Alpha Xander's Undoing Chasing my Unknown Mate Back novel Chapter 119

Chapter 119

Chapter 119

Rory

The knock came just past midnight.

It wasn’t lond–just a firm, measured tap that didn’t belong to anyone who doubted their right to disturb me.

I opened my eyes to the faint light filtering through the curtains and the whisper of Zerina’s fading hum in my head. The world was quiet again, but not empty. Not anymore.

“Come in,” I said, voice scratchy with sleep.

The door creaked open, and Isaac’s silhouette appeared in the frame. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes held that same unease I’d seen too often lately. “Vallin needs you,” he said. “Now.”

That was all I needed to hear.

The halls were cold, the kind of stillness that pressed close, amplifying every echo of our footsteps. The Academy always felt different after midnight–too alive in all the wrong ways. The portraits along the walls seemed to watch as we passed, their painted eyes glinting in the dim lantern light.

Vallin’s study door was open, a strange thing in itself. He was never careless.

Inside, candlelight spilled across the room in pools of gold and shadow. Scrolls covered the table, layered over one another like scales. Rubbings of runes were spread in precise, obsessive order, inked and numbered in Vallin’s sharp handwriting. He didn’t look up as I entered, only gestured to the seat across from him.

“I was beginning to think you’d sleep through the end of the world,” he murmured.

I managed a faint smile. “If that’s on tonight’s schedule, I’d appreciate some warning.”

Vallin’s lips twitched–something close to humor–but it vanished quickly. His gaze was distant, the kind that measured worlds instead of words. “You’ve been feeling it again, haven’t you?”

I hesitated before answering. “Yes. It’s faint, but it’s Zerina. She’s… whispering. Like she’s close but not inside.”

He nodded, as if that confirmed something he already knew. “I suspected as much.”

Isaac stood by the door, arms crossed, his jaw tight. The scar along his face caught the candlelight like a slash of silver. He wouldn’t meet my eyes.

Vallin finally looked up at me, and the weight in his stare was enough to make my stomach turn. “What I’m about to tell you doesn’t leave this room.”

“Alright.”

He reached for one of the rubbings and slid it toward me. The parchment was thin and smudged with charcoal, the markings etched deep in black. I recognized them immediately–the same runes from the north tower Isaac had found with Xander.

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Chapter 119

“They’re Venatorum sigils,” I said.

AC

“Yes. But they’re older than any current Venatorum record,” Vallin said, his voice steady but low, “Isaac confirmed that similar patterns were used in containment and suppression rituals during their earliest experiments. The 23 formula wasn’t their first attempt to silence the gifted–it was their last evolution of something far more ancient”

My throat went dry. “You’re saying Z3 wasn’t just a weapon?”

He shook his head. “It was a translation. A chemical imitation of power meant to mimic and control what these symbols once bound.”

I leaned forward, tracing the edge of the parchment with my fingers. The grooves and slashes almost hummed beneath my skin, faintly cold. “They were designed to suppress wolves like me.”

“Not just suppress,” Vallin said. “Sever.”

The word struck harder than I expected. I thought of the Solstice, the way Zerina’s voice had gone silent, the ache of every bond that had vanished. “They used this on others?”

“Yes,” Isaac said quietly. His voice was rough, like he’d swallowed glass. “They used it on us.”

Vallin’s gaze flicked to him but didn’t stop him.

“When Durnham’s people worked with the Venatorum,” Isaac continued, “they said these markings held the first door shut. That’s what they called it–the Door of Hollow Flame. They said it was where the first elemental bled through, where Zerina crossed from one side to ours.”

My pulse quickened. “Zerina crossed through it?”

Vallin nodded. “That’s the theory. What few records we’ve found suggest Zerina wasn’t born here. She was drawn–or sent–from the other side. The door was her passage.”

I sank back in the chair. It made a terrible kind of sense. The visions, the Gate, the way my flame had always felt older than me. “But if the door was sealed centuries ago, why now? Why me?”

“Because you opened it once,” Vallin said simply.

The air in the room thickened.

He picked up another parchment and held it beside the first. The two sets of runes matched–not perfectly, but enough to be twins of the same curse. “During the Solstice, when your power fractured the veil, you didn’t just awaken Zerina’s connection. You reactivated the original pathway. That’s what the Venatorum has been waiting for.”

Isaac’s voice was barely a whisper. “They want her to open it again.”

My chest tightened, a tremor running through my fingers. “Why? What’s on the other side?”

Vallin’s expression was grave. “Something they believe will give them dominion over both realms. They think the Hollow Flame was never meant to be sealed. They want to rewrite the balance itself. And to do that, they

11:15 Tue, Oct 21

Chapter 119

need you.”

The room swayed a little. I gripped the edge of the table, trying to steady myself. “So the note

“The door you opened still stands,” Vallin finished quietly. “It wasn’t a threat. It was a fact.

Silence settled thick and heavy. I stared down at the runes, their pale glow almost pulsing now. My heartbeat tried to match their rhythm, a sick, familiar pull in my chest.

“They don’t just want your power, Rory,” Vallin said after a moment. “They want your doorway.”

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