The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 575

Chapter 575: Oh. OH. She’s Not Avoiding Me.

SHADOWFELL - ALPHA’S STUDY - 5:00 PM

Finnick Shadowclaw gave it a full hour before it fully sunk in: she was not coming.

His fated, second-chance mate, had looked at the schedule, looked at the clock, and decided that tonight, Finnick Shadowclaw could go screw himself.

Apparently his custody night was optional because she had two other mates. Two goddamn safety nets that would take her in a heartbeat so she could skip him and nobody would notice.

Serena Frostborne, who had faced down kings and queens and ancestors and squids and every goddamn thing the universe had thrown at her, was avoiding a conversation with her own mate because the conversation was going to hurt and she had decided that distance was preferable to damage.

She was wrong. That was bullshit. Absolute, weapons-grade bullshit. Distance wasn’t a strategy. Distance was cowardice wearing a sensible coat, and Serena Frostborne was not a coward, which meant she was choosing to act like one.

She didn’t get to dodge him. If she wouldn’t come here, then he would go to her. That conversation was happening.

Fin: Aeron. Where the hell is Serena?

The mindlink was delivered at volume-twelve, which is to say, all the way turned up, which told Aeron everything he needed to know about the next thirty minutes of his life.

Aeron: I haven’t heard from Hyran today.

Fin: Get me a portal to Drakenfell.

✦✦✦

DRAKENFELL — JUVENILE TRAINING FIELD

The portal deposited them onto the Draken Forces field because that was where Aeron anchored it every time. Routine. The pickup point for Onyx, the drop point for arrivals. Something Aeron or his Beta handled every day.

Fin scanned the field. Cadets running formations. Handlers barking. Juvenile dragons doing drills in staggered groups across the southern quad.

No Onyx.

He glanced at Aeron. Aeron shrugged, unbothered. "He might be doing drills on another field. Sometimes he’s gone when I stop by."

Fin gave a nod and crossed the grounds towards the castle. He walked with the pace of a man who had somewhere to be and the posture of a man who was going to be unpleasant when he got there.

Unbeknownst to both of them, Onyx was not, in fact, on any training field and hadn’t been all day.

No sign of Tiberon or Dexmon. But the field was busy. Drills, sparring, the organized chaos of a military training operation that ran whether the Crown Prince was present or otherwise.

Fin: Serena, where are you?

Silence.

She was absolutely, categorically, without question avoiding him. The confirmation settled into his chest like a coal and the coal was getting hotter with every step he took across Drakenfell’s training grounds.

The Alpha King of Shadowclaw was being goddamn ghosted. And she most definitely had put on that damn necklace too so he couldn’t feel her.

He entered the castle through the double doors of the eastern wing, Aeron behind him, and nearly walked into the Beta Luna of Drakenfell.

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