times now that she wasn’t even fazed. But she knew full well how incredibly stupid this was.

As soon as the black water dragon’s eyes flared gold, it bucked her hard.

She went flying horizontal.

No screaming this time. She was too exhausted.

Velkaris, who had just picked up Dexmon, roared. He closed the distance in a blur, diving just in time for Dexmon to catch her by the leg.

Dexmon pulled her onto Velkaris, breaking her momentum, and she landed squarely on top of him, both panting.

His voice came out rough.

"New rule. You’re not allowed to take on dragons alone."

She didn’t respond or try to push herself off of him.

"Serena?"

His stomach dropped.

"If you’re ignoring me to be dramatic, I need you to know it’s working."

He sat up, her still in his arms. She was burning hot under his hands.

"Hey. Look at me."

She blinked slow. Her pulse thudded against his fingertips, and through the matebond, her pain slammed into him like a wall.

"Shit," he breathed.

The black dragon roared next to them.

"Stop." Dexmon called.

It opened its mouth, not stopping.

"Hang on, baby."

He leapt onto the black dragon and commanded it to stop in Draken-Vorah, voice different from his own.

The water dragon finally listened and lowered down to the field.

Velkaris landed a moment later, Serena sliding off his back. Her legs were shaking and her insides were burning. But she knew in her bones that she needed to close that rift.

"One more," she said to herself.

Ignoring the pain, she notched another arrow from her quiver.

Aimed.

Fired.

It hit the golden net around the void. Instantly, everything touching it turned to ash. The void crackled shut in an unnatural sound.

The battlefield didn’t move. No one spoke. Then King Bloodmoon knelt, and after him, one by one, every alpha king on the field followed. Some went down hard and fast, like King Valegrave, whose knee hit the dirt with enough force to echo.

Some went down slowly, deliberately, like Nightspire, who made it look like a chess move even on his knees. King Nightbloom muttered something under his breath as he dropped that made King Moonrend close his eyes in tired amusement.

King Stonehowl was last, standing with his arms crossed long enough to make a point before kneeling with a grace that made it look like it had been his idea all along.

The ripple moved outward from the kings into the ranks behind them, row by row, thousands of wolves and soldiers and captains dropping to their knees in succession, the sound of it spreading across the battlefield like rain.

Serena lowered her bow, and turned, only to witness this. She blinked a few times, her reaction delayed. To say she was stunned would be an understatement.

Why were they all bowing? That was a stupid question. She knew why. But she hadn’t asked them to do that.

It felt like a dream or like it was happening to someone else, yet she knew they were kneeling for her.

Normally, her face would have flushed. But right now, her effort was focused on not passing out.

She fell to her knees panting. Then she coughed, wiping blood from the side of her mouth. She looked down at her hand, surprised. It was red, not gold, which meant it was old.

Her body felt heavy and the ground rose to meet her.

"Serena!" Fin’s arms were around her lightning quick, before she hit the ground.

He scooped her up, eyes scanning for Hyran.

The camp was covered in ash. No Fae but still chaos.

Jaw tight, he moved, carrying her.

Every eye flicked to him. Then to her.

It did not look platonic.