The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate-Chapter 35: True Mates

Dex hadn’t slept more than two hours in three days.

He sat on the edge of Serena’s infirmary bed, elbows on his knees, watching the shallow rise and fall of her chest like it was the only thing keeping him tethered to sanity.

Three days had passed since Drakenfell was attacked by the armies of Orosia. Orosia was a vast continent, and its forces had struck multiple packs across Skardos.

A War High Council Summit had been called, every Alpha King in Skardos summoned in ten days, and there were a thousand things demanding his attention.

None of them mattered more than the woman lying unconscious in front of him. She looked anything but comfortable, pain etched into her face. She shivered in turns, like she was sick with the worst kind of flu.

Watching her body fight something he couldn’t fix was a particular kind of hell he wasn’t built for. Multiple injuries and deep bruises, layered on top of the silver poisoning already in her blood. Alaric compared it to tearing a muscle. She’d never used that amount of magic, and had been pushed past her limits.

No amount of Alpha venom was going to shortcut a recovery from all of that, so Dex sat, and waited, and hated every second of it.

But he still had to lead. The aftermath of the attack was brutal. Between coordinating repairs and preparing for the summit, he spent every stolen moment at her bedside.

He learned that Serena had saved countless omegas, children, elders, and innocents during the assault, guiding them through hidden tunnels. Elara confirmed Serena did a full sweep through the castle and outdoor grounds, evacuating people to safety.

Those tunnels had been built for that exact purpose.

How? He always meant to ask her how she knew about those, as it wasn’t the first time.

Every day, more stories surfaced. Lives saved. Attackers taken down with her fire.

He didn’t like that she’d put herself in danger. But her instincts were spot on, and he was damn proud.

No crown. No title. No one knowing she was his. And she’d still acted like the castle was hers to defend.

✦✦✦

When Serena woke, the first thing she registered was the burn on her forearm. It was still there. Still angry.

She pushed herself upright on shaking arms, wincing as the movement pulled at muscles that felt like they’d been wrung out and left to dry.

She crossed to the cooling cabinet, the one built into the stone that held the tonics, and drank three in rapid succession without pausing for breath. The heat in her veins eased slightly. Slightly was enough.

She moved into the small bathing chamber attached to the room and rinsed off. Dark water swirled down the drain. Blood washed from her hair, her shoulders, her arms. From everywhere. She stood there longer than necessary, letting the water run until the last traces were gone.

Bruises remained, but they were fading and there were no scars.

She wrapped a towel around herself and returned to the bed. She lay back down beneath the covers, exhaustion settling over her again as the room went quiet.

When she woke again, she was lying on top of Dex.

His chest rose and fell steadily beneath her, his arms wrapped securely around her.

Everywhere their skin touched tingled.

His scent flooded her senses, deep and intoxicating, grounding her before she even fully understood where she was.

Then it hit her.

She was completely naked. On top of Dex.

Heat rushed to her face instantly.

Panic followed. Irrational because he’d already seen her naked. She knew that.

But it was still new. She felt shy. Exposed.

Too aware of every inch of herself pressed against him.

She tensed.

His arms tightened immediately, like he sensed she might bolt if he did not hold her there.

"Hey, baby," he murmured, kissing the top of her head. "It is okay."

He could feel her emotions clearly now. She liked it when he called her that, even if it made her blush. She also liked being held by him.

She was shy. Timid still. And it was adorable. He grinned.

Aegon: You are smiling like an idiot.

Dex: I am aware.

Nothing was going to stop him from holding what was his. She did not have a say in it.

He needed her skin against his.

He held her tightly for a few more minutes, pressing another kiss to her head. Finally, she relaxed into him.

"You’re mine," Dex said, squeezing her gently and kissing her again.

She giggled at that, the sound rough and hoarse, and he smiled into her hair.

He squeezed her. "I missed the hell out of you."

"How long have I been out?" she rasped.

"Three days."

That was much better than what she thought.

Dex flipped her onto her back and kissed her, hard and quick.

"Don’t move," he said, grabbing two tonics from the side table.

