The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate-Chapter 118: Baby, Don’t Look

That night, Serena fell asleep in Dex’s arms again.

She found herself standing in a crowd. Then she turned and saw a black wolf.

"Dex?" she asked. The wolf shifted to Dex immediately and pulled her into his arms kissing her all over.

She started to laugh, and gave him a kiss back.

"I love it when you do that," Dex said, pressing his forehead on hers. "Where are we?"

"I don’t know..." Serena said. "I feel like I’ve been here before."

Guards dragged Viremont to the execution block at the front of the hall.

Serena screamed, jumping back, hand covering her mouth.

A massive executioner stepped forward, his face hidden behind a black hood, his blade gleaming in the torchlight.

Viremont was forced to his knees.

His head was pushed down onto the block, the wood dark with old stains.

"This isn’t real. I recognize this room now too. This is in Drakenfell. And he wouldn’t be tried in our court alone," Dexmon said, pulling her back against his chest.

Before the blade could fall, Viremont twisted his neck, finding Serena in the crowd. His eyes locked onto hers. It was like he could see her.

"He’s closer than you think," he spat, blood from a split lip flecking his chin. "Watching. Waiting." His smile was grotesque, too wide. "And when he comes for you, little princess, he’ll do things to you that will make what I did look like a kindness. He’ll break you apart piece by piece." His eyes flicked to Dexmon. "And he’ll make you watch Dragon Prince."

"Baby, don’t look." Dexmon put his hand over her eyes. He could feel her absolute terror through their matebond. Identical to the other night when she screamed.

The executioner raised his blade.

It came down with a whistle of displaced air.

It didn’t sever cleanly.

The blade bit into Viremont’s neck but stopped halfway, lodged in bone and gristle. His body jerked. A wet, gurgling sound escaped his ruined throat. His legs kicked against the stone floor, chains rattling.

Blood sprayed across the execution block in thick arterial spurts. It pooled beneath him, spreading outward in a dark tide.

The executioner wrenched the blade free with a sickening crunch.

Viremont was still alive. Still twitching. His mouth opened and closed like a fish pulled from water, sounds that weren’t quite words bubbling up through the blood.

The crowd gasped. Some looked away, hands pressed to mouths. Others stared with morbid fascination.

The blade came down again.

This time it went through.

His head rolled across the floor, coming to rest face-up, his eyes still open, that terrible smile frozen in place.

Then it spoke, "You can’t escape me."

Dexmon woke up gasping this time, sweating.

"Fuck." He rubbed his hand through his hair. Was this what she was dreaming about? He didn’t want to scare her about Viremont. He didn’t want to tell her about it at all until he was captured again. And he wanted to go do that himself for good reason."

Serena had a pained expression on her face, asleep still. Then she screamed. A high-pitched scream that caused Dexmon’s soul to leave his body temporarily.

"Serena, wake up," he whispered, cradling her. She didn’t stir. "Serena?"

Nothing.

"Please no..." She gasped like she was coming up for air from being under water. Her eyes were still closed.

"Serena... it’s a dream." Still holding her, he cupped her face.

She didn’t wake up.

"Serena." Dex shook her shoulders more forcefully.

Nothing.

"Shit... you are burning up..." He felt her forehead, alarm bells ringing.

His wolf spoke in his mind.

Aegon: Get Alaric. I don’t like this.

She jolted awake at that moment. Her heart was pounding, skin drenched in sweat. The echo of something terrible lingered at the edges of her mind, just out of reach.

"Serena," Dex said, relieved. "You weren’t waking up ..."

"S-s-sorry," she whispered.

He pulled her on top of him. "It’s okay, baby," he whispered, heart cracking. He heard her stutter only once before, when she was shattered.

He hadn’t heard it from fear. Her self-directed frustration cut into him through their matebond.

"You don’t ever need to apologize."

He rubbed her back and she slowly started relaxing into him.

"Do you remember anything?"

She tried. She reached for the nightmare, tried to grab hold of whatever had terrified her so badly. But it slipped through her fingers like smoke.

"No." Her voice came out hoarse.

Dex’s jaw tightened. Two nightmares in two nights, both leaving her screaming. That wasn’t normal.

"It’s okay," he whispered. "Don’t worry.

"You’re burning up," he added. "I mindlinked Alaric."

It wasn’t a suggestion.

