The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate-Chapter 151: Cat-In-A-Bath Energy & Basic Fabrication (Embarrassing)

Chapter 151: Cat-In-A-Bath Energy & Basic Fabrication (Embarrassing)

Black sand. As far as she could see in every direction, nothing but black sand and a full moon.

The portal she made snapped shut behind them. The second it closed, the pressure in her chest lifted.

Fin set her down. The jarring impact of her boots hitting the sand was the only thing that made her realize he’d been carrying her at all.

"Portals take more magic. It’s normal," Aeron commented.

His words registered but she was still dazed.

She looked down, startled to find both blades still gripped in her hands. Fin had carried her through the portal while she was a literal torch.

She released the flames and glanced at him.

He was already watching her.

She looked away immediately, face heating. Too fast.

Gav stepped in, grabbing the High General’s blade out of her hand. It flashed white the second his fingers touched it. He held it up, eyeing the steel.

"When did she get a real sword?"

"Long story," Aeron answered.

Gav’s gaze flicked from the blade down to his own waist, then back to Aeron with a devastatingly slow smirk. "Longer than mine?"

Aeron didn’t even blink. "Significantly."

Hale took the fabricated one a second later. He’d just confiscated Elara’s, who had been gesturing with both blades mid-sentence and apparently forgot she was armed.

Serena blinked and shook her head, her thoughts coming back into focus.

"Serena, where are we?" Hyran asked.

"I was aiming for Skardos."

Aeron started laughing. "Even prodigies struggle with creating portals."

"I did it in fae magic. Which is a lot—"

Fin pulled her against his chest before she could finish her sentence.

He wrapped himself around her, holding her as if she were the only thing keeping him from drifting away. With his face buried in her hair, he let out a jagged exhale, his body trembling with the sheer force of his relief.

Through the matebond, his emotions washed into her. Gratitude so deep it ached. Relief that bordered on collapse. And underneath it all, a fierce, burning love that stole her breath.

She hugged him with equal fervor. When she breathed him in, his scent hit her like a punch in the chest. She swallowed, eyes reddening. She’d thought about him every day and wondered if she’d ever see him again. And he was here now. Battered and bruised and thinner than he should be, but alive. Breathing.

And that gnawing feeling started to fade. The one she had since waking up after the battle. An insecurity she would never admit, but one she’d cried over more than once.

He didn’t ghost her. As Elara had so elegantly put it, fucked her then chucked her. She hadn’t imagined all of what happened between them. She didn’t misread the situation completely.

She cared for him. The pull was deeper than she remembered. There was no denying it.

But then she thought of Dex, and her heart cracked. Because she’d felt this same pull towards him. Her chest ached for two different men in two different ways, and she had no answers.

She forced herself to let go of him, stepping back.

But he didn’t let go of her. He looked in her eyes then at her lips. The air between them was electric. She knew it. He knew it. She turned her head away first, face flushing. Swallowing down all the unwanted emotions that seemed to be in the driver’s seat of her mind.

"Serena..." His voice came out rough. Pained.

Then he glanced up and noticed every pair of eyes watching them. Everyone looked away in different directions at the same time.

Fin shook his head, the corners of his mouth twitching and let go of her.

There would be time for that later. Preferably not in front of an audience. But right now, they were stranded in a desert.

Serena turned to Hyran.

He stood a few feet away, squinting against the wind. Black sand was already collecting in the folds of his clothing, and his expression suggested he was contemplating murder.

Serena opened her arms wide.

"Oh no," Hyran said immediately. He took a step backward, nearly tripping over a small dune. "You don’t come near me."

Serena advanced on him.

"I mean it," Hyran said, retreating further. "I am dehydrated and standing in the middle of a desert because your portal skills are apparently as reliable as a drunk cartographer."

Serena wrapped her arms around him anyway. "I missed your joyful comments."

Hyran went completely rigid. His arms stayed pressed against his sides, and his entire body radiated the energy of a cat being forced into a bath.

"This is undignified," he said flatly.

