Alpha Xander's Undoing Chasing my Unknown Mate Back novel Chapter 79

Chapter 79

Chapter 79

*Rory*

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The fifth bell tolled, clean and inevitable, and we stepped out into it.

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The corridor was already swelling with bodies, voices layered in hushed anticipation, like the air before a storm that no one could outrun.

The Academy had shifted into ritual rhythm-footsteps falling in patterns, whispers circling. Candles flickered against the stone walls.

I felt the weight of it pressing down, heavier than any hall I had ever walked through. Xander’s hand was wrapped around mine, not tight enough to bruise but firm enough that I knew he wasn’t letting go until he had to.

His palm was warm, grounding, the only steady thing as everything else moved toward an end I wasn’t sure I

wanted to meet.

The current pulled us with the others. Students filed past, robes brushing, eyes darting with that mix of excitement and dread that came when the Solstice called them to prove who and what they were.

For them it was initiation, destiny, a mark of what their wolves could do. For me, it was a sentence.

I could feel Zerina restless inside me, her unease stretching like claws against my ribs. ‘We shouldn’t be here.’

“I know,” I whispered under my breath.

Xander glanced at me but didn’t ask. He didn’t need to.

We rounded the corner toward the main stair, and that was when a figure stepped out of the shadow between torches, blocking our path.

“Miss Steele,” Professor Vallin said, his voice as smooth as glass. His dark eyes flicked from me to Xander, then back again. “One moment, before you walk into what you cannot walk out of.”

I stilled, the flow of students pressing around us.

“What is it?” I asked, my voice thinner than I wanted.

Vallin’s mouth curved in something that wasn’t quite a smile. “You and I had business before the Solstice pulled us all into its jaws. You remember, don’t you? But with Mona vanishing, time unraveled. But there was something I meant to show you-one more path through the circle.”

Xander shifted, stepping slightly in front of me, the protective line of his body drawn without thought. “Now is not the time to corner her.”

“Now is the only time,” Vallin countered, eyes flashing. He lowered his voice, leaning closer. “The circle is designed to strip, to pry, to break until the truth of the wolf is laid bare. You know this, Alpha. But her wolf is not one meant for circles. She is balance and chaos in one skin. If she walks into their design unshielded, they will pull her apart molecule by molecule until they find what they want and use her for their own agenda. And

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Chapter 79

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once they do, they will end her.”

The words sank into my bones, heavy, unavoidable.

“What are you saying?” I whispered.

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“I am saying,” Vallin said, his gaze sharp as the runes carved into the hall, “there is a method. A way to stabilize the thread between you and Zerina like I was proposing a few days ago. It’s a weave, if you will, that lets you step into the circle without being consumed by it. It is dangerous. It might cost you. But it may keep her whole when they would rather split her.”

My throat tightened. Zerina hissed against my spine, low and warning. ‘Do not let him put his mark on me. I can die.’

I shook my head hard. “No. I can’t risk her. Not for this. Not when I don’t even know if your way works.”

Vallin tilted his head, studying me like a puzzle he’d already solved. “You risk her either way, child. The difference is whether you walk in blind or with your hands outstretched.”

Xander’s jaw clenched. “She said no.”

For a moment, Vallin looked like he might push further. But then he nodded once, slow, deliberate, like a man who knew time would prove him right. “Very well. But when you feel the circle tearing, remember-I offered you a rope.”

With that, he stepped back into the shadows and let us pass.

I exhaled shakily, my hand tightening on Xander’s. “I don’t trust him.”

“You don’t have to,” Xander said, voice low, steady. “You trust yourself. You trust me. That’s enough.”

I wanted to believe him. I held onto his words as we reached the stairwell that spiraled down to the ritual field. The sound of chanting drifted up already, layered and strange, dozens of voices blending into one.

My stomach knotted.

When we stepped into the hall, the world narrowed.

The space had been transformed-rows of candles lined the stone ground. Runes glowed faintly on the walls, carved long ago for purposes most students didn’t understand. The circle itself dominated the center, etched deep, filled with salt and ash and what seemed like blood. My body shivered.

The air hummed with it, metallic and raw.

Students lined the edges, their expressions ranging from awe to terror. Some whispered prayers. Some stood

too still.

And then my gaze caught on the dais at the far side.

Durnham.

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Chapter 79

He wasn’t just back from hiding.

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He was seated like a king among wolves, his smirk thin and sharp. Around him sat the First Packland Council, their robes heavy with authority, their eyes watchful. It stole the air from my lungs.

Beside me, Xander stiffened. On the opposite side of the hall, Varra stood rigid, her face a mask of composure stretched too tight. Fury burned in her eyes, but she said nothing. She couldn’t-not with the Council sitting there, every word recorded, every motion judged.

No wonder he was so calm in the chamber where he almost murdered me and held Mona captive.

He had one foot in the council this whole time.

My mouth went dry.

I now knew for sure. This wasn’t just about the Solstice anymore. This wasn’t about the Academy proving its traditions. This was about me.

I felt it in their eyes-the way they tracked me, assessed me, not as a girl but as a tool. A lockpick. A bomb. A weapon they wanted to use and then discard. If I opened whatever door they thought I could, I would not walk away alive. Even if the circle didn’t kill me, they would.

Zerina pressed closer, a growl curling up through my chest. “They mean to cut us out of the world’

I swallowed hard, standing straighter, forcing myself to keep walking even when every instinct screamed to

run.

The students shifted, making room as we approached. Xander’s hand was still locked with mine, his presence like an anchor as the weight of a hundred eyes pressed down.

“Rory,” he murmured, his breath brushing my ear. “Look at me, not them.”

I did. His gaze was steady, blue fire in the dim hall. For a heartbeat, the rest blurred.

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