Alpha Xander's Undoing Chasing my Unknown Mate Back novel Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Chapter 43

*Rory *

The hallway felt colder when I waited in Professor Vallin’s classroom.

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Colder, heavier–like the walls themselves had absorbed his words and were whispering them back to me.

“Tell me… have the dreams begun again?”

He’d said it so casually. Like we were discussing a book I’d borrowed. Not a secret I was keeping buried so deep even I barely understood it.

I turned back to the door and waited for the last few students to slip past me before stepping into his path.

He noticed me, of course. Vallin always did. His eyes–those sharp, unblinking things–met mine like he’d been waiting.

“What did you mean by that?” I asked, forcing my voice to stay steady.

He didn’t blink. “You’ll know when it’s time.”

And then he walked past me like he hadn’t just dropped a bomb in the middle of my already collapsing sanity.

I watched him go, my mind swirling. It was like he already knew everything—about me, about Zerina, about Eden. And if he did… then he was dangerous.

Because what kind of man smiled when chaos bloomed?

I barely made it five steps down the corridor before I saw him.

Xander.

He stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the far wall like he’d been carved from it. His eyes locked onto mine, unreadable but too intense to ignore.

I stopped.

Of course he was here.

“Don’t,” I said before he could speak. “I’m not in the mood.”

“Too bad,” he replied, pushing off the wall and closing the distance between us in just a few strides. “You don’t get to avoid me after what you pulled.”

I folded my arms. “What I pulled?”

His eyes narrowed. “Don’t play dumb, Rory. I felt you.”

13:42 Tue, Sep 16 N

Chapter 43

The air between us went still.

“When?” I asked, even though I already knew.

“Last night,” he said. “You took another half dose, didn’t you?”

I bit my lip but didn’t answer.

He exhaled sharply. “I know what

“You don’t know anything.”

you did.”

He flinched at that. Just slightly. But I caught it.

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“Then explain it,” I said, stepping forward. “Explain why every time I try to find answers, you’re already waiting to scold me like a child.”

“Because I’ve seen what happens when people start chasing things they don’t understand,” he said, low and tight.

“Then tell me what you saw!” I snapped.

His jaw clenched. His fists balled.

“You want to know why I’m scared?” he said finally, his voice cracking through the air between us. “Because I’ve seen a Chaos wolf before.”

The world tilted.

“What?”

“I was a kid. Maybe six or seven. My father had dragged me along to one of his council meetings outside the city. It was supposed to be a show of strength–him standing over the execution of someone he claimed was a traitor.”

I swallowed hard.

“But it wasn’t a traitor,” Xander said, his voice darker now. “It was a woman. Small. Quiet. They said she had powers no one could understand. That the moon goddess had cursed her. That she’d already killed five guards just by looking at them.”

I could feel the blood draining from my face.

“And then she shifted.”

I didn’t move.

“She didn’t just shift into a wolf, Rory. She shifted into something else. Something with markings like fire, but her body… it was smoke. Like she was barely holding herself together. Like she was half–wolf, half–shadow.”

He looked at me then, and I realized there was real fear in his eyes.

13:42 Tue, Sep 16 N

Chapter 43

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“She brought down half the building. Turned it to ash in minutes. My father tried to kill her. And she nearly took him with her.”

Silence pressed between us like a wall.

“That day in the hallway,” he said softly, “when your eyes changed… I felt the same thing I felt that day. The same presence. The same energy.”

I could barely breathe. “So you’ve been treating me like a curse this whole time because you think I’m like her?”

“No.” He shook his head. “That’s not it.”

“Then what is it, Xander?” My voice broke. “Am I Chaos? Is that what you’re trying to say?”

He stepped closer. “I’m saying I’m terrified.”

“Of me.”

“Of losing you,” he said. “Of watching you turn into something the world wants to kill. And not being able to stop it.”

I felt the breath stutter in my lungs.

“I’ve watched someone like you be hunted, feared, destroyed. I thought if I could keep you at arm’s length, I could at least keep you safe.”

I laughed–sharp, brittle. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I know,” he said. “Believe me, I know.”

His hand reached for mine. I didn’t stop him.

He laced our fingers together like they were meant to be that way. Like we hadn’t spent the last few months burning each other alive.

“You’re not her, Rory. I know that. But it doesn’t stop me from seeing what happened to her when I look at you. And it doesn’t stop the fear.”

He stepped in closer, and the air thickened with it–that pull, that bond that never really left.

His forehead touched mine, and his other hand cupped the back of my neck.

“I’ve done everything wrong,” he said. “But if you let me, I’ll do better. I’ll help you find the truth.”

I wanted to let him.

I wanted to believe it.

But that wall was still there.

13:43 Tue, Sep 16 N

Chapter 43

I pulled back, breaking the contact.

His hand dropped, his face falling with it.

:..

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“I need the truth, Xander,” I said. “All of it. Not pieces. Not cryptic warnings. I need you to stop being afraid and just help me.”

“I will.”

“Then prove it.”

I didn’t wait for him to answer before walking away.

***

The room was quiet when I returned.

The quiet was immediate, unsettling.

But something felt off.

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