Page 26 of The Alpha's Crimson Vow (Eternal Oath Saga #2)

Alex

The boat slices through the water, cutting a path toward Miagani Island, but I barely register the movement. My thoughts are consumed with one thing—Katherine.

My grip tightens on the edge of the boat. The realization has been clawing at me since the moment Alice told me. I know what carrying a shifter’s child can do to a human. I should have been more careful. But even now as worry settles in my chest at what the pregnancy could do to her, a primal protectiveness sparks in me. Valerian has my mate and my child, and for that I am ready to burn the world down.

“Alex,” Jack’s voice cuts through the storm raging in my head. “We’re almost there.”

I nod, barely hearing him. I glance at Alice—she’s already poised, her entire body tense, waiting for the moment to attack.

I can already see the island on the horizon. I’ve been here before. I know its terrain. And I know that wooden house nestled between the hills— the old torture site. A place where kings long before me would send prisoners of the kingdom to be broken. There isn’t much of anything on this island, so I know that if Valerian has brought Katherine here, he certainly is holding her in that torture house.

The mere thought of it makes my stomach twists.

We reach the shore. The boat scrapes against the sand, and I leap off before it even fully stops. The ground beneath me is rough, uneven, but I don’t slow. The others follow close behind.

We finally reach the crest of a hill, just high enough to give us a full view of the house below. My heart pounds as my eyes rake over the terrain, picking up every detail. Even from here, I can tell—the place is locked down. Heavily guarded.

Jack doesn’t waste a second. He pulls out a sleek pair of tech binoculars, scanning the property with sharp, calculating eyes. His expression hardens, and when he turns to me, his voice is low. “It’s well defended. I count a little over a hundred. If we engage now, with the numbers we’ve come with, it’s going to be a hell of a fight.”

He’s right. We came fast, with only a small force. If I’d had the patience to mobilize even a fraction of our full army, we’d roll over them like a storm. But waiting? Sitting back while Katherine is in there—alone at Valerian’s mercy?

Jack’s voice cuts in again, cautious but firm. “Should we call for reinforcements before we engage, Your Majesty?”

It’s a rational suggestion. But rationality doesn’t matter right now. Every second that ticks by is another second she’s in there.

“No,” I say, my voice flat, final. “The reinforcements can be on their way, but we advance now.”

Jack exhales sharply, but he doesn’t argue. He knows better. Instead, he turns to the others, lifting a hand—a silent signal. And that’s all it takes.

Alice is already moving. No wasted words. Her eyes sharpen, and then she shifts—seamlessly, powerfully. Her massive wolf explodes forward, muscles rippling beneath thick fur, charging straight for the house. The others follow instantly, shifting mid-motion, their wolves hitting the ground at full sprint, barreling down the hill toward the estate like a force of nature.

It doesn’t take long for the enemy to notice. And then, they shift too. A flood of dark-furred wolves pouring from the property, rushing to meet us at the base of the hill.

The distance closes fast. The first lines slam into each other in a frenzy of snarling and snapping, claws ripping, teeth sinking into flesh. Blood sprays, painting the dry earth. Pained squeals rip through the air, mixing with deep, guttural growls.

I catch a glimpse of Alice tearing through enemies with ruthless efficiency, her wolf a whirlwind of power, ripping through bodies like a butcher’s knife through raw meat. Jack shifts beside me, his wolf launching into the chaos.

And now, it’s my turn.

I inhale sharply, pulling in as much air as my lungs can hold, fueling the shift that surges through me like wildfire. It starts with the fangs—sharp, extending with a flash of white. Then the claws, unsheathing like razor-sharp daggers. My muscles coil, my body tenses, and in a blink, my bones snap and rearrange, fur bursting from my skin.

And then I am no longer a man. I am a beast. A relentless, vicious force of nature.

