Page 34 of The Alpha's Crimson Vow

My legs give out, and I hit the ground hard, my knees scraping against the forest floor. I can’t breathe. I can’t think.

He’s… he’s not human.

“Alex,” I whisper, the word barely audible over the pounding of my heart.

He turns to me, his eyes gleaming with something wild and primal.

He is a wolf shifter.

He walks toward me, each step impossibly steady, like he hasn’t just been impaled by a literal tree branch. And with every step, his body... heals. It’s not gradual, like when you’d bandage a wound and wait weeks for a scar to form. No. This is immediate, supernatural. The bleeding stops as if someone hit a switch, and the torn flesh stitches itself back together like it’s being rewound on some cosmic tape.

I can’t look away. My eyes follow the impossible transformation as the gaping hole in his chest disappears entirely. By the time he’s standing over me, there’s no evidence that he’d just been pierced right through. Not even a scratch.

“Katherine,” he says, his voice low and deep, resonating with a strange calm authority that both grounds and unnerves me. “Are you alright?”

I blink up at him, my jaw slack, the words caught somewhere between my brain and my mouth.

He crouches slightly, leaning closer, his sharp eyes scanning me. “Are you hurt? Are you okay?” His tone softens, but the intensity in his gaze doesn’t falter.

“I’m fine,” I manage to whisper, though it feels like my vocal cords are wading through molasses. The words sound hollow even to me, barely breaking through the haze of my shock.

He doesn’t look convinced. His eyes trace over me, checking every inch like he’s searching for something I haven’t noticed yet—a cut, a bruise, a broken bone. When he finally straightens, his shoulders drop, and he exhales deeply, the relief evident in the way his chest rises and falls.

“Good,” he says, his voice quieter now, more for himself than me. But the calm doesn’t last long. His expression hardens again, his jaw tightening. “We need to get out of here. That crash wasn’t an accident. Whoever did that is going to want to make sure they finished the job.”

My body moves on autopilot when he stretches his hand out to me. His palm is warm, rough, grounding in a way I didn’t expect as he pulls me to my feet.

But the moment I’m upright, it hits me like a truck. The image of that black jeep slams into my mind, its aggressive movements,the calculated way it slammed into us. My pulse quickens, anger and terror bubbling beneath the surface.

My head swirls with all the strange things that have been happening lately—all the little details I brushed aside, the warning signs I didn’t take note of. The random puddle of water on the staircase that nearly sent me tumbling down an entire flight of stairs. The large decorative painting that somehow came loose just as I was passing beneath it.

And now this.

Someone tried to kill me.

Beside me, Alex is already moving. His blood-soaked shirt clings to his chest for a moment before he rips it off in one fluid motion, tossing it into the underbrush like it’s nothing more than an inconvenience. The sight of his bare back, broad and ripped, sends a strange, inexplicable warmth pooling in my belly. I shove the thought aside and follow him.

We make our way through the woods, the crunch of leaves and twigs beneath our feet the only sound. The air is thick and cool, a stark contrast to the adrenaline still racing through my veins. When we finally reach the edge of the road, the streetlights flicker to life, illuminating the asphalt now drenched in the soft glow of night.

Thankfully our phones are still working. I call a taxi and it arrives in a few short minutes. The driver glances at us, his eyes lingering on Alex’s shirtless form before he smirks. “Rough night?” he quips, his tone light and teasing.

Alex doesn’t even flinch. “Something like that,” he says, his voice even, though there’s an edge to it that silences any follow-up questions.

We climb into the back seat, the cool leather pressing against my skin as I finally let out a shaky breath. The ride is quiet, the onlysound the faint hum of the engine and the muted chatter of a distant radio station. My mind, however, is anything but.

I can’t stop replaying everything. The crash. The jeep. Alex and the tree branch. The way his body transformed. It feels like I’ve been dropped into some alternate reality where nothing makes sense anymore.

By the time the taxi pulls up to my house, I’m so deep in my thoughts I don’t even register the stop until Alex’s voice pulls me back.

“Katherine,” he says softly, leaning close enough that I can feel the warmth radiating off him. “We’re here. Let’s get you inside.”

I nod wordlessly, my body moving before my brain catches up. The world still feels off-kilter, like I’m walking through a dream I can’t wake up from.

Once we’re inside, I allow myself to pull in a deep breath. The silence stretches between us, thick and loaded with unspoken questions.

Finally, I find my voice. “You’re a wolf shifter?”

Alex stands by the window, his back to me. He nods, turning slowly to meet my gaze. “Yes… I am.”

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