Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 574

Then, he stepped into the light.

My breath caught.

He was alive.

“Andrei?”

He took another step closer. It was him, alright–same dark hair, although it was longer now. Same green eyes. Same hard set to his jaw.

But at the same time, it wasn’t him. The way he was looking at me wasn’t at all like the Andrei I remembered. His gaze wasn’t loving or tender or happy to see me, but cold and expressionless.

I knew, in an instant, that he didn’t recognize me.

“Andrei.”

Out of desperation, or perhaps stupidity, I stepped forward and gripped the bars. I reached out through the bond we shared–or rather, the bond we once shared—and tried to communicate with him. Nothing. It was like there was a mist surrounding his heart, shrouding him from me. Or perhaps shrouding me from him.

His eyes flicked over me. I saw no recognition there. Not even when he saw the tears in my eyes.

“Andrei…”

He tilted his head. “How do you know my name?”

A sound escaped my throat. Goddess, his voice–it was like coming home after a hundred years at war. But it was foreign, too, like it didn’t really belong to him.

It was like something else was wearing my husband’s skin, and I didn’t know whether to be overjoyed or terrified.

“I… You’re Andrei,” I said. My voice came out raw and hoarse from trying to hold back sobs. I gripped the bars tighter. “You’re my husband. My mate.”

A silence passed. I watched his face–Goddess, his face–for something. Anything. A flicker of recognition. Some sign that the Andrei I knew, the Andrei I loved and lost and missed so dearly for five years, was still in there.

A sign that we could go home together.

But there was nothing. Even when I called him my mate, he didn’t flinch. He just looked at me, one eyebrow slightly cocked in that way he used to look at people when they amused him and baffled him all at once. Like he thought I was completely crazy “Mate,” he said. He stuck his hands in his pockets and flicked his gaze over me again. Still no reaction. “I don’t have a mate The pang that shot through my chest was painful and immediate.

My mouth opened, but whatever I’d been about to say didn’t come out. My throat was too tight, my chest aching where his

words had struck.

He didn’t have a mate.

I wanted to be happy that Andrei was alive. And I was, truly. But that happiness was overshadowed by.. whatever this was. This thing wearing my husband like a costume.

Before I could continue processing it, he turned, snapping his fingers at one of the guards wearing the bo

rushed over, bowing his head deferentially, hunching his spine in front of Andrei like a

Andrei whispered something to the guard, who nodded

heel and walked away without giving me so much as a second glance.

+25 Bonus

I was too frozen to call after him. I just stared as the guard rushed to unlock my cell. Andrei never would have allowed his subordinates to act so meek before. He expected every member of his pack to be proud and strong, not like a whipped animal. Something had happened to him. Something had taken over his mind, although I wasn’t sure what.

The guard opened my cell, then moved inside. I backed against the wall, but I had nowhere to go. He grabbed the chain between my shackles and yanked me forward.

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