It isn’t just rage driving me. It’s not just some primal need to fight or a hunger for justice. No—this is desperation. My mate is out there. Katherine is out there. Trapped. Vulnerable. Under Valerian’s grasp in that torture house. And my wolf knows. It feels it. The bond between us burns like a live wire, sending a fury through my veins so raw, so consuming, it drowns out everything else.

I lunge forward, Jack right beside me, and together, we carve through Valerian’s forces like a storm ripping through a forest. Wolves fall at our feet, their bodies torn apart in our wake. My claws slice, my teeth snap, the taste of blood thick on my tongue. Paws thunder against the earth. Bones crunch beneath the weight of our attack. The battlefield is chaos—growls and yelps echo around us.

Alice is off in the distance, a deadly force on her own, shredding through enemies with raw, ruthless precision. But no matter how many we take down, they just keep coming.

And that’s when I realize how much of a disadvantage me have because of our numbers.

At first, it’s subtle. We stop advancing. We’re stuck, locked in place, slashing and biting but unable to push forward. Every enemy we cut down is replaced by another, and another, and another. And then, they start gaining ground.

My wolves—my men—begin to fall. Their pained cries ring out through the battlefield, one after another, the scent of their blood thick in the air. Jack fights harder, Alice does too, and I push forward with everything in me. But even we can’t stop our forces from thinning.

Jack’s wolf meets my eyes, and I don’t need words to understand the question in them. Do we retreat?

It’s the smart choice. We’ve already called for reinforcements. Once they get here, this island will be ours in minutes.

But Katherine is in there.

And I’m not waiting another second.

I let out a long, piercing howl and lunge forward, shoving past Jack, past Alice, past my forces, straight into the enemy ranks. The sheer desperation to get to her fuels me, drives me through the waves of bodies like a force of nature. I tear through them all—claws ripping, teeth sinking into flesh, bodies crumbling in my wake.

For a moment, it feels like I can do this. Like I can push them back, clear a path, lead my pack forward.

But then… Pain. Sharp, searing pain as teeth sink into my tail.

I snarl, spinning around, jaws snapping onto my attacker’s throat. I rip through him with ease, but then another wolf is on me. Then another. Claws rake through my side, deep and brutal. A bite latches onto my paw, sharp fangs digging into flesh.

I am surrounded.

Their weight presses down on me, their claws and teeth cutting into my body from every direction. Blood spills from my wounds, my vision blurring at the edges as I fight to stay on my feet.

I have to push forward. I have to get to her.

I summon everything I have left, every last ounce of strength, and force myself forward. But it’s not enough. I’m pinned.

My allies are behind me, fighting to reach me, but they’re too far, struggling against the never-ending waves.

And then, the worst moment of all. A wolf lunges for my neck. Its jaws snap inches away, breath hot, teeth bared, ready to rip through my throat. I push back with everything I have, claws swiping, but I feel myself losing strength. I feel the wolves closing in, pressing harder, cutting me down inch by inch.

I can’t hold on much longer.

Just then… the air shifts. The wolves around me snarl, their focus suddenly snapping elsewhere. And like a battering ram through a door, my forces storm through. Reinforcements in tow.

Jack and Alice lead the charge, tearing through the enemy line like a wrecking ball through glass. Jack’s wolf reaches me first—just as one of Valerian’s wolves clamps down on my throat.

And with everything he has, Jack slams into me.

The force rips me free from it’s grasp, but the impact is brutal. It sends me flying past the enemy lines, tumbling down—down the hill, over jagged rocks and rough, unforgiving earth.

Pain explodes through my body. A strangled yelp escapes my wolf as I roll, my massive form slamming into the ground again and again, each impact sending fresh agony through me.

I hit the bottom. The crash is jarring, the impact rattling my bones, leaving me a mess of blood and torn flesh at the base of the hill.

My ears ring. My vision wavers, darkness threatening to pull me under. My wolf whimpers, broken, battered. Instinct kicks in, forcing my shift—bones snapping, rearranging, skin pulling tight as I return to my human form. The transformation dulls some of the wounds, but not nearly enough. The pain is unimaginable.

