The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate-Chapter 155: The Audacity Of Kissing Her Mid-Argument

Serena refused to look at him. She couldn’t. Not only did he betray her trust, he asked people not to tell her.

"I’m sorry, Serena. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you."

And he wasn’t alone in this. Dex lied to her face in the war room. Gavriel and Hale lied too, and she’d trusted both of them without question. The only person who’d been honest about his dishonesty was Garrett, which was a low bar and he’d barely cleared it.

"I just thought..." The rest of the sentence died in her throat. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

The tears frustrated her as much as the situation. They made her look weak in a conversation where she needed to be iron, and her body was betraying her the way everyone else had.

She needed to tap out of this. She didn’t have it in her. And she especially didn’t want to keep crying in front of him.

She turned away from him fully, her gaze fixed on the shore, and took exactly one step before Fin caught her arm. He pulled her into a hug. It was dangerously effective. Immediately she felt better. Her body relaxed before her mind could protest and her lungs filled with his scent.

The physical pull was overpowering her being upset, and she didn’t know how to feel about it.

Through their matebond, she felt a strange, phantom sensation. It wasn’t an emotion, more so a physical reaction he was suppressing. He wanted to pick her up and hold her. And he almost acted on it but caught himself.

"Serena." He tilted her chin up to look at him. "If someone is coming for you, they are going to have to go through me. I am not going to apologize for protecting you. But I should have told you, and I didn’t. That’s on me."

She pulled out of his hand, turning her head. She was still upset even if she knew she’d probably accept his apology. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Without warning, he grabbed her face and his lips crashed onto hers. Not gently or cautiously. The moment their lips met, an electric current shot between them.

Every rational thought she’d been building for the last five minutes dissolved on contact. Her brain had formally surrendered.

Two months of suppressed need hit her all at once, his and hers colliding through the matebond until she couldn’t sort out which ache belonged to whom.

He picked her up and her legs wrapped around his waist.

He was hard against her, and his want slammed into her through their matebond like a wall of heat. Her body answered before she could stop it.

She started to grind on him without thought. Every day she’d been worried about him came out with every movement. He groaned, moving back on her in rhythm.

"Fuck ... Serena," he said against her lips. Two words. His entire vocabulary in that moment.

His eyes flashed gold. Two months of silence, and Xeon was back with the temperament of a predator that had been promised a meal and told to wait.

Fin shoved Xeon down and continued kissing her. The kiss deepened, his tongue sliding against hers. It was need, unspoken and unrelenting.

Their bodies moved in a faster rhythm.

Fin’s grip tightened on her thighs. The urge to mark her was overwhelming. Two months of not having that sensation and it came back with a vengeance.

If anyone had told her this morning she’d be straddling Fin Shadowclaw in a glowing jungle lake, she’d have asked what they were drinking and where she could get some.

Then her mind went to Dexmon, and the warmth in her body drained out like someone had pulled a plug.

This double-marked life wasn’t working for her.

Fin started to kiss down her neck, and unbeknownst to her, his fangs were lengthening.

She pulled away, straightening out of his hold to stand. Oblivious to the fact that his eyes were molten gold and the instant she did that, his wolf almost shifted for him.

Fin closed his eyes, swallowing Xeon down. When he opened them, she was already close to shore.

Xeon: You are the worst Alpha I have ever been stuck inside.

She walked like someone leaving a crime scene. Quickly. Without looking back.

Xeon: Chase her. Now.

Fin: I’m not chasing her.

Xeon: Then I will.

Fin got to shore, ignoring his throbbing cock and howling wolf. Her turmoil bled into him like it was his own and it was killing him.

"Serena..."

There was so much he wanted to say, but the last thing he wanted to do was upset her more.

"It’s okay, Fin," she said softly.

She said it in the same defeated tone she’d used to address Dexmon when Viremont said he got Agnes pregnant. Fin had heard it before and his blood ran cold.

Xeon: It is not okay. She is lying. Tackle mate and don’t let her up until she stops feeling bad.

Fin didn’t need to be told. He had no plans on letting this fester.

Just as he reached out to grab her, she lifted her arm to make a portal, and his hand closed around empty air. A pink rift shimmered into existence, leading back to the cave.

Xeon: Mark her. Mark her now. While she’s distracted

Serena noticed that it came easier this time compared to what it was in the throne room. Maybe because she was feeling guilty about Dexmon. Guilt-powered magic. Fantastic. She’d never run out of fuel.

On the other side was the dark cave. The pink light that had filled it was gone now, having left when Serena did.

"Found her," Gav called, running through the portal. ’Found her’ was generous. She’d opened a portal directly to him.

He grabbed her shoulders. "You go for a little swim, Frostborne?"

Fin’s eyes surged gold behind her as soon as Gav’s hands made contact with her shoulders. Gav didn’t notice.

Xeon: His hands. Remove them or I will remove them from his body.

Serena was trying to hold a portal open using Fae magic. And she was irritated at him for lying. All she could get out was, "Gav, if you make me laugh this portal might cut the next person in half."

"So dramatic," he said, but he let go of her shoulders.

The others followed. Hyran stepped through with the enthusiasm of a man walking into his own dentist appointment.

She held up her other hand, and another pink portal formed. This one leading to the underground room beneath the library.

"Hurry, I don’t know how long I can hold it," Serena said, jaw tight. She genuinely felt like she had no control over this magic. If she was too focused and calm, it wouldn’t work.

The others didn’t hesitate, running through, until Hyran, Gav, and Fin were the only three left.

"Go," Serena said, harder than she meant to. Her ribs ached from holding the magic and her vision was starting to blur at the edges.

None of them moved.

"If I go through, I won’t be able to hold it on the other side."

Reluctantly, Gav nodded. Hyran followed.

All of Fin’s instincts screamed no. He didn’t want to. Just as he was about to say something, she spoke.

"I’ll be right behind you. Don’t worry."