The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate-Chapter 109: A Thousand Arrows Walk Into a Rift
Serena ran out of the portal, glowing gold.
The camp had become a slaughterhouse.
Dark Fae moved through the tents. Black magic dripped from their fingers, leaving soldiers screaming.
One Fae crouched over a fallen warrior, its face splitting open to reveal rows of needle-thin teeth. Another dragged a mage by the throat, claws sunk deep, dark tendrils crawling into the mage’s eyes.
"Get her. She is the one," a Dark Fae commander called, speaking in High Orosian.
Another portal opened, and out ran Gavriel, Fin, Dexmon, Aeron, and Hyran.
From the sky, a Dark Fae stood on a water dragon blowing a horn.
Gav looked up to see the rift, now large enough to fit a castle. A Dark Fae army was marching through.
"Well," Gav said, staring. "That’s aggressive."
Serena ran towards it at Alpha speed.
"Serena," Fin was already running after her, teeth gritted.
Velkaris roared glowing gold, and flew parallel to her close to the ground as she ran. She jumped on his back.
Fin’s heart nearly gave out, and he fell to his knees at what happened next. He’d seen Serena fall from a distance. He’d heard her screams through mindlinks.
But he’d never seen it in daylight, without storm cover or distance to soften it. He’d never seen it close enough to understand the scale.
Velkaris bucked her off his back into the air, then dove under her, so she landed on his head. He gave a proud roar that vibrated across the camp.
From the rift, fire dragons began to emerge, all with Fae riders. A water dragon was in the front and center.
"On it," Dexmon said. He cracked his neck, rolling his shoulders like he was walking into a bar fight and not toward a dark magic convoy. "Try not to lose the camp while I’m gone."
Gav opened his mouth. Closed it. Decided now was not the time.
At that same moment, an explosion of white light happened from the other side of camp on the south field.
Hyran: Only clean kills by beheading. Otherwise they explode.
"That complicates this," Gav sighed. A Dark Fae came straight for Fin, who was still looking up at Serena in absolute horror.
Gav lunged in between. Its head was off before it could detonate outward.
"Don’t worry. She’s really bad at dying," Gav said, panting. He offered Fin a hand.
From above on Velkaris’s head, Serena extended her hand out palm up. And like a thunderclap from the gods, a beam of light came from the heavens. A golden arrow vibrated into existence.
Half of the battle froze stunned.
Fin watched, and his muscles locked. He’d never seen anything like it. But it didn’t matter. He didn’t like her up there alone. Or here at all. None of this.
"Holy mother of..." Aeron’s voice trailed off.
"Yeah... that’s a new one," Gav commented, much less fazed than Aeron.
Serena notched the arrow and let it fly straight towards the rift in the sky.
Halfway through the arc, it split into a thousand smaller arrows. They connected to form a net, then covered the void.
Silence. For exactly two seconds, the rest of the battlefield stopped.
"Solves that for now," Hyran commented.
Then the reactions came, no one bothering to hush their voices from other packs.
"Holy...."
"What is she"
"I knew it..."
"She is who they want. Give her to them..."
Hyran rolled his eyes unimpressed.
He sliced a Dark Fae’s head clean off without breaking stride. "Really upset at you, Serena. We could’ve had a quiet night. But no, you make a damn portal back here. "
He killed another one. "And you’ll have no memory of it. Of course not."
Serena drew an arrow from her quiver. One from the vault.
No one noticed initially. Still on Velkaris’s head, she aimed.
Gav looked up in time to see her fire an arrow at a Dark Fae Commander.
"Shit! Explosion incoming right field!"
Ironically, both Skardos alliance members and the Dark Fae had an equal reaction. Oh Fuck.
Every single body in range dove for cover. Alphas, soldiers, mages, and at least ten Dark Fae who were mid-attack, all flattened themselves against the dirt.
Bullseye.
But when the commander was hit, instead of detonating, he turned into ash on the spot. And with him, a good chunk of the Dark Fae in the camp.
Gav dove into a trench. A Dark Fae was on his right and Fin Shadowclaw on his left. He turned his head towards the Dark Fae, only to see its split black tongue taste the air and insect eyes.
The Dark Fae’s tongue came towards Gav.
He screamed. A primal, full-bodied scream that bled right through the mindlink.
An inch before the tongue touched his nose, it turned to ash.
Gav blinked. Fin blinked behind him equally stunned.
Gav broke the silence. "I’ve seen some weird shit today. But THAT—."
A light breeze blew, carrying its ash remains right to his tongue and on his face.
He closed his mouth, regretting ever opening it.
Then he gagged, spat, and gagged again.
Serena already had another arrow notched before anyone could comprehend what just happened.
She fired. Hitting a second commander, followed by a third. Dark Fae ash was everywhere.
Fin looked up at Velkaris one more time. Serena was already notching another arrow, her white hair lit gold from the magic pouring off her skin.
His wolf surged so hard his vision flickered, but he forced it down. He turned and went to his men. He had an army to command, yet gods, he didn’t like her up there at all.
"I’m alright," Gav said. "If anyone was wondering. I’m okay."
"Tastes like chicken," Thor Crushturn called from a few paces away.
He was grinning. Actually grinning. Entirely too proud of his tastes like chicken comment like it was the most clever thing in the world.
Gav stared at him. Ash still on his tongue. Blood on his blade. A rift in the sky.
There was always one. Thor was the guy who did pull-ups before a siege and said "let’s dance" before a fight.
"I hate you," Gav said forcefully. "I hate you with everything I have."
Thor winked at him. Winked. Then charged toward a cluster of Dark Fae, sword raised, bellowing something that sounded disturbingly like a war chant he’d made up himself.
Gav watched him go.
"He’s going to get himself blown up."