But when I lift my head—when I see what’s in front of me— None of it matters.

The torture house.

It looms just a few feet away, dark and menacing. My vision sharpens. My resolve hardens. I grit my teeth, forcing my battered body to move. I push myself up—shaking, unsteady—but I stand.

And then, with every ounce of fury and determination left in me, I throw my head back and roar:

“VALERIAN!”

For a moment, everything feels silent. And then, the doors swing open.

Valerian steps out, his hulking frame squeezing through the entrance, and my entire body tenses. He moves with the same arrogant ease he always has, that slow confidence of a man who thinks he’s already won. But it’s not the sight of him that sends a surge of fury ripping through my chest. It’s the way he holds Katherine.

He drags her with him, his fist clenched tightly around her hair, yanking her forward. And she looks wrecked. Pale, exhausted, her eyes wide with fear as they find me, as they plead without words.

Valerian just stares at me for a moment, his eyes sweeping over my torn up form. My shirt hangs off me in bloodied shreds, my wounds—still open, still raw—dripping fresh crimson onto the dirt.

And then, he smirks.

“You don’t look so good, Alex.” His voice is smooth, laced with mockery. And then, casually, he throws Katherine aside. Like she’s nothing. A sharp, pained cry rips from her lips as she crashes to the ground, and I move—instinct pulling me forward, rage making me half shift. My fangs bare, my claws sharpen..

Valerian doesn’t even flinch.

Instead, he half shifts, his muscles bulging, his claws extending, but it’s controlled. Intentional. He’s toying with me. “I won’t even need to shift fully to kill you,” he taunts, rolling his shoulders. “You can barely stand on your own two feet.”

I grit my teeth, my breaths ragged, my chest heaving with fury. “It’s you who will die here today, Valerian.”

And then, I attack.

I swing the moment I reach him, my claws swiping wildly, my rage fueling every desperate strike. But I’m slow. I can feel it. My body is losing too much blood. It’s failing me..

Valerian dodges too easily. He’s laughing, his steps light, his smirk infuriatingly smug as he sidesteps my every attack.

“Look at you,” he sneers, moving effortlessly, his eyes flicking to Katherine just to twist the knife deeper. “Look what she’s done to you. Look what she’s reduced you to.”

And then, for the first time, he strikes. His claws rip across my face, searing pain exploding through me as deep, brutal gashes tear through my skin. My head whips to the side. I stumble, the world tilting beneath me, and then, I hit the ground.

“Weak. Pathetic.” His words thunder through my skull.

Blood pools from my face, hot and wet against my fingertips as I push myself up, forcing my body to move even as it screams at me to stay down. I rush him again.

This time, he catches my arm mid-swipe. And then his claws sink in, tearing deep into my flesh, ripping out a chunk of my arm. I scream, the pain blinding, but before I can react, he kicks me, his boot slamming into my ribs, sending me sprawling onto the dirt.

I choke on my breath, my body shaking.

“Alex!”

Katherine’s scream cuts through the haze of pain—raw, desperate, terrified. And it fuels me.

I push past the agony, forcing my body to shift again. It’s brutal this time, like ripping myself apart while already torn open. My wolf form is a mess of deep gashes and bite marks, my blood soaking into the dirt. But I don’t care. I push forward, straight for Valerian.

He shifts the second I do, but I’m faster. The moment his transformation completes, I’m already on him. My claws rake across his face, slicing deep, sending blood splattering. His wolf snarls, the sting of my strike burning in his eyes. But before I can go for another hit, he moves—fast.

Too fast.

He slams into me, and I don’t have the strength to counter. My wounds slow me down, pain locking up my limbs. I hit the ground hard, the weight of his wolf pressing into me. Then the real damage begins.

One strike. Then another. Again and again, his claws tear into my chest, ripping deeper, reopening wounds that were barely holding together.

