All Chapters of Alpha’s Enemy, Alpha’s Mate: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

The ocean was strangely quiet the morning after the dive.Not peaceful—quiet in the way a held breath is quiet, in the way a predator watches the world without blinking.Aiden felt that silence before he opened his eyes.His heartbeat wasn’t normal anymore.It followed the new pattern:Two beats.Pause.One beat.Over and over, steady as the tide.He woke on the Dauntless’s narrow bunk, blankets heavy over his shoulders, his skin still cold from the depths. For a moment, he couldn’t remember where he was. Only the hum inside him—low, patient—guided him back.Dante was sitting across from him, elbows on his knees, watching him with a mixture of relief and fear disguised as annoyance.“You’re awake,” Dante said quietly.Aiden pushed himself up. “Did I pass out?”“More like shut down,” Dante muttered. “Like someone unplugged you and forgot to tell me.”Aiden rubbed his eyes. “How long?”“Ten hours.”Aiden blinked. “Ten—?”Dante held up a hand. “Save the panic. You’re here. Alive. Mostly.

The sky should not have been bright at dawn, but it was.Silver streaks spread across the horizon, not like lightning—too smooth, too deliberate. They stitched themselves into patterns, swirling into a massive spiral that hung over the ocean like an eye opening for the first time in millennia.Aiden stared upward, chest tight.“It’s forming a gateway.”Dante tightened his grip on Aiden’s arm. “Then we leave. Now. I’m not waiting to see what walks out of it.”Aiden didn’t answer.Because the hum inside him—silent only moments ago—returned like a tidal wave.A signal. A pull. A summons.Dante saw the shift in Aiden’s eyes. “Don’t you dare.”Aiden met his gaze. “It’s calling me.”“The hell it is.”“Dante—”“No.” Dante stepped in front of him, blocking the view of the sky. “You’re not walking into cosmic traffic. I don’t care if it wants you, needs you, or thinks you’re its long-lost sibling. It doesn’t get you.”Aiden’s voice trembled. “It’s not asking.”The ground vibrated.Windows shat

The cliffs were quiet after the being vanished, but it was the kind of quiet that hides storms rather than ends them.The air tasted metallic. The horizon flickered faintly where the spiral had dissolved. The world felt… altered.Aiden felt it first.A pulse—not from the ocean, not from the sky, but from inside him.Gentle, steady, almost like a second rhythm beneath his heartbeat.Dante noticed the shift immediately.“Hey.”He stepped closer, scanning Aiden’s face. “You with me?”Aiden nodded slowly. “Yeah. Just… adjusting.”Dante exhaled, relief loosening his shoulders. “Good. Because if you passed out again, I was going to blame the universe personally.”Aiden managed a tired smile. “You can’t threaten the universe.”“Watch me.”But the humor faded as Aiden looked out over the ocean.Something in the water was moving—slow, synchronized, almost like breathing.The waves rose and fell in a rhythm too precise to be natural.Dante followed his gaze. “Is that normal?”Aiden shook his he

The moment Aiden and Dante stepped toward the opening, the desert wind cut out completely—like the world was holding its breath.The glow from the underground chamber flickered along the cracked walls, revealing carved geometric symbols that spiraled downward into the darkness.Dante kept a tight grip on Aiden’s wrist. “If the floor collapses, I’m carrying you back to the surface. I don’t care how cosmic your bones are now.”Aiden almost smiled… almost.His hands were shaking too much.“It feels familiar,” he whispered. “Like how the ocean felt. Only… older. Deeper.”Dante tightened his grip. “You don’t have to understand all of it today.”Aiden stepped to the edge. “If I don’t understand it now, someone else will try to make sense of me instead.”Dante went still.Aiden didn’t have to explain: governments, militaries, scientists—none of them would let a living cosmic conduit walk freely.Dante exhaled slowly. “Okay. Then we figure it out here. Together. But you stay where I can touch

The blue-lit shaft descended like the throat of an ancient beast—smooth walls spiraling downward in hypnotic patterns. Aiden and Dante stood at its edge, staring into the soft glow that pulsed like a heartbeat.Dante exhaled slowly.“I swear, at this point, if a giant eye opens down there, I’m suing the universe.”Aiden’s lips curled faintly. “I don’t think the universe has a legal department.”“Then I’ll file a complaint with whatever cosmic customer service dumped you with alien responsibilities.”Aiden squeezed his hand. “If there’s a line, I’ll stand with you.”“Good. Because my complaint is mostly about you almost dying every two hours.”Aiden’s smile faded softly. “I’m trying… I really am.”Dante stepped closer, gently brushing Aiden’s cheek. “I know. And I’m right here. So let’s go before something else explodes.”Together, they stepped onto the platform at the mouth of the shaft.As soon as both their feet landed, the platform detached and began sinking gently.Aiden inhaled s