Alpha Xander's Undoing Chasing my Unknown Mate Back novel Chapter 106

Chapter 106

Chapter 106

*Rory*

Sleep was impossible.

54

$5 vouchers.

Every time I shut my eyes, the phantom thread burned sharper, pulling at me like a hooked wire buried too deep. The silence where Zerina should be was louder than any nightmare. I lay on one of the old Academy cots, staring at the cracked ceiling beams, listening to the wind moan through broken windows, and felt like I was being eaten from the inside out.

I couldn’t stay still. The air was stale. The weight of tomorrow pressed too heavy. I swung my legs over the edge and padded barefoot down the corridor, chains still ringing in my memory even though my wrists were free now.

The Academy felt haunted. My steps echoed too loudly, as though the walls remembered the Solstice screams. Ash still clung to the corners where torches had burned out weeks ago. Every sound made my shoulders stiffen, waiting for the Venatorum to burst from the shadows.

I ended up in the atrium, the heart of the school, where moonlight slanted down through a broken glass dome. The floor was still marred with the etched scars of the ritual circle. Chalk grooves. Burn marks. Stains that no one had bothered to scrub because what would be the point?

I dropped to my knees at the edge of it, fingers hovering over the carved stone. My chest hurt. The phantom thread throbbed faint and cruel, teasing me with something that wasn’t a bond but close enough to make me believe I could reach if I just clawed hard enough.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

The voice startled me.

Xander stepped into the moonlight, his shoulders shadowed, his eyes catching the silver glow. Azrien pressed so close inside him that the edges of his skin seemed to ripple. He looked carved out of exhaustion, but steady, like he’d been waiting for me to crumble so he could be there to hold the pieces.

I shook my head. “Not even close.”

He came closer, crouching across from me so we both stared at the circle. His hand brushed mine, just enough to remind me he was there. The touch sent heat through me, but it wasn’t the same. Without the bond, it was only flesh against flesh, not the steady burn that had always anchored me.

“I hate it,” I whispered.

“The silence?” he asked.

I nodded, throat tightening. “I can’t feel her. I can’t feel you. It’s like I’m hollow. And tomorrow-” My voice cracked before I could finish.

His hand caught my jaw, tilting my face until I had to meet his eyes. “Rory. You’re not hollow. You’re not broken. You’re here. And that’s enough.”

16:48 Sat, Oct 4 B

Chapter 106

54

$5 vouchers

Tears burned my eyes. “But what if it doesn’t work? What if Zerina never comes back? What if the bond never comes back?”

“Then I’ll fight with you anyway,” he said fiercely. “Every version of you. Every silence. Every fight. I’ll take them all. But we’ll get her back. I swear it.”

The promise gutted me. My shoulders shook, and for the first time since the Solstice, I let myself collapse forward. He caught me instantly, his arms iron around me, his chest solid against my cheek. My sob tore loose, muffled in his shirt. He didn’t flinch. He just held me like he could fuse me back together with sheer will.

His lips brushed my hair, then my temple. Soft. Desperate. “I’ve got you,” he whispered. “Always.”

The kiss started small, a press of his mouth against mine, hesitant, careful of how fragile I felt. But the moment I kissed back, it deepened. Heat flared, raw and consuming, not from bonds or wolves but from us, two people clinging like the world was about to crack again. His hand fisted in my hair, mine clutched at his shirt, and for one suspended breath, there was no silence, no phantom thread, no tomorrow. Just us.

When we pulled apart, I was shaking for a different reason.

“You’re too much,” I whispered against his jaw.

“And you’re mine,” he answered.

The words anchored me. Fragile hope flickered where only hollowness had been before.

By dawn, none of us had really slept.

Mona spread weapons across the library table, muttering sarcastic commentary under her breath as she sharpened knives. “If this goes horribly wrong, at least we’ll be stylishly armed.”

Matt ignored her, pacing the length of the room like a caged wolf. His hands flexed constantly, ready for a fight that hadn’t come yet. Dhara sat near the window, her eyes fixed on the treeline, ears twitching at every sound.

Vallin entered quietly, robes dusted with chalk and ash. He set down tomes, salt jars, and a flask of something dark on the table. His calm wasn’t arrogance—it was the kind of calm that comes when fear is useless. He didn’t waste breath pretending it would be easy.

“The circle must be drawn again,” he said simply. “Tonight. At moonrise.”

The silence that followed was sharp.

“Venatorum will sense it,” Dhara said at last.

“They will,” Vallin agreed. “Which is why you’ll need to stand guard. If the ritual is interrupted, Rory’s life will split with it.”

Xander bristled, but I reached for his hand under the table before he could lash out. “We’ll do it,” I said.

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify