Alpha Xander's Undoing Chasing my Unknown Mate Back novel Chapter 100

Chapter 100

Chapter 100

*Rory*

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Dawn slid slow through the trees, soft bands of gold prying the shadows apart. For once, I didn’t wake to chains or shouts. I woke to warmth.

Xander’s arm was a heavy band around my waist, his chest pressed to my back, his breath warm against the curve of my neck. I lay still, afraid that moving would break the fragile spell. His heartbeat thumped steady through my spine, and for the first time since the Solstice, the silence in me didn’t feel like a blade.

I rolled carefully until I faced him. His lashes rested against his cheek, his mouth soft in sleep. Azrien lingered in his features, the wolf etched sharp in the lines of his jaw, but there was peace too. My throat tightened. He’d chased me through hell, and still he looked at me like I was worth finding.

I brushed a finger across the stubble on his jaw. His eyes cracked open instantly, gray burning bright even in morning haze. “You’re staring,” he murmured, voice rough with sleep.

“Maybe I am,” I whispered.

His hand rose, cupping my cheek, thumb tracing under my eye like he was relearning me one inch at a time. “You’re here,” he said, as if the words themselves might vanish if he didn’t keep them alive.

Before I could answer, he leaned in and kissed me. It wasn’t rushed, wasn’t desperate. Just soft and full, like he wanted me to remember this exact moment when the world tried to steal everything else. My lips parted and I kissed him back, letting myself sink into the warmth of him until my chest ached.

When he pulled back, our foreheads touched. “You’re still mine,” he said, fierce even in a whisper.

A sob scraped my throat. “I’m broken,” I admitted, voice so small I almost hoped he wouldn’t hear.

But he did. He always did. His grip on my jaw tightened just enough to make me look at him. “No. You’re not broken. You’re here, and that’s enough. We’ll fight for the rest together.”

I let my eyes shut, let his certainty wrap around me until a sob finally slipped free. He crushed me closer, his arms like iron and refuge all at once. For a moment, I let myself believe he could fuse my pieces back with nothing but will.

Hope flickered. Fragile. Reckless. But alive.

By the time we stirred from the bed of pine needles and damp soil, Mona and Dhara were already arguing in low, sharp voices.

“We can’t linger,” Mona snapped, shoving her glasses higher. “Durnham won’t give her up that easily. Every second we sit here is one more second he’s closing the gap.”

“She can’t march like the rest of us,” Dhara countered flatly. Her golden eyes cut to me, assessing the stiffness in my limbs, the shadows under my eyes. “Push her and she breaks, and then we carry her. Which slows us

more.”

Matt crouched by the fire’s ashes, sighing like a man used to this song. “Both of you are right. Which means

15:36 Wed, Sep 24

Chapter 100

:

both of you are wrong. We move, but carefully. End of discussion.”

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Their words pricked like thorns. I wanted to tell them I could keep up, that I wouldn’t be the weak link dragging them down. But my legs still shook when I stood, and my wrists throbbed with every heartbeat where the cuffs had cut.

Guilt coiled low in me, heavy and sour. I opened my mouth to speak, but Xander’s hand pressed to the small of my back, grounding me. “Don’t,” he muttered low.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t blame yourself for breathing.” His eyes pinned me until the guilt faltered. “We’ll handle the rest. You just stay with me.”

I swallowed hard and nodded.

The forest swallowed us quick. Roots tangled the path, branches clawed at cloaks, the air damp with yesterday’s rain. I tried to focus on the rhythm of steps, the scrape of leather on earth, the steady press of Xander’s presence beside me.

But then it came–faint at first. A tug inside my ribs.

I stumbled, clutching my chest. The pull burned raw, sharp and wrong, not like the phantom thread that led me to Xander, but something else. Something invasive.

Xander caught me instantly, his arm braced around my waist. “What is it?”

“I…” My voice shook. “I think–it’s him. Durnham. He still has it. A piece of the tether. I can feel it.”

The others froze. Matt’s face paled. Mona swore under her breath.

Xander’s grip tightened until my ribs ached. His jaw clenched so hard the muscle jumped. “He’s using you like a beacon,” he said, voice low and dangerous.

Tears burned my eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know until now. If he’s tracking me-”

“Stop.” His tone cracked like a whip. “Don’t you dare apologize. He did this, not you.”

Azrien surged, a growl vibrating through Xander’s chest into mine. “I’ll rip it out myself if I have to,” he swore. His fury should have scared me, but instead it steadied me, anchored me to something stronger than dread.

No one spoke for a long moment. The air was heavy with the truth: Durnham wasn’t chasing us blindly. He knew exactly what string to pull.

We pressed on. The silence was sharper now, every step drawn tight like a bowstring. Even Mona had lost her bite, her eyes scanning shadows.

Dhara stopped dead an hour later, hand raised. “Here,” she said, crouching low.

We circled her, and I saw them too. Long claw marks, ragged and deep, carved into the bark of a pine. At first

I thought they were just territorial scratches, but then I saw the symbols etched around them. Sigils.

15:36 Wed, Sep 24

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