Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 567

Chapter 567

Chapter 567

Natalia’s POV 1

+25 Bonus

The report came back the following morning. I’d hardly slept that night, which was strange for me; usually, sleep came quickly and efficiently, serving purely as a means to regain my energy for another day of hard work.

But last night, I kept tossing and turning. That pull in my chest had been a constant plague. It was as if something was trying to communicate with me from deep within, but I couldn’t hear the words. Or push it away, for that matter.

I was at the war table with my council, going over plans for our first movements, when the scout unit returned, still in their patrol gear. The looks on their faces instantly set my nerves ablaze. The moment I saw them standing in the doorway, I stood, pushing my chair back fast enough to make the legs scrape loudly against the stones.

“Everyone, get out,” I ordered, snapping my fingers at the others sitting around the table. They all quickly got up and scurried out of the room like rats, leaving just me and the leader of the unit.

“Well?” I asked once we were alone. “Did you find anything?”

“We found a site in the northern basin.” The lead scout set a small cloth on the table and unfolded it. “There were scorch marks on the rock, and the air around the site still smelled like the overworld.”

“Someone opened a portal,” I said.

He nodded. “From the looks of things, it was likely opened very recently. Within the last day, we think.” He paused. “We swept the full basin. Whoever came through it wasn’t there anymore. They must have moved on quickly. But we did find these items.”

He pushed the cloth across the table, and I stared down at the items. There was a curved shard of deep red stone, the surface carved with symbols I didn’t recognize, and a small gold earring, simple in design, a thin hoop with a worn clasp.

I picked up the shard first. Judging from the energy I sensed within it, although it was clearly dead and useless now, it was a ruby. One that had been made with intention, from the looks of it. Perhaps it was used to open the portal.

But it was the earring that truly caught my attention. I set the ruby down and picked up the piece of jewelry, turning it over in my palm.

It was light and slightly tarnished, like it was worn often. The clasp was bent as if it had been ripped out of the ear by accident.

Something about the earring piqued my interest even more than the ruby, although I couldn’t quite explain why. Unbidden, the room from my dreams slipped into my mind; warm bedsheets, a nude woman with her back turned to me.

She was sitting up in the bed now, combing her fingers through her long, amber–colored hair. As she swept her hair aside, a hint of gold caught the morning sunlight. This very earring.

The image faded from my mind quickly, but I knew, with certainty, that the earring I was holding belonged to this woman from my dreams. Had she been the one to come through that portal? Was she here now, wandering the wasteland?

Why?

Frowning, I curled my fingers around the jewelry.

The warm feeling from the night before came back, that same pull that I hadn’t been able to locate or explain. It was stronger now, more potent, like the thread I’d felt before had shortened, or perhaps as if whatever was on the other end of it had moved closer.

I stood there with my fist closed around the earring for so long that the man standing in front of me cleared his throat, surreptitiously trying to get my attention again. I didn’t look at him yet. My mind was whirling too fast.

That woman… She was here.

I needed to find her. I wasn’t sure how, or why, but I just knew that I needed to find her.

Chapter 567

+25 Bonus

“She’ll bring your downfall.”

My Lord’s voice slipped into my mind like a shard of ice. I suppressed a shudder and looked at the earring again, then the shard of the ruby.

“You know this. Anyone who passes through a portal into this realm uninvited does so with purpose. And that purpose is not something you want to risk.”

“What if it was an accident?” I muttered. The words sounded strange, like they weren’t coming from my own throat–or rather, as if they were coming from a version of me from a past life. A life I couldn’t remember.

“An accident?” My Lord scoffed. “She’s dangerous. She came here looking for something, and whatever it is, it threatens everything you’ve built. Everything I’ve given you.”

“I know,” I said.

“Then stop being foolish and act accordingly.‘

I closed my fingers around the earring again. The pull in my chest was still there, faint but present. I dug down and tried to locate the source of it, but nothing came of it. My Lord’s presence overshadowed whatever it was, and soon, it was gone entirely as if it had never been there at all.

I knew he was right, of course. My Lord was always right; and if he said this woman was a threat to what we’d built, then I would listen to him. I needed to find the woman–and kill her.

“Do you have any idea as to where they went?” I asked, looking at the scout again.

He nodded. “We spotted two sets of tracks heading toward the Ashfields.”

“Two?”

Another nod. “One was smaller. Perhaps a child.”

That didn’t make any sense. But then again, nothing made sense here.

“So they’re headed this way,” I said quietly, setting aside the earring. “Likely headed straight for the castle.“.

“I believe so, Sir.”

I thought about that for a moment. So the woman was coming for me. That meant that she had some kind of mission, and I needed to act quickly. But I wasn’t worried. I lived in a fortress, surrounded by desolation and souls enslaved to me.

Still, why did the thought of her coming this way make my heart pound?

Perhaps she really was connected to my downfall.

“Take another unit and find her,” I said.

“Just the woman?” he asked.

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