She was so thirsty she downed both instantly.

"I still don’t understand how you can drink those in one gulp."

He disappeared to start the bath. When he returned, he immediately scooped her into his arms and carried her to their bathing chamber.

She blushed profusely, still VERY naked.

"Stop looking at me like that," she muttered.

"Like what?"

"Like you won something."

"I did." His grin widened, entirely too pleased with himself.

"You’re sore. I feel it," he said, setting her down gently in the steaming bath.

Dex got in behind her then pulled her back against his chest.

The warmth soaked into her muscles, and she let out a breath she had not realized she was holding.

A minute passed before she spoke

"Dex?"

"Mmm." He sounded half-asleep behind her.

"What is your wolf’s name?"

She was well aware that if he could not actually talk to his wolf, she would sound ridiculous.

"Aegon."

She turned her head, and kissed his shoulder, warm water lapping quietly around them.

Dex’s laugh rumbled against her back when she didn’t elaborate. "Why do you ask?"

She hesitated for a second, unsure why unease crept in. She wanted to tell Dex things.

"I used to be able to hear my wolf. I thought I’d lost her, but she visited me in my dream and wanted to know."

"Why am I surprised, but also not surprised that you can hear your wolf?" Dex chuckled, then pressed a kiss to the back of her head.

His arms tightened around her before he spoke again.

"When was the last time you shifted, Serena?"

She inhaled. This was about to be a shock for Dex. It was almost embarrassing, like confessing she lacked something fundamental.

"I have never shifted."

"I was captured and sold to Viremont in my fourteenth summer," Serena added. "The second time I ran away and was caught, my punishment was silver. She spoke to me right before. But after that, I never heard her again. I thought I had lost her."

Her voice stayed even. She delivered it like a ledger entry. Just facts, no space for pity.

She didn’t tell him the rest. That she’d been trying to reach Riven Nightspire’s territory. A man she had once called uncle, though she’d only met him a handful of times. If she’d made it there, everything would have been different. But rogues found them first. Then Viremont. It was a whole ordeal she had no intention of unpacking yet.

Dex stiffened. There was still so much he did not know about Serena. He felt like he’d known her his whole life. And yet he didn’t. He needed to fix that. A first shift usually is painful. It’s a milestone that should be celebrated. And she had never shifted to know any of that.

He felt her nerves spike and realized he had gone rigid beneath her without meaning to. He loosened instantly and leaned in, pressing a quick kiss to her temple.

"I am sorry, baby," he said quietly. "I did not realize. My reaction was shock, nothing else. This is something I take for granted, and I assumed you had it without ever questioning it."

Aegon: Stop going rigid when she tells you things.

He rested his chin on her head, steady and sure, like he was anchoring her there on purpose.

She swallowed, not trusting her voice in that moment and not wanting to let the tightness in her chest turn into something sharper.

Dex’s laugh behind her snapped her out of it.

"What is your wolf’s name? Aegon wants to know."

Aegon: Ask her. Ask her now.

Dex: I literally just did. Relax.

Aegon did not relax.

"Aurelia."

For the second time, Dex’s body went rigid behind her. But this time it was different. She clocked it immediately, turning to face him. His eyes flashed molten gold.

"Dex, are you alright?"

Aegon saw her expression and froze.

Aegon: I scared her.

Dex: You think?

The fight vanished instantly, Aegon retreating like he’d been slapped.

"Yes. My wolf knows your wolf and got excited."

Understatement of the century. ’Excited’ was what a puppy felt about a treat. Aegon had been ready to shift in a bathtub.

Dex’s voice dropped to barely a whisper. "He said they were mates in a past life. True mates."

The words settled into the silence between them like embers landing on dry wood.

True mates was the kind of phrase that should have sounded like a fairy tale, except nothing in her life had ever been a fairy tale, and the raw, wrecked look in Dex’s eyes told her this was not a story. It was a wound.

His wolf had lost her wolf once before, and the fact that they were here, in this bath, breathing, together, was not fate being kind. It was fate correcting a debt.