Alpha Xander's Undoing Chasing my Unknown Mate Back novel Chapter 95

Chapter 95

Chapter 95

*Xander*

“She’s close.”

The words ripped out of me before I thought about them, harsh and ragged in the cold air.

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Azrien snarled inside me, pacing hard enough that my ribs felt bruised from the inside. His claws dragged at me, his hunger for blood pressing sharp against every nerve. I had barely kept him leashed since the caves, and now the phantom thread yanked so violently through my chest it felt like barbed wire.

Dhara crouched low, palm pressed against the churned earth. She traced a line where chains had bitten into the dirt and pointed at the pooled water beside it, still rippling. “Less than thirty minutes,” she said. Her voice was steady, but her ears twitched. “They passed through here not long ago.”

“Then we move,” I growled, already pushing forward.

Matt blocked me with an arm across my chest. “Not like that.”

I rounded on him, the wire in my chest snapping tighter. “You want to waste more time?”

He didn’t flinch. “You want to lose her?” His tone was flint striking steel. “You run in blind, you lose her. You know that.”

Azrien’s snarl rolled hot in my head, pressing at the edges of my skin, begging to break through. “Take her back. Tear through them all.’

‘We don’t kill our friends.’

He barely chuffed.

I squeezed my fists until my nails bit blood. “Fine,” I said, though my voice shook with the effort. “But we don’t slow down.”

We didn’t.

The trail wound deeper through the trees, roots catching at our boots, branches clawing at our shoulders. Every step carried signs-chains dragging, branches snapped low, boot prints pressed hard into the earth. Rory’s scent clung faint and frayed, but it was enough to shred my insides raw,

The fact that I didn’t have our mate bond made it worse. The phanthom thread wasn’t enough. If we didn’t get to her soon, I’d positively lose.

“Quiet,” Dhara hissed suddenly. She straightened, head cocked like a predator listening.

I froze, chest heaving. My ears strained, but all I caught was the low throb of engines up ahead, muffled through trees. Smoke laced the air, sharp and oily.

Vehicles.

13:22 Wed, Sep 17 N

Chapter 95

“They’re moving her,” I rasped, breath burning my throat.

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Mona muttered, voice thinner than she meant it to be. “Well, I always wanted to rescue someone from a creepy roadside abduction. Bucket list checked.”

Nobody laughed.

The trees thinned, and pale light spilled through the gaps. I shoved ahead until I reached the line where the forest ended and the road began.

And there she was.

Rory.

My lungs stopped. The phantom thread wrenched so hard I nearly staggered. She was chained at the ankles and wrists, her back bent from the weight of it, her hair tangled in the torchlight. The shadows under her eyes made her look hollow, but she was breathing. She was standing. She was alive.

The relief split me open. And then I saw him.

A man beside her.

The boy crouched too close beside her, blond head bent, blue eyes turned toward her like he belonged there. My vision went red. Azrien’s rage cracked across me, shaking every bone. Another man’s shadow laid across my mate. Another man’s scent clinging near her skin.

I gripped the tree trunk until bark splintered into my palms. “I’ll kill him,” I whispered.

Dhara’s grip was on my arm before I could move. Her claws pressed just enough to remind me she’d rip through me if she had to. “Not yet.”

“They’ll move her if we wait,” I spat. My chest heaved, Azrien shoving hard to break me open.

“They’ll kill her if you go now,” Dhara snapped. Her golden eyes burned steady, unshaken. “Think. Not just feel.”

Matt’s hand joined hers, bracing my shoulder. “You want her back alive, then you listen.”

Alive. The word gutted me. She was alive and chained. Alive and in his shadow. Alive, but not in my arms.

I forced myself to breathe, though it shredded like glass in my throat, Mona crouched low beside me, her face pale and furious.

“Look at her,” she whispered. “She’s here. That’s what matters. Don’t ruin it now.”

Her words should have soothed me, but all I felt was rage. Every second burned.

Movement near the cars caught my eyes, and the sight of Durnham almost pushed me to the point of shifting and allowing Azrien to tear him apart.

He stepped into the firelight, tall and calm as if the night bent around him. He didn’t hurry. He didn’t need to.

13:22 Wed, Sep 17 N

Chapter 95

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