Page 112 of The Alpha's Crimson Vow

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.

Chapter Twenty Seven

Katherine

One Month Later

I take a slow sip from my cup of tea, letting the warmth spread through me, but my mind is far from the present. It drifts back, to the chaos, back to the impossible nightmare I somehow survived.

I was kidnapped. I was in a torture house on an island. Alex almost died saving me.

The memories feel unreal, like something from a story I read rather than something I lived. I exhale. A deep, steadying breath. That chapter is over. We made it.

But the thing that lingers in my mind, heavier than any of those horrors, is the life growing inside me.

My free hand drifts to my belly, resting there softly, almost instinctively. There’s nothing to feel yet, no kicks or movement—but I still feel it. That warmth. That knowing.

I’m going to be a mother.

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