The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate-Chapter 108: Elara Tackled A Demon. Hale Punched It.

Dexmon hooked Serena around her waist, pulling her to his chest.

She looked up at the sky, eyes and hair flaring even brighter gold.

"They are coming," she said in Draken-Vorah, voice not her own.

The voice sounded so familiar to Dex, it made his chest ache. But he’d never heard that voice before from her.

At this same moment, Serena’s arm slipped free of Dexmon’s grip and she raised it.

"I don’t like that," Hyran called, not bothering to lower his voice.

He moved to where Dexmon was and created a portal. Zero fucks that it was in the middle of the camp.

A gold light beam exploded from her palm into the sky. The shockwave blasted everyone back, including Dexmon.

A fae horn blew from the forest. Then a giant rift cracked the sky open.

Dex was up, back to Serena before she could move. "Serena. Baby, try to fight it."

She didn’t seem to hear him.

"What the..." Hale breathed, just now arriving.

"It’s a portal," Hyran answered everyone’s unasked question. "A very powerful portal. Only fae magic can bend laws of nature like that."

The portal cracked open wider, stretching to the ground. And on the other side was a battalion of Dark Fae. Their eyes flared black in a single, synchronized pulse. In perfect, terrifying unison, they began to chant. Their voices were so aligned it sounded like one monstrous entity speaking from the dark.

"What has she done." Hyran said, eyes wide.

Serena jerked out of Dex’s arms aggressively, and made a run for the rift.

Fin was ready, grabbing her by the leg before she made it two steps. He yanked her off her feet, but caught her before she hit the ground. Then he dove through the portal.

Mid fall, he twisted them so he wouldn’t land on her.

Bad idea. As soon as she was on top, she pushed off of him, breaking free. And she was back through the portal before he hit the ground.

Fin lay there for a beat. He’d just been outmaneuvered by a woman half his size who he’d been carrying three seconds ago. Noted.

On the other side of the portal, Dexmon was waiting for exactly that. He locked his arms around her tightly and moved at Alpha speed past the portal until they were at the wall of the underground chamber beneath the library.

Her gold magic surged brighter, and the fire on her hands flared hotter.

The moon and stars on the ceiling flashed brighter with her. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Why isn’t she going back to normal?" Dexmon called.

Hyran didn’t answer.

Then something odd happened. Her gold magic turned pink. Like a flip of a switch.

Hyran’s eyes widened. "That ... is ..." He didn’t finish his sentence.

Dexmon held Serena’s waist so she couldn’t break free, which made her even more angry. Her irritation bled through their matebond with clarity. She was Agnes-level enraged.

"I’m sorry, baby," he said softly.

She did not accept the apology.

But her magic turned back gold. Dex and Fin made eye contact. A rare ceasefire moment of what the fuck is happening.

Then everyone’s golden cuffs vibrated and didn’t stop.

Garrett Darkhowler appeared on the rune, bleeding out. Then Hale appeared. Tiberon next. Again and again.

Hale looked down at his hands, then around the room, then at Serena, and wisely chose not to ask any questions.

More and more people appeared in the room. Most bleeding. Some were fine just dazed, unsure how they got there.

Serena stopped struggling, and glowed brighter gold. The room flooded with her magic, wrapping around everyone.

Every wound started to heal. No one spoke or moved. It was both surprising, and not surprising.

Her gold magic stayed around the rune, healing as people arrived.

Garrett Darkhowler stood up, looking down at his blood-soaked armor, then back up at Serena.

He didn’t seem surprised in the slightest.

He tilted his head in an almost inhuman way, and gave a chilling smile.

His eyes didn’t blink. Not once. They stayed fixed on Serena, and when he spoke, there was a second layer underneath his voice, something that vibrated wrong, like two sounds stacked slightly out of sync.

He spoke to her in Glaciovox from across the room. Unbeknownst to him, it heavily overlapped with Draken-Vorah.

Serena’s head snapped to him the instant he opened his mouth.

Dexmon clocked it and caught a few words.

"Axis." "Duel." "Wolf." "Marked." "Heat."

Elara tackled Garrett like a bat out of hell. She was well aware of this language overlap and her blood oath activated for the Frostbound Accord.

Garrett blinked completely stunned. His eerie smile and inhuman head tilt were gone.

He looked up at Elara with an expression of pure confusion, like a man waking from a dream he didn’t remember falling into.

"What ..." He glanced around the room. "What just happened?"

Dexmon blinked and made eye contact with Fin for a second time. Apparently they were the only two people in the room who’d noticed that Garrett Darkhowler had just been possessed.

Hale felt a blood oath activate through the matebond, but didn’t understand if it was his or hers. He then saw Elara straddling Garrett and his brain processed exactly one thing.

He punched Garrett square in the jaw.

"Hale—"

"I know."

He did not know.

"Hale. Put me down."

"No."

Serena tore out of Dexmon’s grip in the chaos, and ran to the stairs in a blur before he had time to react.

"Shit," he said, running after her. Fin behind him, Gav, Hyran, and Aeron on their rear.

She had a head start and by the time Dexmon reached the top, his Hidden Flame mark was blazing hot.

The vault was open and she was inside. She made her way towards the back, grabbing a pulsing black dragon egg and her bow and quiver.

Then she moved out of the room, handing the egg to Fin.

"Is this for me?" he asked, confused. It was heavy, and felt like it was made of marble. Then it started to crack.

Serena spoke in Draken-Vorah to Hyran, who pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, Serena."

Dexmon spoke in Draken-Vorah back to her, hooking her around the waist. He pulled her against his chest.

She looked like she wanted to murder him.

"Over my dead body. Not in a million—" His voice cut off mid-sentence.

His eyes flared bright gold, matching hers. His voice changed, no longer his own. He let go of her, then glanced at Hyran.

"Make her a portal back to the camp. She will kill the fae."

"No. Absolutely not," Hyran answered.

"It took two grown Alphas, and two master mages to get her here," Gavriel called. "Are you out of your goddamn mind?"

The gold in Serena’s eyes burned white-hot with frustration.

Hyran and Aeron moved at the same time to knock her out with their magic.

Gold orbs appeared around both of them, trapping them.

She said something else in Draken-Vorah, glaring at Hyran.

A golden portal opened in front of her and she ran through it. It snapped closed before Fin or Dexmon could follow.

The orbs around Hyran and Aeron vanished instantly.

"I believe she just told us no," Aeron said flatly.

"Most prodigies test boundaries. Push limits," Hyran snapped. "She shoves them down the stairs. I’ve seen tyrants with better impulse control!"

Fin glanced down at the hatching egg in his hands stunned.

A black head with golden eyes poked its way out of the egg and blinked at him. Then Fin’s eyes glowed the same shade of gold.

"Onyx."

"Reunited with your true bonded," Dexmon said, like they were old friends. As if they hadn’t been secretly wishing the other would drop dead five minutes ago.

"Brother," Fin said, gripping Dex’s forearm in a warrior’s greeting.

Both spoke in voices that weren’t their own.

Gavriel narrowed his eyes. "Okay, that’s the most disturbing thing that’s happened today."

"What in the seven hells..." Aeron said under his breath.

Dex turned to Hyran. "Make me a portal."