The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate

The Knotty Omega hit Skardos like a plague.

Drakenfell’s unofficial head of intelligence found one pinned to her parlor door. She then stormed into Tiberon’s study.

"Have you seen this filth?" Bellatrix demanded, slamming a crumpled copy onto his desk. "Tell me it’s not true."

Tiberon glanced at it. "Seen what?"

Across the castle, a portal formed, and Serena didn’t smell the ambush coming.

She stepped through, boots barely touching stone, already turning towards Dex’s quarters. She had exactly one plan: crawl into bed, press herself against him, and exist in silence until the sun came up.

To her surprise, Elara was waiting for her. "With me. Now."

Elara grabbed her by the arm, and Serena knew where she was being pulled without having to ask.

As soon as they were inside the storage room, Serena put up her hands in surrender. "Elara, I tried to friendzone him. I said it before he was inside of me, and—."

Elara cut her off. "We will discuss that later."

She shoved parchment into Serena’s hands.

"Read it."

Serena looked down.

"What the hell is a knotty omega?"

"Your new worst nightmare."

✦✦✦

Serena lay with Dexmon for a while after reading The Knotty Omega, which she was going to pretend she never saw. Unhealthy coping mechanism? Probably.

But when the sun rose, she knew she had her work cut out for her. Elara too, who had been stuck doing that punishment up until today. This was their first day officially back and they intended to deliver.

They moved through the quiet corridors in matching black training suits.

Today Captain Halvek was absent from his usual post at the edge of the field. In his place stood Colonel Morholt, who they’d only worked under a few times.

"Laps. Eight. No shifting," Morholt said, without looking up from the field.

Elara glanced at Serena sideways.

Eight. Halvek had them at five. Each one over five miles. But okay.

They started running.

✦✦✦

Dex woke to cold sheets.

His hand reached across the bed before his brain was fully conscious, fingers finding nothing but empty linen.

He opened his eyes. Blinked at the ceiling. He had plans for this morning that involved her body against his. And he was not alright.

Needy? Absolutely. He’d been starved for her.

He sat up, irritated.

Aegon: She’s not here.

Dex: I can see that.

Aegon: Then why did you check twice?

Dex dragged both hands down his face and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Her scent was fading, which meant she’d been gone for a while.

He stood, pulled on pants, and was halfway to the door before he stopped himself.

He stared at the handle. His thumb hovered.

Aegon: Mindlink her.

Dex: No. I’m not going to be that guy.

Aegon: You are already that guy.

Dex: I am giving her space.

Aegon: You could track her by scent. I am not saying you should. I am saying you could and that it would be very fast.

Dex dropped his hand, exhaled through his nose, and turned back toward the wardrobe. He would find her casually. Accidentally. Without it looking like he’d been awake for fourteen seconds before needing to know her exact coordinates.

He pulled a shirt on, ran a hand through his hair, and stepped into the corridor where he immediately ran into Hale.

Hale looked like he’d been launched from his bed by a catapult of anxiety.

They stared at each other.

"Elara?"

"Gone."

"Serena?"

"Also gone."

A long silence stretched between them, the kind shared between two men who had just been abandoned at dawn.

"I was about to mindlink her," Hale admitted.

"Same."

"Should we?"

Dex crossed his arms. "No. They’re probably together."

Hale nodded slowly. "Okay."

Three seconds passed.

"I’m going to mindlink her," Hale said.

"Me too."

They didn’t. Because Gavriel appeared at the end of the hallway. "Morning," he said, voice dripping with amusement. "Looking for someone?"

"Shut up," Dex clipped.

"Should I come back? I feel like I’m interrupting a very emotional moment between two very large, very confused men."

"Have you seen Elara?" Hale asked shamelessly.

"Oh. Right." Gav snorted. "They’re on the training field. Morholt’s running them through drills."

Dex’s entire body stiffened. None of that sounded right. "Morholt? I didn’t approve that."

"The Colonel, yes." Gav leaned against the wall, arms folded. "He seems to be enjoying himself."

Dex was already walking. Hale fell into step beside him, now fully committed to pretending this was a casual stroll and not a rescue operation.

They didn’t make it to the training field.

Hyran intercepted them in the corridor outside the study, appearing from a side passage like a spider who had been waiting in a very specific web.

