Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 559

Chapter 559

+30 Bonus

Natalia’s POV

My feet bled inside my shoes. I shifted and moved in wolf form whenever I could, but I had to take shifts, giving my wolf time to rest. But eventually, I made it after two days of travel, exhausted and dirty and yet, somehow, exhilarated.

Celeste’s map outlined some old ruins on the other side of the mountain. That was where it ended, and my guesswork would have to begin.

The ruins themselves were beautiful. They were old and mostly crumbled, covered in moss and dust, but still spoke of a small, vibrant village that had once stood here. Dark stone, dirt pits, even the blackened coals of fires long since burned out.

“Karl would love this,” I whispered as I picked my way through them. I made a silent vow to take him here one day, once all of this was over and we had all the time in the world for adventures that didn’t put people’s lives at stake.

But that feeling only lasted for a few minutes before I heard the howls.

I dropped low, ducking behind a half–ruined pillar just in time. Two dark shadows moved ahead.

Wolves.

Not rogues. Not shifted werewolves. Wolves.

They must have been rogues once that eventually lost their human sides entirely. It was a rare condition, but happened to all rogues eventually if they never found another pack to join. Most rogues died due to disease or crime before that happened, but it did happen sometimes.

The wolves didn’t seem to notice me. I watched, peering around the pillar as they trotted past, nipping at each other’s ankles.

Hopefully it was just the two of them.

Once the ruins had gone quiet again, just the sound of the wind blowing through the broken walls and the occasional shift of loose stone settling, I kept moving. I stuck to the outer perimeter, trying to get a good laying out of the place.

Celeste hadn’t been entirely certain about the entrance, but she’d said it should be here. I kept an eye out for anything that looked out of the ordinary; a cave mouth, perhaps, or an old building that looked like it had been important at one point.

Eventually, I came across a length of wall that hadn’t entirely crumbled to time due to being pressed up against a cliftside. The rocks had kept it mostly intact over the years, protecting it from the elements.

There had to be some kind of passage behind this wall; I was sure of it. Why else would ancient people build a wall against a natural formation like this? It didn’t look to be purely constructed for support, so I suspected that it had another purpose.

I walked along it with one hand against the stone, feeling for anything irregular in the surface. The moss was thick in places and I had to scrape it back to see the stone underneath. My fingers were numb by the time I tound it.

There was a symbol carved directly into the rock. It was shallow and weathered from time, but it was still visible a star with nine points.

Below the symbol, at ground level, was a stone that didn’t quite match the rest. Slightly different color, the edges a little too even. I crouched and pressed my hands against it, felt it shift, and pushed harder

It took some effort, but eventually, it moved inward I gasped as a gap opened behind it, low and dark, wide enough to fit through sideways.

I sat back on my heels and pulled my flashlight out to peer inside. Was this a passage to the portal? Or was it a fool’s errand that would wind up with me getting stuck in a tiny cave?

I didn’t get a chance to figure that out when I heard another bowl. Then another. Then a third, from somewhere to my left

Chapter 559

+30 Bonus

I went completely still, quickly flicking off my flashlight.

The first wolf came around what remained of an outer wall about forty meters away. It was large with a dark coat, moving low to the ground, its head swinging from side to side as if sniffing the stones. Its eyes caught the flat afternoon light and reflected back a shining yellow color.

I didn’t dare to breathe. There were four other wolves that I could see moving around the first wolf, which meant that there would probably be more. This pack was larger than I initially thought.

I lowered myself to the ground slowly, pressing flat against the base of the wall. The gap in the stone was six feet to my right. Six feet and I could be through it, and then I just needed to get the stone back in place.

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