The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate-Chapter 124: Dex Ate Floor Twice In One -

Both Serena and Gav screamed.

Her fabricated sword clattered to the stone floor. Gav hurled the fire poker on pure instinct, arm cocking and releasing before his brain caught up.

Dex sidestepped at Alpha speed and the poker sailed past his head, embedding itself in a wooden bookshelf with a thunk that would have been funny under any other circumstances.

He blinked, staring at the poker quivering in the shelf.

"That was meant for an invisible guy," Gav said.

Dex pulled the poker from the shelf. "Tell me that wasn’t your best shot."

Then his gaze swept to Serena’s tear-streaked cheeks and trembling hands. He closed the distance and pulled her into his arms.

"It’s okay, baby. I’m here." His voice was low and fierce and shaking at the edges, and his arms locked around her like he could hold the world back if he just held her tight enough.

Serena wanted to melt into him. Every part of her wanted to collapse against his chest and let him carry this.

She could feel his heartbeat against her cheek and his tangle of emotions through their matebond. He was terrified for her. Furious that something had made her afraid. And underneath all of it, that guilt again. That relentless, grinding guilt that he couldn’t fix this.

She had one second of safety in his arms.

"SERENA!"

Gav’s yell split the air.

The High Emperor was behind Dex. And in his hand, or what passed for a hand, another fire poker ripped from the far wall, pulled through the air like a javelin, aimed directly at the space between Dex’s shoulder blades.

Serena shoved Dex.

Every ounce of protective fury and strength she had went into her palms, and Dex flew off his feet and hit the floor five paces away, sliding across the stone with a grunt of shock.

The poker came for her instead. But she was ready.

She caught it. Bare-handed, in a blur of motion, wrapping her fingers around the iron shaft an inch before it hit her chest.

She pushed gold magic into Dex and Gav both, wrapping them in light. Then she poured Velkaris’s flame into the poker until the iron glowed white-hot in her grip.

The High Emperor’s smile faltered, and he faded.

A door slammed three floors above. All the lamps extinguished, and the only light left was Serena’s golden magic and the moon through the windows.

For a few heartbeats nothing happened.

Then Gav saw them. Two brass candlesticks were floating beside Serena’s left ear, almost as if he’d been waiting for Gav to notice.

"Next to you, Serena."

Too late.

The candlesticks crashed together before the words were out. The sound was enormous and didn’t stop. Strike after strike after strike, clanging into each other inches from her head, relentless and percussive.

The sound startled Serena and she jumped, a high-pitched yelp escaping her before she could stop it.

Her ears were ringing, her heart was hammering, and every instinct she had was telling her to run. Instead, she turned her head to look at the High Emperor dead in the eyes.

"Jumpy," he said. The amusement in his voice was unbearable.

"Was that supposed to impress me?"

"Yes," he said. "And it did."

Serena kicked the High Emperor in the balls. Or that’s what should’ve happened, but her boot went through air.

Dex blinked. From where he stood, Serena had just kicked at nothing and was talking to empty air. His mate was either fighting something invisible or had lost her mind, and he wasn’t sure which option concerned him more.

He glanced at Gav, only to see Gav looking at whatever Serena was, like he could see it too.

"She’s fighting the High Emperor of Orosia. Keep up," Gav said without looking away.

Serena fabricated two orbs in front of her, the second one over the first, layering gold on gold.

Both popped instantly like bubbles in a bath.

The gold light surrounding Gav and Dex dimmed rapidly, pulled from them in a way that felt wrong, unnatural, as if something was draining her magic.

Their Hidden Flame marks flared hot.

Serena stumbled backward, catching herself on a table.

"That one hurt. Didn’t it?" the High Emperor said, tilting his head.

"What do you want?" Serena asked.

"You."

Dex pushed himself to his feet, eyes blazing, Aegon surging behind them. He took a step towards Serena.

"Dex, don’t move. He’s gone now, and I don’t know where he is," Serena said, forcing her voice calm.

Dex froze, brows furrowed.

Gav scanned the room, looking for the distortion, and caught it just in time. A shimmer in the air with a fire poker, already moving, aimed at Dex’s ribs.

"Serena, what are you— " Dex didn’t finish his sentence.

Gav grabbed him by the back of his collar and yanked him sideways, both of them hitting the ground.

The poker drove into the shelf where Dex had been standing a half-second earlier, burying itself four inches into solid oak.

Dex stared at the poker. At the shelf. At the hole it had made. Then at Gav.

"Were you trying to kill me, or was your aim always this bad?"

Gav rolled his eyes. "You’re welcome for the two times I just saved your life in the last minute."

"Why does it smell like blood?" Dex asked, sniffing.

"I got stabbed by a fire poker in the library by the High Emperor of Orosia."

"High Emperor of Orosia," Dex repeated flatly. "With a fire poker."

"When you say it like that it sounds ridiculous." Gav snapped.

"It is ridiculous."

The lamps that had extinguished roared back to life. The air warmed.

That’s when Dex clocked Gav’s hand, which was covered in blood. The one that yanked him by his collar. And Gav’s shirt was bloody too.

"You owe me a drink, a healer, and a new shirt. In that order," Gav said.

Serena’s shoulders relaxed and she sucked in a breath of relief. She turned, moving towards them. Dex stood and closed the distance, pulling her back into his arms.

"That could have stabbed you, baby," he said. "Don’t push me out of the way again like that."

Serena didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or cry at that statement. She looked up at him about to argue, but he immediately seized that opportunity to give her a kiss on the lips before any words came out, completely surprising her.

A reluctant smile tugged at her lips at his ridiculousness.

Gav looked down at his bloody shirt, then at Dex holding Serena, then back at his shirt. "Don’t mind me. I’m fine. Just a flesh wound."

Dex pulled away from Serena, but didn’t let go.

"Both of you. Start talking," he said, his voice barely human. "Now."