The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate

"SERENA!"

Gavriel broke free. He ripped out of Hyran and Alaric’s grip with a surge of strength that should have been impossible given the hole in his chest and the blood soaking through his wraps and the fact that his lungs were operating at approximately forty percent capacity.

He moved at Alpha speed, covering the distance to the collapsing portal in under a second, his feet barely touching the stone, his body a green-lit blur that crossed the chamber before the word "STOP" finished leaving Alaric’s mouth.

He was across the green bridge and through the portal before it snapped shut. The chamber went silent. His bridge remained intact.

The stone floor was streaked with blood. The cuffs were still vibrating.

Alaric, Hyran, Maelor, and Aeron stood in the aftermath, staring at the empty space where the portal had been, wearing identical expressions. Because Gavriel Sterling, who had a puncture wound in his chest and two reopened lacerations and had been physically restrained by two of the most capable men in Drakenfell, had just moved at a speed so fast it was a blur.

Alaric looked at Hyran. "Did he just—"

"Yes."

"But he’s a Gamma."

"He was."

Alaric looked at his own hands. They were still in the grip position. His fingers were still curled around nothing.

Maelor walked over to the bridge and inspected it the way a sommelier inspects wine. He ran a finger along the edge. Frowned. Ran it again. The frown deepened. The bridge was structurally perfect. He let out a sigh theatrical enough to have its own curtain call.

"Fine. I suppose I’ll take the Gamma as well. Someone has to."

"I’ll train him if you don’t want to," Aeron offered.

Maelor lifted his chin. "This is Fae, Aeron. Last time I checked, you are the wrong species. He has dual archetypes as Serena does which makes me the most qualified person in this chamber."

"I’ve watched you enough with Serena to know the basics. It’s not that complicated," Aeron said.

Maelor’s spine straightened so fast it was practically an act of war. The temperature in the room dropped three degrees.

"He’s my mentee," Hyran cut in. "Both of you can calm down."

"He is NOT your mentee," Aeron and Maelor said in unison.

Hyran gave them a flat, unimpressed look. "Yes he is. But I’m reasonable. Here’s what we’ll do. We each call his name. The one he runs to is his trainer."

"I’m in," Aeron said.

"He’s not a dog," Maelor snapped. He considered his words for a moment, then added, "Actually, I’m in. I want center."

✦✦✦

VACATION VOLCANO ISLAND - LAKE FUN

Two Alphas ran through a portal blindly and found themselves submerged in a frigid lake with mutated sharks and a giant dark-magic squid. The water was gold in color, but the lake was still too dark to see further than ten feet in front of them. Not ideal for a rescue.

A third man, the Gamma of Drakenfell, ran through the portal behind them, bleeding from his chest.

Green magic snapped around all three in that instant, wrapping them in emerald light like armor.

Three Hidden Flame marks, already burning hot, flared hotter in that moment as heat wove into the green magic seamlessly, preventing the cold from settling in their bones. Even now, half-drowned and fighting for her life at the bottom of a frozen lake, Serena came through protecting them.

Green swords materialized in all of their hands.

Gavriel was already swimming before the hilts finished forming, ignoring the pain in his chest where the wounds had torn open the moment he hit the water, ignoring the blood seeping through the wraps Alaric had applied and trailing behind him like a red invitation to everything with teeth in this lake.

The Gamma could feel her both through a matebond connection and through their Fae magic. Her pink hit his green and his chest lit up like a homing signal so clear it rendered the darkness of the lake irrelevant.

Fin was a half-stroke behind him, jaw locked, eyes blazing gold, swimming with the controlled fury of a man who had spent the last several hours pacing a chamber imagining this exact scenario and had arrived prepared to dismantle whatever stood between him and his mate with his bare hands if the sword wasn’t enough.

Tiberon swam behind both of them with zero emotional interference. He was in commander-mode. He did note that his Gamma’s injuries were not hindering his mobility and the fact that they were swimming at a speed possible only by Alphas.

That would be addressed at a later time.

They saw her at the same time.

Serena. Suspended in the dark water. Half-conscious. Bleeding from cuts and spike wounds that clouded the water around her in gold-tinged red.

A tentacle, thick and black and spiked, was coiled around her torso, dragging her deeper while her cuff vibrated uselessly against her wrist.

The squid was about to discover that the difference between drowning a woman and drowning a woman who has two mates and a king coming for her is approximately three green swords and the worst decision it had ever made.

Fin and Gavriel didn’t hesitate. They operated like they had been working together for years. They hadn’t in this life.

Their green blades arced through the water in unison, severing the tentacle from two angles simultaneously.

Tiberon’s sword followed a half-second later, cutting a second limb that had been coiling toward the first strike’s blind spot, the slash clean and deliberate, executed with the practiced economy of a king who had been killing things since before these boys were born. He covered the angle his boys had missed because that’s what fathers do.

The creature recoiled into the darkness with a grinding shriek that vibrated through the water and rattled their teeth.

The squid was upset. Three swords and a severed limb would do that to a creature who had been peacefully drowning a princess until company arrived.