Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 535

Natalia’s POV

After Damon left, the days passed interminably slow.

For the first day, I was still mostly bedridden. I tried to get up and move around as much as I could, but it wasn’t easy. My limbs were still heavy, barely responding to my orders at times. Other times, I was simply too exhausted to focus on much.

Grace was a saint, as usual. When she wasn’t helping me with my physical therapy, she was tending to all three children as if they were her own. She entertained the twins with games and arts and crafts, and changed Hope’s diapers. She brought me the baby when it was time to breastfeed and would sit next to me, reading or sewing.

If it weren’t for her, I might have gone insane.

By the second morning, I was able to move around some more. I woke up early and got dressed in something comfortable that wouldn’t make me feel restricted–a flowing skirt and that same sweater from before.

It barely smelled like Andrei anymore, my own perfume having taken over the scent. But the warmth of it and the way it hung loosely on my frame, coming nearly down to my knees, was comforting. Even if it looked like I was drowning in the fabric in an almost comical way, I wouldn’t take it off.

I couldn’t stop thinking about him.

If Andrei had returned to the mountain, then I hardly dared to think what he had planned. I kept ruminating on what Isaac had said. Something about a ritual. Something that was supposed to give him the same power that the Winter King had possessed. The ability to control the rubies with no effort at all.

And most of all… The ability to communicate with some otherworldly creature through that pool of sulfuric water.

At the time, when the Winter King had made those claims, I’d thought he was just insane. That the fumes and the rubies had made him go crazy, and he was having delusions.

But then I would think about the hunger I would feel coming from those rubies whenever I wielded them. The way that they would almost egg me toward violence. The way they only seemed to feel sated with blood.

The thoughts made me shudder for reasons I hadn’t considered before.

What if the Winter King had been right? What if the legends were true? What if the rubies had been created by the fires of hell, and someone or something–was in control of all of it?

What if Andrei was now a part of something bigger and darker than we had ever anticipated?

I tried to avoid these thoughts by focusing on what I could control. Taking care of the twins. Going through my morning exercises. Tending to Hope. Assisting Grace with some work in the garden and the infirmary.

Around midday, I stopped for lunch. I was in the kitchen, making some cold cut sandwiches and lemonade for everyone, when my phone rang.

I pulled it out of my pocket so abruptly that I nearly dropped it on the floor. With trembling fingers, I answered before I even checked the caller ID.

“Damon?” I breathed. I prayed he’d found Andrei before anything bad had happened. I hoped that he would tell me that everything would be okay, and that they were coming home.

But it wasn’t Damon’s voice on the other end. It was Andrel’s Beta’s.

“Luna Natalia?” He sounded concerned.

My heart sank. “Sorry. I thought…” I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see me. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes. Well… For the most part. There’s been some unrest in the pack since Andrei left. I know you’re still recovering, but I wanted to ask if you would consider coming home. The pack needs to see that their Luna is still present, even if their Alpha is… missing.”

“Oh.” I set aside the knife I’d been holding to cut the bread and flexed my fingers. I hadn’t realized just how tightly I’d been holding it. “Right.”

I really wanted to be in Ashmoor in case Andrei returned. He and Damon would pass through here first on their way back from the mountain, and I wanted to be there for him.

But my pack needed me, too. I couldn’t just leave my people in the dust because of what was going on in my personal life. With Andrei and I both gone, the pack was confused and frightened, and it would leave us open to another Alpha challenging us. We

couldn’t have that.

Finally, I made my decision. “Okay. I’ll come home today.”

“Thank you, Luna. The pack will be glad to see you return.”

I nodded, once again forgetting he couldn’t see me, and ended the call. I turned to see Max and Jane standing in the kitchen doorway, their little faces covered in dirt from playing outside. It was a vision that momentarily struck me as a reminder of the way we’d used to live here in Ashmoor. Just the three of us.

“Is Daddy okay?” Jane asked, taking a step forward.

I forced a smile. “I’m not sure yet. But we’re heading home today.” I finished putting together their sandwiches and placed them on plates, along with some apple slices and a cup of lemonade. “Eat your lunch, then we’ll start packing.”

Jane took her plate warily. “Is Daddy coming with us?”

Max folded his arms and watched me knowingly. Goddess, he really looked like Andrei sometimes.

I couldn’t lie to them. Not anymore. So I shook my head. “No. It’s just us. But I’m sure he’ll come home soon. In the meantime, the pack needs us. You guys think you could help me with that?”

To my relief, both twins nodded. With that, we ate our lunch, then packed.

It was nearly sunset by the time we arrived in Moonshadow. I still hadn’t heard anything from Damon, but I held onto hope. If not for myself, then for the children.

Andrei’s Beta helped me get the twins settled for the night after we ate a quick dinner of takeout pizza. I put Hope to bed after that, gently rocking her until she stopped fussing. I turned on the baby monitor, then left the door cracked as I slipped out.

Sleep was still a long ways off for me, though. I knew it would be no use if I tried to force it, so I padded downstairs in the quiet house and made my way to the kitchen for a cup of tea.

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