Page 100 of The Alpha's Crimson Vow

Jack drags a hand down his face, exhaling sharply. “Son of a bitch.” He starts pacing, his boots kicking up dust as his mind races through the implications. “We knew something was off about them disappearing. I knew this was a setup, but this—this is a whole different level of fucked up.”

I shake my head, my hands gripping the back of my neck as I try to think, try to breathe. But all I can see is that image. Katherine. Bound. Gagged. Unconscious. She’s caught in this because of me.

“Where is he, Jack?” My voice is raw, seething. “Where the fuck is he?”

Jack exhales through his nose, his fingers already flying over his phone. “We need to get back to the war room. We can run satellite surveillance, track any private flights, cross-check movement reports—”

“We don’t have time for that!” I snap, but even as the words leave my mouth, I know he’s right

Jack holds my gaze, unflinching. “Let’s go.”

I don’t argue. I shove the panic deep, bury it under layers of fury, and move.

I register nothing of the ride back to the palace. And by the time we get back to the war room, it is pure chaos. Every screen is alive with information—satellite feeds, intelligence reports, communications tracking. My men are working at a breakneck pace.

“Could he be holding her back in the States?” My voice is rough, my patience thin. “I left her there. If Valerian had people watching her, he could’ve taken her.”

Jack exhales through his nose. “It’s possible, but we don’t know yet.”

I rake my hands through my hair, my mind a snarl of rage and guilt. Katherine is innocent. She’s done nothing. She doesn’t deserve to be caught in this goddamn war.

Then Jack turns to me, his face grim, his phone clutched tightly in his grip. “Another message,” he says.

A muscle ticks in my jaw. “Show me.”

Jack hesitates for just a second. Then he holds out his phone. I snatch it, my eyes locking onto the screen. And my heart stops.

It’s another picture.

This time, Katherine isn’t just unconscious. She’s lying limp, her body slumped over, her hair splayed out across a concretefloor. And standing over her, his expression smug, is Valerian. Beneath the image, a single message:

“You have 24 hours to announce your abdication, Alex. Otherwise, she dies.”

The war room fades. The sounds of my men working disappear. The air in my lungs vanishes. All I can hear is the deafening roar of my own fury.

Jack watches me carefully. “We’re running an analysis on the image now,” he says. “Trying to pinpoint the location.”

“It’s not enough,” I say, my voice eerily calm, deadly. “None of this is enough.”

Jack straightens. “We’re doing everything we can, Alex. But tracking him down in twenty-four hours—” He exhales sharply. “We might need more time.”

I don’t have more time.

I turn away, my mind spinning, my pulse hammering against my skull. I feel the walls closing in. The weight of my crown. The weight of my choices. “Everyone out. Now!” I bark out. They don’t even take a second to think about it, the room empties in a flash. But Jack waits behind, he stays with me like he doesn’t want to leave me alone in this moment.

He allows me a few seconds by myself, then he steps closer, lowering his voice. “Alex.”

I don’t look at him.

“What are you thinking?”

I inhale deeply, forcing my lungs to expand against the crushing weight in my chest. Then I turn to him.

“I’m going to give him what he wants.”

Jack freezes. “No.”

“I have to.”

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