The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate-Chapter 117: Two Marks And A Meltdown

Serena stood in a corridor she didn’t recognize. Stone walls stretched in both directions, lined with torches.

She could hear breathing, but not her own.

It was ragged. Wet. The kind of breathing that came after a rib was broken.

She followed the sound.

The corridor narrowed. The ceiling lowered. The air tasted of iron and something astringent that burned the back of her throat.

Then she saw him and her hand flew to her mouth.

Fin.

He was hanging, wrists bound above his head by chains that glowed with runes she couldn’t read. His shirt was gone and his body was a ruin of bloody lacerations.

His head hung forward.

He wasn’t alone.

A figure stood behind him, she couldn’t see a face. Only its hands holding a thin blade with the edge wet.

The figure leaned close to Fin’s ear and whispered something.

Fin’s jaw clenched. His whole body locked rigid.

He didn’t scream or beg. He lifted his head, and even through the blood and the bruising and the hollowed look of a man who hadn’t slept in days, his eyes were steady.

Defiant.

"Go to hell. I’ll hold the door."

The figure laughed.

Fin looked down at a puddle of water and saw Serena in the reflection. His eyes widened in disbelief. He shook his head, eyes snapping to where she would be standing if her reflection was real. His expression changed to fear immediately. For a second, Serena wondered if he could see her.

Serena tried to move closer, but the floor shifted beneath her. Green light surged, swallowing everything.

When the green light stopped, she was standing in a room with obsidian floors and marble columns.

At the far end of the room, a man sat at a long table, writing something. Serena recognized him from earlier. The High Emperor of Orosia.

He looked up at her, studying her face. Serena wasn’t sure if he could see her or not. She didn’t move.

"Hello, Frostborne." He set down the quill. "I wondered when you’d find your way here."

The green in his eyes flared. The warm air turned to ice.

Something inside her chest seized, the same pain from earlier. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t scream.

He tilted his head, almost inhuman, and smiled, moving towards her.

✦✦✦

Serena’s scream tore through the silence like a blade.

Dex was awake instantly, heart slamming against his ribs. Her eyes were shut, still asleep, and her absolute terror was bleeding through their matebond with clarity.

"Serena," Dex whispered.

She jolted awake, startled.

"Hey, hey. It’s me. You’re safe."

She was trembling. Her skin was clammy, her pulse racing beneath his fingers.

"It’s just a dream." He pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her tight. "You’re okay. I’ve got you."

Dex held her for a long moment, murmuring soft reassurances against her hair. Gradually, her breathing steadied. The trembling stopped.

"What was it about?" he asked quietly.

Serena’s brow furrowed.

"I don’t... I can’t remember." She swallowed. She knew that wasn’t normal. Nightmares usually left fragments, at least. Images. Something to hold onto. This was just... nothing.

Dex’s concern deepened, but he kept his voice calm. "It’s okay. You don’t have to remember."

He held her close, one hand stroking her hair, the other pressed flat against her back so he could feel every breath she took. He didn’t sleep for the rest of the night.

Morning came gray and overcast, clouds threatening rain.

Serena felt Dex’s absence before she opened her eyes. The bed was cold beside her, but there was a note on his pillow.

Meetings with my father. Didn’t want to wake you.

She lay there for a moment, staring at the vaulted ceiling, her mind drifting.

Fin.

The name surfaced before she could stop it.

She wondered where he was. If he’d made it back to Shadowclaw safely. If he was thinking about her.

Why didn’t he say goodbye? Did she misread that entire situation with him? Maybe he respectfully stepped back to allow Dex to patch things.

She’d slept with him multiple nights. She’d woken up in his arms and felt safe there, felt wanted, felt like maybe she could start over with someone who hadn’t hurt her.

Except Dex hadn’t hurt her. Not really. Not intentionally.

And now she was back in Dex’s bed, while the memory of Fin’s hands on her skin burned in the back of her mind.

The guilt hit her like a wave.

What kind of person did that make her?

She needed Elara.

✦✦✦

Elara met her within twenty minutes of Serena’s mindlink. They were in the storage room, that no one seemed to know of.

She wore an expression that said she already knew this was going to be a serious conversation.

"You look like death," Elara said, dropping onto the settee beside Serena. "Beautiful death, but death."

"I slept with Fin," Serena blurted.

Elara’s eyebrows rose. "I know."

"You know?"

"Serena, you slept in his tent the night Garrett made a portal. And the night before in his ’second bedroom.’" She put those words in quotes.

"No... that’s not what I meant. I had sex with him." Serena blurted out in a whisper.

"Holy..." Elara started to say. She grinned and shook her head. "You horny girl."

Serena’s face flushed. "Oh gods."

"It gets worse... Shadowclaw marked me multiple times. It was fuzzy at camp, but now it’s all coming back to me."

Elara burst out laughing. "Dexmon also marked you."

"Oh I am well aware. I was marked multiple times in a 48 hour span," Serena said, voice dry as the desert.

"Well that might explain why you were glowing gold," Elara remarked.

"Gods... they both..." Serena’s voice trailed off, and she put her face in her hands.

"They had to work together to get you through a portal. It was hilarious." Elara started to laugh.

"That is so embarrassing," Serena whispered, face still in her hands.

"So you slept with Shadowclaw." Elara waved a hand. "And now you feel guilty because you’re letting Dex back in your heart."

"Yes. When I was with Fin, it felt... right. Easy."

Elara nodded slowly. "Serena, I’m going to say something, and I need you to actually hear it."

Serena looked at her.

"You have slept with the two most eligible bachelors in Skardos." Elara’s voice was completely serious. "Nice fucking job."

She started to clap.

"Elara—"

"I’m not finished." Elara held up a hand. "You have done nothing wrong. Dex was taken from you by dark magic. You thought you’d lost him. Fin was there, and he wanted you, and you wanted him back. That’s not a crime."

Serena’s eyes burned. "We had sex after Agnes’s confession."

"Fine," Elara snapped. "You hadn’t decided if you could forgive Dex. I was in the same boat. What we saw, it made Viper’s kiss seem hard to believe. Cut yourself some slack."

Serena nodded.

"But," Elara continued, her voice dropping, "and I cannot stress this enough, you cannot tell anyone else about this. Ever. Do you understand me? This stays between us."

"I understand."

A voice spoke from Serena’s right, close enough that it sounded like he was speaking in her ear.

"What’s wrong, Frostborne?"

Serena turned her head to see the High Emperor of Orosia standing there. He looked real again. Serena reached out her hand to touch him, but her hand went through air.

"Serena? What are you—"

Serena shook her head and closed her eyes. When she opened them, he was gone.

"Nothing."