"Dex—"

"No arguments." He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You’re not feeling well. And there’s something wrong. We’re going to figure out what."

Serena wanted to argue. Wanted to tell him she was fine, that it was just stress, that she didn’t need to be fussed over.

But she was tired. So tired. And maybe he was right.

"Okay," she whispered.

Dex held her tighter for a minute, then got up. He threw pants on and got Serena a robe, then picked her up, carrying her to the chairs by the fire.

There was a knock on the door. "Enter."

Serena moved to get off Dexmon’s lap, but he held her in place. Her face went red. He kissed her temple, then shoulder, absentmindedly.

Alaric entered. His eyes flicked between them for exactly one second but didn’t comment.

"You woke me up at three in the morning for what, exactly?" he asked. He stood in the doorway, medical bag in hand, hair disheveled, wearing an expression that could curdle milk.

"Apologies, Alaric," Serena said. She really didn’t want to wake him to begin with.

"Don’t apologize. Explain." He set his bag on the table and crouched in front of her, already assessing. "You are the crown princess of Drakenfell. If anything is wrong with any member of the royal family, I need to know about it."

Alaric examined her. "You are burning up. Dexmon wasn’t wrong about that."

He pulled a box out of his medical bag, with syringes.

Serena’s eyes widened.

"Oh, please." Alaric didn’t even look up. "I’ve given you this so many times. You’re just never conscious." He flicked the air bubble out with practiced indifference. "Besides, you’ve had way worse needles."

Serena’s hand flew up to her sternum wincing at the memory of having one very large needle there when she was poisoned.

Dexmon cleared his throat. "Serena’s been having nightmares, but can’t remember them. We visit each other in our dreams sometimes, and I was in her nightmare this time."

Serena turned to look at Dex, surprised by that. Dex took the opportunity and kissed her on the lips. Her face went red and she shook her head. A reluctant smile tugged on her lips at how ridiculous he was.

Alaric withdrew the needle from Serena’s arm, glancing at Dex. "You do realize how incredibly rare dreamwalking is? Revealing one’s soul to another in the purest form."

"I was not aware of that," Dexmon said, kissing Serena’s cheek.

"After a rejection re-marking, and Viper’s Kiss," Alaric muttered to himself, shaking his head. "I’d write a paper on you two if anyone would believe me."

"When I tried to wake her this time, she didn’t wake," Dex went on.

Alaric looked at Serena’s neck. "Bruises are better, but you’re not healing as quickly as usual." He said nothing else about it, which was worse than if he had. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"I feel fine, really," Serena said. This was half true. She felt drained and maybe a little feverish, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle.

"Serena. This is not like the other times I’ve treated you. Your energy is drained on top of a severed matebond that hurt you at the soul level. Those are facts. The amount of power you channeled was nothing we’ve ever seen."

Alaric moved back to his medicine bag, but mindlinked Dex.

Alaric: What was the nightmare?

Dexmon: Viremont and some disturbing shit. I’ll tell you tomorrow.

Alaric’s hand stilled on the clasp of his bag for half a second. Then he resumed as if nothing had happened.

There was a knock on the door. Alaric answered it, grabbing a few tonics from an omega.

"I wasn’t joking the other day. I’m serious, Serena. No stress. Stay in bed for at least three days. No helping Dexmon on duties. You need to rest and treat this like you would a physical injury."

Serena blinked, surprised by the three days. Dex’s grip tightened around her.

"Okay," Serena said softly. "Will it get better though?"

"Yes, with time. Your wolf too."

Alaric mindlinked Dex as he turned to leave.

Alaric: If she doesn’t wake up like that again, mindlink me immediately.

Dexmon: I will. What was it?

Alaric: I’m not sure about her not waking, but I’ll dig around. The nightmare aspect is what we can control. Those likely are triggered by stress. The pressure she was under was too much. Hyran mentioned that too before he left.

Dexmon’s chest tightened at those words. He knew exactly what Alaric was referring to because he kept hearing bits of it.

Dexmon: Understood.

Alaric: You also have had a rough week. Both of you need to rest. That’s my recommendation.

Long after Serena fell back asleep, Dex lay awake holding her.

The pressure she was under alone, without him there to protect her. The sheer amount of danger she was put in. All of it made his blood run hot.

"I will always protect you," he whispered kissing her head. "I love you, Serena."