Alpha's STOLEN Mate Chapter 160

Elowen

I found Scarlett in the corridor outside my chambers, pacing like a caged wolf. The moment she saw me, relief flooded her face.

"Thank God! I was about to break down the council chamber doors—" She grabbed my arm. "Elowen, it's not just Evelyn. Faelan's gone."

My blood went cold. "What do you mean *gone*?"

"Missing. Vanished. His quarters are a complete disaster—books thrown everywhere, furniture overturned, his research scattered like someone ransacked the place looking for something." Scarlett's words came out in a rush. "And you know Faelan—he's meticulous, obsessive about organization. He'd never leave his space like that voluntarily. Something's *wrong*."

Faelan. The steady, scholarly Chief Elder who treated ancient texts like sacred relics. The man who'd fallen for Evelyn despite her chaos. He wouldn't just disappear, wouldn't leave his research in disarray unless—

"Show me."

---

Faelan's study looked like a tornado had torn through it—or worse, like violence had erupted in a space that had always been sanctuary.

Bookcases tilted at dangerous angles, their precious contents spilled across the floor in chaotic heaps. Ancient texts lay spine-broken, pages crumpled. His desk—normally so pristine you could see your reflection in the polished wood—was buried under scattered parchments, overturned inkwells bleeding black across documents that had probably taken him months to compile. Even his carefully organized artifact collection lay shattered, pieces of irreplaceable historical items scattered like worthless debris.

But what made my stomach turn wasn't the destruction itself—it was the wrongness of it.

"This isn't right." I knelt beside the desk, careful not to disturb potential evidence. "Faelan would rather die than treat books this way. He once spent three hours carefully drying a single water-damaged page." My hands trembled as I touched a torn manuscript. "Someone was searching for something specific. Or..." I swallowed hard against rising nausea. "Or there was a violent struggle here."

Scarlett crouched beside me, her voice dropping to a frightened whisper. "Do you think someone took him by force? Or do you think he panicked and left to find Evelyn?"

"Both possibilities terrify me equally." I started carefully sifting through the chaos, looking for anything that might tell us where he'd gone, what had happened. "But if Faelan went after Evelyn voluntarily, why would he trash his own study first? The man organizes his research by date, subject, and cross-reference. This level of disorder would be physically painful for him. Unless he was in such an absolute panic that organization became meaningless—"

My hand brushed against something hidden beneath a pile of astronomical charts. Stiff parchment, deliberately concealed. I pulled it free carefully.

A map. Old, hand-drawn with meticulous detail, covered in notations written in Faelan's precise, scholarly script.

"What is that?" Scarlett leaned closer.

I spread it across the least cluttered section of floor. The map showed vampire territories—but not the public, diplomatic regions. These were internal territories, restricted areas marked with warning symbols I didn't recognize.

And in the center, circled multiple times in fresh ink: **The Crimson Sanctuary**.

"That's in the heart of Ashenvale," Scarlett breathed. "Zane's territory. But I've never heard of the Crimson Sanctuary—"

"Because it's forbidden." My finger traced Faelan's notations. "Look—he's marked it as 'access restricted' and 'ancient site.' Whatever this place is, Faelan thought Evelyn might be there."

I stood abruptly, map clutched in my hand. "He went after her. Alone. That idiot went into vampire territory by himself—"

"We need to leave. Now." Scarlett was already moving toward the door, her warrior instincts kicking in. "I'll gather supplies, weapons, provisions for at least a week's journey—"

"Elowen! Wait!"

Kaius's voice made us both freeze mid-motion. He stood in the doorway, chest heaving like he'd sprinted the entire distance from the council chamber, probably taking stairs three at a time.

"Don't." I held up a hand, anger still burning hot in my chest. "Whatever apology you're about to make, whatever excuse you've prepared—save it. I don't have time for your political maneuvering right now—"

"I saw them." The words came out rushed, desperate. "Late last night, after everyone was asleep. I saw Evelyn slipping away from the castle grounds with the vampire—with Zane."

My heart stuttered, then began racing. "What do you mean?"

Kaius stepped fully into the room, and for the first time I saw genuine guilt etched into every line of his face. "Your friend Evelyn, the vampire Zane, and..." He hesitated, like he knew how badly this would go. "And Arabella. The witch leader. All three of them left together, before most of the castle was awake. I saw them from my window."

The room tilted. "*What?!*" The word exploded out of me with enough force that Kaius actually flinched. "Arabella went with them? Evelyn and her *mother* together?" I crossed the space between us in three strides and grabbed his shoulders hard enough to hurt. "Are you completely insane? Why didn't you tell me this immediately?! The moment you saw it?!"

"I didn't think it was important—it seemed like some kind of diplomatic escort situation—"

"You didn't think—" I shoved him away, my hands shaking with fury so intense I could barely see straight. "Evelyn *hates* her mother! They haven't spoken in ten years! She told me yesterday she never wanted to see that woman again!" My voice climbed higher with each word. "The fact that they left together voluntarily is the single most alarming, suspicious, absolutely WRONG thing you could have possibly witnessed, and you said NOTHING?!"

Kaius looked genuinely bewildered, which only made me angrier. "I assumed they'd reconciled after their conversation—"

"They didn't reconcile!" I was shouting now. "Evelyn left because she was *terrified*! She embedded a psychic distress signal in her farewell letter! And now Faelan's missing and his study looks like a war zone!" I thrust the map at him. "Does any of this seem normal to you?!"

Understanding—and horror—finally dawned on his face. "Oh God. Elowen, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize—"

"Of course you didn't realize. You were too busy managing me politically!" I turned to Scarlett. "Get our things. We're leaving immediately for the Crimson Sanctuary."

"I'm coming with you." Kaius's voice was firm.

"No, you're not—"

"KAIUS!"

Aldric's voice boomed from the corridor. Kaius's father appeared in the doorway, face grim. "Emergency council session. The northern border—there's been an incident. You're needed immediately."

"Father, this isn't a good time—"

"Now, Kaius. This is not a request." Aldric's tone brooked no argument. "We have a potential war situation developing."

Kaius looked between his father and me, conflict written plainly on his face.

"Go." My voice came out cold. "Handle your kingdom business. Scarlett and I will handle saving our friends."

"Elowen, please—"

"I said go." I met his eyes, letting him see every ounce of my disappointment and fury. "You made your choice in that council chamber. You chose politics over defending me. Now I'm choosing my friends over staying here."

I grabbed Scarlett's hand and pulled her past both men toward the door.

"When I get back—" I threw the words over my shoulder, "—*if* I get back—we're having that conversation. The one about what kind of Queen you really want. Because I'm done compromising who I am for a crown."

"Elowen!" Kaius tried to follow, but Aldric blocked his path.

"And Kaius?" I paused at the threshold. "Don't wait up. I might not come back at all."