Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 540

Chapter 540

Natalia’s POV

The words didn’t register at first. I just stood there, staring at Karl.

“What?”

“Celeste passed away,” Karl repeated. “A few nights ago. In her sleep. It was peaceful, but…”

Celeste. Dead.

I’d seen her a year ago when I had visited Bloodmoon, and suddenly, I wished I had gone sooner. She’d looked frail, but she still had that fire. I thought she still had time. A lot more time.

“Fuck,” I whispered.

Karl nodded.

“Well… Come inside,” I said, stepping back. “You look like you need a drink.”

He followed me into the house. The twins and Hope were still at the table, arguing over who got the last dinner roll, but they all went quiet when they saw Karl.

“Uncle Karl?” Jane asked, standing.

“Kids, go upstairs,” I said. “I need to talk to Karl. We can catch up later.”

Max opened his mouth to argue, but Jane grabbed his arm and pulled him up. Hope followed them without complaint. When they were gone, I gestured for Karl to sit at the table and pulled out a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet.

I poured two glasses and slid one across to him.

“When?” I asked.

“Three nights ago. David found her in the morning. She’d gone to bed and just… didn’t wake up.” Karl took a long sip of his drink. “Her heart stopped.”

I downed half my glass in one go and immediately refilled it.

“Will there be a funeral?”

“Yes. Three days from now.”

I nodded and refilled my glass. Three days. I’d have to pack, figure out who would watch Hope, tell the twins that another person they cared about was gone.

We sat in silence for a while, just drinking. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever seen Karl like this before. He was usually quite quiet, but not with me. During our last visit, he hadn’t stopped talking about the newest collection of books he’d been reading until I finally begged him to let me go to bed.

“She talked about you,” Karl said after a long time. “Before she died. The day before, actually. We were having tea, and she started talking about all the people she’d known. Your name came up a lot.”

“What did she say?” I asked.

“That you were stronger than anyone gave you credit for. That you’d survived things that would have broken most people.” Karl smiled faintly. “She said you reminded her of herself when she was younger. It’s funny, she always mentioned ‘when she was younger‘. Like she had actually lived all those years that were taken from her.”

My throat tightened painfully. “She was a good person, despite everything ”

Chapter 540

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“She was.” Karl stared into his glass. “She left you some things, by the way. There’s a box of them in Bloodmoon.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, which he handed to me. “She said in her will not to let anyone open it but you.”

I took the key and turned it over in my palm. “Why?”

Karl simply shrugged.

I wondered what Celeste could have left for me. It wasn’t as if we were ever super close or anything. And the fact that she wouldn’t let anyone else open the box was intriguing. It must have been important to her.

“How have you been, by the way?” Karl asked, changing the subject. “I haven’t seen you in months.”

“Busy. The pack keeps me occupied, and the kids are growing up too fast. Max wants to start Alpha training, but I think his temper isn’t in control yet. Oh, and Jane wants to become an official healing apprentice, but that would involve her traveling to Bloodmoon with the healers.”

“That’s a lot of buts,” Karl pointed out.

My shoulders sagged. “Yeah. I guess so.”

“And you? How are you really doing?”

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