"Serena is cleared for day-time here, and her punishment is over. She didn’t report to me this morning. And now I find out she is on a field getting battered by Morholt."

"Did she ask for your approval?" Hale asked, genuinely curious.

"No. She did not." Hyran turned to Dex, ready to make this everyone’s problem. "I need her focused. And she was my apprentice first." He crossed his arms at the last sentence.

Gavriel made a noise, somewhere between a gasp and a laugh. "Oh shit."

"What are you reading," Hyran clipped, snatching it out of Gavriel’s hands.

"You know, I am your Gamma, Thornfell. You report to me."

Hyran gave him a flat, unimpressed look. "What is The Knotty—"

"You’re awake," Tiberon called from the hall. "Updates."

They expected the usual mountain.

All their desks were organized. Every document had been sorted into neat stacks, tabbed, and labeled in small, elegant handwriting.

"Is this alphabetized and color-coded?" Dex asked.

"Yes," Tiberon answered. "It would appear you both managed to find the most capable mates in Skardos."

Tiberon set his coffee down.

"Sit."

Dex sat. So did Hale and Gav.

Aegon: She is better at your job than you are.

Dex:Do you have a point, or are you just here to hurt me?

Aegon:Both.

"A great deal has happened since you’ve all been in Orosia," Tiberon said. "Halvek and Morholt have been assigned to oversee their combat training."

Dex stiffened. "I can train her."

"No."

The word landed like a gavel.

"You are too close to her, Dexmon. You’ll favor her. And you’ll do it without realizing you’re doing it, because that is what mates do."

Dex’s jaw clenched. He wanted to argue. The rebuttal was right there, loaded and ready.

Aegon:He’s not wrong.

Dex:I know he’s not wrong. That’s what’s pissing me off.

Hale looked like someone had told him his mate had a second life he wasn’t invited to.

"Elara too?"

Tiberon glanced at him. "Yes, now that she’s finished with her punishment."

"I am the High General," he said slowly. "I am the third highest ranked officer. And yet I am the last person to know my own mate’s schedule."

Dex gave a dark laugh at that. He could relate.

"Let me make sure I’m following," Gav said, leaning back. "You both ghosted your mates. This is their routine now. And you’re offended."

Dex stared at him long enough for Gav to raise both hands in surrender.

He didn’t like Serena training without him. No. He just got her back and he only got her until the sun went down.

Aegon:She is ours. We go get her and carry her back here.

✦✦✦

Dex sat at his desk, pen in hand, staring at the same line on a supply requisition he’d read four times. The words weren’t the problem. The problem was the sharp sting that kept blooming across his ribs every thirty seconds.

Through their matebond, Serena’s pain bled into him in bursts. She was being hit. Repeatedly. And she was getting back up every time, because the ache kept shifting locations: ribs, shoulder, hip, and back.

His pen snapped in half.

Aegon:That’s the third pen.

Dex:I’m aware.

Across the room, Hale was having a worse time.

He wasn’t even pretending to work. He was sitting with his hands flat on the table, eyes closed, jaw locked, breathing through his nose like he was trying to meditate in the middle of an earthquake.

"She fell," Hale said through his teeth. "She’s back up."

"I know."

"Someone just hit her in the ribs."

"Hale. Stop narrating."

Hale opened his eyes. They were rimmed gold. "I can’t do this."

Aegon: Left shoulder this time.

Dex closed his eyes and breathed.

By hour two, their desks were littered with broken pens, and a coffee mug Hale had accidentally crushed with his bare hand.

"I’m over this," Dex said. "We’re flipping our schedule to match theirs."

Hale was already on his feet.

They looked at each other. For once, they were in complete agreement without a single word wasted.

"Mornings on the field with them. Afternoons on our duties while they’re with Hyran." Dex grabbed his training gear. "No interfering. We’re there as members of the Draken Forces, not as their mates."

"Understood," Hale said.

"Can you do that?"

Hale paused. Considered. "Mostly."

"Hale."

"Ninety percent. Eighty-five. Seventy at minimum."

"That’s not reassuring."

"You asked for honesty."

They informed Tiberon, who regarded them both with an expression that clearly said he’d been expecting this exact conversation.

"You lasted longer than expected."