The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate-Chapter 99: Held Like A Misbehaving Kitten

Garrett carried Agnes out of the study. She was kicking the entire time.

Hale was now holding Elara back, but she still managed to blow Agnes a kiss on her way out.

Agnes kicked the doorframe, catching herself.

"YOU red-headed CUM DUMPSTER!" she screamed.

"Felon says what?" Serena called.

"And YOU. White-haired USED-CONDOM!"

"AND YOU are what happens when two cousins forget to use a condom!" Elara yelled.

"I’LL KILL YOU BOTH," she screamed from the hallway.

"Bye-Bye Agnes!" Serena said.

"YOU ARROGANT, INBRED, SMIRKING SACKS OF SHIT," Agnes shrieked from the hall.

Hale and Dex exchanged a glance of equal disbelief.

Dexmon still had Serena tightly in his arms.

Her hands were on literal fire still. Which luckily, Dex couldn’t feel outside of his Hidden Flame mark.

"You are never allowed to wince again when you channel that," Hale commented.

Serena didn’t respond. She was too busy trying to claw her way back toward the door like a feral house cat.

"Put me down," Serena snapped.

"Hard no," Dex said.

A portal was carved open and Dexmon carried Serena into Drankenfell’s main tent, Hale and Elara behind him.

Hale was carrying Elara horizontal. Like a battering ram he’d confiscated. While Dexmon kept Serena vertical, but her boots weren’t touching the ground. Her legs were still cycling. Like she hadn’t received the memo that the fight was over.

Both girls were livid.

To Elara and Serena’s horror, Tiberon was on the other side. Gav was there as well, looking about as shocked as Dexmon and Hale earlier, brain not yet comprehending.

Hyran was also there, expression unreadable.

Both girls stopped fighting and froze immediately seeing Tiberon. Their instincts overriding feral fighting energy.

They shared a ’whoops’ look.

"Explain." His words held no softness. "What. Happened."

Serena and Elara glanced at one another again.

"Whose fault?" Tiberon asked.

"Mine." Serena was unflinching, and the words came out harsher than she meant. Maybe she was a little riled up still. She’d already violated how many protocols the other day. She’d take the hit.

Dex, who still hadn’t let go of her, felt it loud and clear. He looked down at her, brows furrowed, then back at Tiberon.

"Why do you look like you got your ass kicked?" Gav asked, brain loaded fully.

Serena’s eyes flared gold in irritation and Gav burst out laughing. Hyran started laughing too, neither bothering to turn it into a cough.

"Did you make a fist or were you just slapping her?" Gav added. "Be honest."

"They took turns," Hale answered dryly.

Serena and Elara shot him a look, that should have wiped the smirk off of his face. It didn’t.

Hyran Thornfell, who laughed at almost nothing, was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes.

"A masterclass in fighting, I’m sure," he called in between wheezes.

It took thirty seconds for their laughter to stop.

Tiberon pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Your Highness, she called Serena a ’bargain bin blowup doll’ and a ’white-haired used condom,’" Elara said. "She also called me a ’red-headed cum dumpster.’ She faked a broken nail to get a free hit. She threw a whiskey glass. And she screamed the word ’cunt’ loud enough that I’m fairly certain their healers’ wing heard it."

"She also claimed Dexmon was gay, which made her pregnancy lie look even more delusional."

Gav’s face went from entertainment, to pure elation at the gay comment. He opened his mouth to speak.

"Don’t." Dexmon cut him off before anything came out, voice low.

Elara continued unbothered.

"Oh and she told Serena she was marked by both Shadowclaw and Dexmon. Cat’s out of the bag on that one..."

Elara trailed off mid-sentence at the look Serena shot her.

"Whoops. Actually she didn’t say that," Elara said, eyes not leaving Serena. As if she could take back the awkward thing that slipped from her mouth.

Her instinct was to change the topic with something else more outrageous. And she did.

"But she did pull Serena’s hair and Serena did knee her in the vagina twice."

Hyran and Gav looked at each other and both hunched over laughing again.

"Oh. But Serena told her that ’bargain bin blowup doll’ was rich coming from the girl who waved while riding a di-" Hale’s hand by some mercy found her mouth before she could finish that statement.

Tiberon looked like he was either going to explode or laugh, Serena couldn’t tell. Closer to explode likely.

"I’m done," Elara said through Hale’s hand on her mouth. Hale looked like he’d aged five years, staring in horror at his mate who he was still holding horizontal.

"You are going to be the death of me," he said shaking his head at her.

"That was not all of it," Gav said, face stone serious.

Tiberon shot him a look. No one elaborated.

"You will fix this immediately."

"I will apologize to Garrett. I will not apologize to Agnes," Serena said. The words left her mouth before she realized it. "Alpha," she added at the end, attempting to soften it.

It did not soften it.

Tiberon stared at Serena.

Serena’s boots were still dangling six inches off the ground. She had to look up to meet Tiberon’s eyes. Torn sleeve. Blood on her lip. Knuckles bruised and bloody. Being held like a misbehaving kitten by the Crown Prince of Drakenfell.

Not exactly the picture of diplomatic composure.

"You struck an alliance Alpha’s fated mate," Tiberon said. "In the middle of active negotiations. During wartime."

Serena swallowed. "Yes, Alpha."

"Unprovoked?"

"No."

"Explain."

"She poisoned me. Drugged your son. Faked a pregnancy. Framed me. Threatened a single-mother seamstress and her daughter. Cut my dress. Stole my crown. Had two accomplices inside your court. And then told me I should thank her." Serena’s voice didn’t waver. "So I punched her."

She said it as if she were reading facts out of a book. Without an ounce of remorse. Not a flicker of shame. Pure, undiluted satisfaction.

Tiberon studied her face for a long moment. The kind of silence that made people confess to things they hadn’t done.

The temperature dropped in the tent. Dexmon was about to jump in and do damage control when Tiberon spoke.

"And Elara?"

"She followed my lead, Your Highness. That’s on me."

Elara opened her mouth to object. But Hale put his hand over her mouth before any words came out.

Tiberon’s jaw tightened. His eyes flicked to her knuckles. Then back to her face.

"Did she get back up?"

Serena blinked. She hadn’t expected that question.

"Yes."

Tiberon’s expression didn’t change.

"Did you burn her?" His tone was lethal.

"No, Your Highness. I punched her," Serena answered. "And kicked her. And tackled her to the floor."

"And slapped her," Elara added. Hale’s hand went back over her mouth.

"Next time, burn her," Tiberon said flatly.