The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate-Chapter 154: Why Didn’t You Say Goodbye

The jet stream seized them, dragging them through the cold. For thirty seconds, they were drowning sideways through the dark, lungs screaming.

Then the current spat them out the other side, and Serena couldn’t tell the sky from the lakebed.

Fin swam with her in his arms, following the light at the top. Which was upside down from where they had been.

They broke the surface in a violent spray of water.

The first breath burned worse than the water had. Serena coughed until her whole body shook with it, and Fin held her above the surface the entire time, breathing like he’d sprinted a mile underwater, which he basically had.

"Are you alright?" He called over the waterfall thundering above them.

"Never better," she answered, chest heaving. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

They’d just been sucked through fifty feet of enchanted water, launched through a jet stream, and ejected into another pink lake.

Serena started laughing first.

Then Fin lost it, the sheer absurdity of what they’d just done hitting him. He burst out laughing, utterly done with the laws of physics and common sense. It bounced off the water and came back louder, and Serena was fairly certain no one had ever heard Finnick Shadowclaw sound this unhinged.

"That was insane," he wheezed between laughs, still holding her afloat. "Absolutely ridiculous."

Their eyes met and the laughter faded, replaced by a sudden, jarring tension. She held his stare until the air between them felt too thick to breathe, then she dropped her gaze to the water.

"Hold onto me," Fin said over the waterfall. Serena didn’t argue, holding onto his back as he swam across the lake to shore.

His alpha speed was back.

He swam with the casual efficiency of a man who had been doing combat drills since he could walk. A torpedo that occasionally checked on you over its shoulder.

As soon as he could touch the bottom he stopped, pulling her in front of him.

He touched her cheek with his thumb, looking at her in a way that made her want to lean into him for more. Sparks crackled under her skin where his thumb pressed against her cheek.

She was well-aware of her physical reaction to him. But she needed to keep a clear head.

She’d rehearsed in her mind how she’d handle this if she ever had the chance. But what came out instead were the two questions she’d been choking on.

"Why didn’t you say goodbye? And why wasn’t I allowed to know?"

Her voice cracked and her eyes were reddening. She swallowed another lump in the back of her throat, refusing to acknowledge that.

Gods, she didn’t want to get emotional. But she didn’t understand. She needed closure because the way things happened didn’t feel right.

She had sex with him, there was a battle, and when she woke up he was gone. Those events didn’t belong in the same week, let alone the same sentence. Like pages ripped from different books and stapled together, and she was supposed to read it as one story.

And everyone hid it from her for weeks. That was the part that sat the most crooked. Everyone agreed she shouldn’t know, like she was a problem to be managed instead of a person with a right to her own information.

Fin’s heart cracked open. He could feel her through the matebond, and what he felt nearly buckled him.

"Serena, I asked them not to tell you. I didn’t want you coming after me."

"Oh, so you were protecting me. How original. I spent weeks thinking you left because of me."

His head pulled back, like he’d taken a hit he hadn’t braced for. He seemed genuinely shocked. Fin Shadowclaw, Alpha King of North Skardos, was at a loss for words.

Serena shook her head and looked away from him.

"You were unconscious for days and I held you. But I knew if you woke up and asked me. I wouldn’t have been able to." His voice cracked.

Her throat was tight. But she was angry. "So your plan was to hold me while I was unconscious and then vanish before I could ask you to stay. That’s not noble, Fin. That’s cowardice dressed up in good intentions."

She forced the next question out because she needed to hear him say it.

"Why did you come to Orosia at all?"

She already had a feeling. And him not answering right away told her everything she needed to know.

"It’s because I told you about that conversation with Nightspire," she said, a tear slipping from her eye. "And you promised you wouldn’t... " her voice trailed off.

He betrayed her trust. She didn’t know how to say it without sounding ridiculous. But he did and she knew it.

"That was part of it," he answered, voice calm. "The other part was Viremont. After your cuff went off in the tent, I choked him. I didn’t kill him. But I wish I would have."

Serena still had her head turned away. He stepped in front of her, tilting her chin to look at him.

"His sources saw me carrying you after the battle. Twenty-four hours after he escaped, he had multiple hitmen after you specifically to get to me." He paused, clearly choosing his words carefully. "We suspected it was funded by the High Emperor, which meant he didn’t care if you are dead or alive. Just your blood."

Serena pulled her face out of his hand. "So instead of telling me this, you and everyone else thought I couldn’t handle it."

The irony wasn’t lost on her. She’d lost her entire kingdom. Fallen into slavery. Failed at escaping twice and took lashes, followed by a year in silver. She’d also fought in two battles on dragons, audited Tiberon’s candle inventory, and just saved all of them in a throne room. But they thought she couldn’t handle that.

Irritation radiated off of her in waves. And Fin fought the urge to grin because Serena irritated was kind of adorable.

"I came here to kill Viremont and cut the hitmen at their source. And to get intel on why they are after you. Tiberon, myself, Garret, and Bloodmoon were all in agreement on that. It was supposed to be under a week. But Hyran and I were captured days into our mission. I couldn’t get back to you."

Serena shook her head and gave a dark laugh. Every time she learned something new about her own life, it was worse. All of that was new information. More things people haven’t told her, even though it was about her.

"Serena... don’t turn away. Look at me."