"Serena, can you remove my cuffs?" Aeron asked, breaking up the hug Hyran hated.

"I think so," she answered turning towards him.

Her eyes flared pink, not gold. Under Aeron’s cuffs, around his wrists and hands, she fabricated protective gloves.

She took a steadying breath, wincing. Because this was going to fucking hurt.

"Stop," Hyran interjected. "Unless you plan on setting him on fire."

"And why are you wincing?" Hale called, his arms were wrapped around Elara. "I saw you light your entire body on fire trying to get to Agnes and you were just fine."

Fin’s head snapped to Hale at that, brows furrowing. That was news to him.

A barrier made of transparent pink magic formed in front of Aeron, his wrists pinned on the other side.

Hyran pinched the bridge of his nose. "Not what I had in mind. But by all means." He gestured at Aeron. "Set him on fire."

None of them actually understood how bad this fucking hurt. Just calling it on a whim was the hardest thing.

Serena held up her hand and shut her eyes, making sure not to wince.

"Don’t shut your eyes," Hale clipped.

"Yeah Serena, don’t be a little bitch," Elara said.

Serena shot her a pointed look.

She held up her hand and flame came.

It hurt like a motherfucker. Just like she knew it would. Wince or not. It hurt so bad, that Fin grunted behind her. He had to grit his teeth feeling it through the matebond. It wasn’t just the mark on his arm. No his actual hands were burning. These people had no idea how bad it hurt her clearly.

He did.

Aeron’s cuffs melted off.

Serena put her hand down, bead of sweat at her temple.

She attempted to release the magic as she would any other fabrication. Even after ten seconds of teeth-gritting effort, the energy wouldn’t budge. Aeron didn’t bother hiding his amusement.

Fin watched her fail, reset, and try again. Each time, the tension in her shoulders wound tighter and the color in her face drained a little more. He cataloged all of it.

She stopped after a fourth attempt. "Yeah, I have no clue why it won’t go."

For the second time, Hyran pinched the bridge of his nose. "Reform it fully, and concentrate."

Aeron spoke from the other side of the wall he was trapped in. "When you feel it solidify at the top, immediately release it with more force than necessary. Like slamming a door. And think of some negative emotion when you release it."

Elara: Think about Thor telling everyone he saw you go from a girl to a woman when he took you on Styx.

Serena’s face went red and she shot her a look that could murder. Elara started to crack up which made Serena laugh too.

Serena: You mean after he broke you in on Styx.

Gav: We are all on the same mindlink. Remember.

"Whoops," Elara said out loud.

Fin blinked at the mindlink exchange, momentarily derailed from his silent inventory of Serena’s waning energy.

He looked at Elara. Then at Serena. Then at a fixed point on the horizon, like a man choosing not to have heard that.

"Why are you laughing?" Hyran snapped at Serena. "You’ve brought us into a literal desert and trapped the Master Mage of Shadowclaw in a fabricated wall of fae magic you have no control over."

Serena took a breath, pretending the last twenty seconds didn’t happen.

She reformed it, and at the top, tried to release it forcefully. About half the wall vanished, and Aeron was able to pull his hands free. The bottom half stayed.

Serena stared at it. Hyran stared at it.

"You’ll need to work on that," he clipped.

Serena almost laughed. He had no idea how much harder this was compared to regular fabrication.

"That’s embarrassing. Basic fabrication," he added, arms crossed.

Fin turned his head towards Hyran. Slowly.

"Noted," Serena said, voice dry as the sand they were standing in. She turned to Aeron, who was in the best shape out of the mages present. "Are you able to make a portal?"

She had a feeling the answer was no, based on the fact she couldn’t call her gold magic.

Aeron laughed. "No. I believe we are in the Void-Glass Dunes. The black sand we are standing on absorbs mage magic."

She nodded, holding her hand out.

Then a spike of sudden, blinding pain jabbed into her skull. Her crown flashed and she hunched over, surprised.

Fin’s hand flew to his forehead at the same time.

Her vision blackened around the edges. A pair of arms caught her before she hit the ground.