My vision swims. My wolf whines. My body fades.

I can’t fight back.

Valerian throws his head back and howls, triumphant, victorious. Then his gaze drops to mine, and even in his wolf form, I see it. The satisfaction. The way he savors this moment, dragging it out just to let it sink in that he’s won.

Then he leans in, and I know what’s coming.

His fangs lower toward my neck, and this is it. This is where he ends it. This is where he rips my throat out and leaves me to bleed out in the dirt.

But that’s not what hurts the most. The real pain is what I see over his shoulder.

Katherine. Bound. Helpless. Her face twisted in horror as she watches.

I failed her.

My wolf whines again, a broken sound, and I know what he’s saying. I’m sorry. It’s all I can think as my eyes close, accepting what’s coming.

But then. A loud snarl breaks through. A blur. A sickening crunch. Valerian howls in pain. It all happens so fast.

I gasp, my eyes snapping open just in time to see it. Alice, her massive wolf form, tearing into Valerian’s wolf with sheer, unbridled ferocity. She rips his arm clean off.

Alice lands heavily, spinning back on her paws, muscles tensed, ready to strike again. Valerian staggers, his body turning on his heels, attempting to counter strike..

But I don’t let him. I use everything—every ounce of energy, every last shred of strength I have left—and I lunge.

My fangs sink into his throat, deep, as I shake violently, my entire body rattling with raw, merciless fury. And then, with a final, brutal jerk, I tear his head from his body. His corpse collapses. His head rolls from my mouth.

He’s dead. Finally. But I can barely muster any strength to even bask in it. Everything fades. My knees buckle. My vision swims. And I fall as my body starts to shift once again into my human form.

The world around me—the battle, the blood, the pain—it’s all fading into something distant, something weightless. My body feels cold. My breath barely stirs in my lungs. I can feel the warmth of my blood spilling out of me. Death is here. It’s wrapping around me, whispering for me to let go.

I manage to look forward, my vision blurry and faint. I see Alice shift back, her wolf form melting away into her human one. She moves quickly to Katherine and kneels, her fingers deftly working at the binds around her wrists. The ropes fall away.

Katherine gasps, her hands trembling as she brings them in front of her, rubbing at the raw skin, her breath coming in frantic bursts.

She’s free.

A weak smile pulls at my lips. At least she’s safe. At least she has Alice. If I die here, if I let the darkness take me, she won’t be alone. Alice will protect her. Alice will make sure she’s safe.

A sharp cry rips through the air.

“Alex!”

Katherine is suddenly beside me, her hands grabbing at mine, squeezing, pressing, her touch so warm, so alive against my skin. She shakes me, her fingers tightening.

“No, no, no—please, no!” Her voice is breaking. Cracking with something raw and unbearable. “You can’t die, Alex. You can’t!”

I want to tell her it’s okay. That it doesn’t hurt anymore. That I’ve already made peace with this. That she’s safe, and that’s all that matters.

I want to tell her how much I love her, how every moment I’ve ever hurt her haunts me. I want to take back the day I walked away, leaving her in the dark and making her feel like she didn’t mean the world to me.

I open my mouth to speak, but my body betrays me. My throat is thick with my own blood, making me choke.

“I love you.” My voice is barely a whisper. “I’m sorry.”

The only words I can give her.

She shakes her head furiously.

“Don’t do that. Don’t do that!” she sobs, her fingers pressing harder into my skin like she can anchor me here, like she can hold me to this world.

I try to smile, but I don’t know if it actually happens. My body is shutting down. I can feel it.

“I’ve seen you survive this before,” she cries, her hands shaking against mine. “I know you can! Just like in the car crash. You survived that, Alex!!”

But this is different. I can’t fight this. Not this time.

Katherine turns sharply, her gaze snapping to Alice, her entire body shaking with frantic, desperate energy.

“Alice!” she yells, her voice raw, panicked. “What’s happening to him? Why isn’t he healing?!”

