Alpha Xander's Undoing Chasing my Unknown Mate Back novel Chapter 99

Chapter 99

*Rory*

“Run!”

I didn’t know whose voice cut through the chaos, but it didn’t matter because the next second Xander’s arm was locked around me, yanking me forward with a strength that felt more desperate than human. Chains rattled around my wrists and ankles, scraping the stone and dirt as my legs tried to remember how to move.

The camp behind us shattered into fire and shouting. Steel clashed, men roared, and torches snapped as they were kicked into the mud. My body screamed with every jolt, but Xander didn’t let me stumble. He half carried, half dragged me through the treeline, refusing to release even when my knees threatened to buckle.

Azrien pressed so close against him I swore I could feel the wolf’s snarl vibrating into my bones. It wasn’t only Xander who refused to lose me.

Branches whipped my arms raw as we tore through the undergrowth: My lungs burned, my ribs ached, but the forest air was sharp and alive after the dungeon’s mildew silence. Every sound–the snap of twigs, the rush of our feet, even the rasp of my breath–felt like it scraped new against my skin.

Mona darted ahead with her blade drawn, slashing through branches and calling for Dhara to flank. Matt fell back to cover us, his eyes sharp and steady even though his chest heaved like the rest of us. They had come for me. They had all come.

We didn’t stop until Matt hissed, “Here–down!” and shoved us into a hollow between roots. The trees pressed in thick, shadows folding tight, hiding us from the road and the blaze of the camp behind.

Xander didn’t let me go. Not until he dropped with me to the ground, crouching low, his arm a shield braced around me as if I might vanish if he gave me space. His hands shook when they found my face, thumbs brushing the grime from my skin.

“Rory.” My name broke out of him, raw and ragged.

My throat closed. I wanted to laugh, to cry, to curse him for taking so long, but all I managed was a cracked whisper. “You found me.”

“I’ll always find you.” His forehead pressed against mine, and his breath trembled hot across my lips. “You don’t know what it was like. Every step without you–I thought I’d tear the world apart and still never reach you.”

The chains clinked when my hands clawed weakly at his shirt, desperate for anything that tethered me back to myself. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

And then he kissed me.

It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t careful. It was hunger and fury and relief tangled so tight it left me shaking. His mouth bruised mine, his hands pulling me closer even though the chains cut between us. I kissed him back like I was starving, because! was. Days of silence, days of drip–drip–drip with nothing but the echo of my own hollow chest—this was air after drowning.

When we tore apart, my breath trembled against his. “Xander…”

He didn’t let go. His forehead pressed to mine, his chest hammering. “Say it,” he begged, voice wrecked. “Say you’re here.”

1/3

Chapter 99

“I’m here,” I whispered, though the words wavered.

But the truth burned heavier in me than the chains. My voice cracked. “It’s gone. Zerina. The bond. I feel-” The shame choked me, hot and ugly. “I feel hollow. Like something carved me out and left me to echo.”

His hands slid down, gripping my wrists, his fingers brushing the raw skin under the cuffs. “Then we’ll fill it,” he said fiercely. “We’ll get them back. I don’t care what it takes. I don’t care if I have to bleed out under the goddess herself. I’ll bring them back to you.”

Tears stung my eyes, sharp and unrelenting. “You don’t understand. Durnham–he took a piece of me. He said he loosened the tether, and he’ll come back for it. He’ll come back for me.”

Xander’s jaw set so hard I could feel the tremor run through him. His eyes burned, Azrien snarling behind them. “Then let him. Let him come. I’ll be ready.”

The certainty in his voice should have steadied me, but it unraveled me instead. My forehead dropped against his chest, the steady hammer of his heart anchoring me when the silence inside still threatened to swallow me whole.

For a moment, nothing else mattered. Not the chains, not the ache in my wrists, not even the phantom thread that still pulled raw through my ribs. I had him back. His arms were around me, his scent drowning out the dungeon’s rot, his voice pulling me out of the dark.

The others were close–Mona whispering sharp directions, Dhara scanning the trees, Matt wiping blood from his blade- but for me the world narrowed to Xander.

“I’m broken,” I whispered, so soft I almost hoped he wouldn’t hear.

But of course he did. His hand caught my jaw, tilting my face back to his. His eyes burned steady into mine as he said, “No. You’re not broken. You’re here, and that’s enough. We’ll fight for the rest together.”

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