Alice doesn’t answer right away. Her lips press into a thin, grim line, her sharp eyes scanning over me, taking in every torn inch, every bleeding wound.

When she finally speaks, her voice is quiet. Heavy. Final.

“His wounds are too many,” she says, the weight of those words settling over the air like a death knell. “He’s mortally injured.” A beat of silence. Then, softer—almost regretful—“I’m sorry, Katherine.”

“No!”

Katherine’s scream rips through the air, raw and broken. She shakes her head furiously, as if sheer will alone can change reality, as if denying it will rewrite fate.

I feel her fingers clutch mine, tight, desperate. I want to speak, to tell her it’s okay, that she doesn’t have to fight this—that she can let go. But the words won’t come.

My voice is gone, stolen by the weight of my failing body. So I do the only thing I can. I squeeze her hand. It’s weak, faint—just the barest press of my fingers against hers. But I hope she feels it.

I hope she knows. I hope she understands that this is me, whispering goodbye.

And then everything fades.

It’s quiet here. Silent. Empty. It feels like I just got here, and have been here an eternity at the same time.

There’s a sudden sound. A voice. Soft. Faint. Calling me.

Katherine.

I don’t hear all of it—not at first. It’s like trying to listen through water, like she’s speaking from a place far, far away. But the more she speaks, the clearer she becomes.

“I need you, Alex,” she whispers, her voice thick with emotion. “I can’t live without you. I won’t.”

Something flickers. A spark.

“You saved me,” she says. “Twice now. I’d be dead if it weren’t for you. I’d be—” A shaky breath. “I don’t want a world where you’re not in it.”

Something shifts inside me.

Something stirs.

She is sobbing, but she sounds sure. “I love you.” A pause. “My mate.”

And then, in the pitch blackness of death—I see it. The golden thread. It glows, burning between us, unbreakable, unchanged. It never left.

I hear a familiar howl. A surge of power. I gasp.

Air rushes back into my lungs like I’ve been drowning and just found the surface. My chest rises, my entire body shudders as the strength floods back in.

My eyes snap open.

I’m alive.

In a flash, Katherine is on me, her arms wrapping around me, her body collapsing against mine as she sobs into my shoulder.

“You’re alive!” she chokes out, her voice thick with emotion.

Alice stands back, her face a mix of relief and disbelief, as if she, too, can’t quite believe I’m here.

I hold onto Katherine, and the moment I feel the heat of her body against mine, something twists inside me. Life suddenly feels different, sharper, more precious than it ever has.

For a moment, I thought I was gone. That I would never see her face again. Never smell her scent, hear her laugh, or feel her warmth. And now, having her in my arms like this… I will never let her go.

She pulls away slightly, her face streaked with tears, a faint, trembling smile breaking through.

“I thought I lost you. I thought I lost you forever,” she whispers, and my heart melts.

“You saved me, Katherine.”

She blinks, confused. “What do you mean?”

“I could feel you. I could hear your voice. You called out to me.” I pause, the memory still vivid, still unreal. “It felt like I was in a void, completely dark and lost. But then I heard you speak to me… and I saw the thread.” As I speak, emotion wells up inside, so forceful that I can hear it in my voice. I pull her closer, my grip tightening as I look into her eyes.

“Katherine… our bond—the fated bond that ties us together—has been tested, even wounded. There were moments when my own actions could have severed it completely, moments when rejection loomed between us. But as I laid there in that darkness, completely lost and dead, I heard you call me your mate. And that… that gave me the strength to return.”

She stares at me, eyes wide, her expression a perfect mix of awe, shock, and sheer relief.

“I’m only alive because of you, Katherine.” I tighten my hold on her, my voice steady, certain. “And now, I want to spend the rest of my life living for you.”

She clings to me, pressing closer, her heartbeat racing against my chest.

And I mean every word. Every beating moment, every drawn breath I take from now on—I will take with her. I will take for her.