Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 163

Chapter 163

Natalia & Andrei

Natalia

I’d suspected it was coming, but hearing Lilith announce her pregnancy out loud like that was different. The words echoed across the gardens, followed by enthusiastic applause and cheers from the crowd, but it all sounded muffled to me–like I was underwater.

My eyes immediately found Andrei across the sea of guests. His face had gone completely pale, his jaw slack. For a moment, he just stood there, frozen in place. Just like me.

That reaction surprised me. He looked surprised, like he wasn’t aware Lilith was pregnant.

But shouldn’t he have known already? They were living together, after all. Mila had< baby. Although maybe he just didn’t know they’d succeeded and Lilith had wanted

were trying for a

him publicly.

Suddenly, Andrei was moving, pushing through the crowd toward the stage. Lilith stepped down to meet him. She threw her arms around his neck, and I watched as she pressed a kiss to his cheek.

They whispered something to each other, and then he placed his hand on her lower back and guided her away, toward a gazebo. There, they stood close together, heads bent so that their foreheads were almost touching.

The image they made was perfect–a happy couple celebrating the news of their first child together. The cameras flashed around them, capturing what would probably be on the front page of every newspaper tomorrow.

Of course Andrei was overjoyed. This was everything he’d ever wanted: an heir with his true love. The woman he’d chosen over me from the very beginning.

I felt foolish for the fantasies I’d been entertaining lately. The stupid daydreams about maybe working things out, about telling him the truth about the twins, about us being a real family. What a joke.

Why did I even care, though? Andrei had never loved me. We’d been married what felt like a lifetime ago and he had always wanted Lilith more than me. It was only happenstance that I had his children.

I shouldn’t have cared. Even when my wolf whined inside of me, I shoved her down. No. I wouldn’t care.

Straightening up, I began clapping along with everyone else, plastering on a congratulatory smile. Several people around me were already discussing how wonderful it was, how perfect the timing, how beautiful their children would be.

I smiled along and continued clapping, acting like my heart wasn’t breaking all over again.

Andrei

My suspicions were confirmed. Lilith was pregnant.

I pushed through the crowd, beelining for her. The guests parted like the sea around me. We needed to talk. Privately. Away from all these cameras and witnesses.

“Andrei!” Lilith beamed as I reached her, throwing her arms around my neck. Before I could say anything, she pressed her lips to my cheek, holding the pose long enough for the photographers to capture it.

“We need to talk,” I said quietly in her ear.

1/2

Chapter 163

+25 Bonus

“Of course we do.” Her smile was radiant. “Isn’t it wonderful? I can’t wait to start planning-

“Not here.” I glanced around at the crowd of people watching us. “Somewhere private.”

She nodded, still glowing with joy. “Lead the way.”

I guided her away from the main party area and toward a small gazebo at the far end of the gardens. It was far enough from the festivities that we wouldn’t be overheard, but to anyone else, it looked like we were slipping away for an intimate minute together.

The moment we were alone, Lilith reached into her clutch and pulled out a pregnancy test. Two pink lines were clearly visible.

“I took three more just to be sure,” she said, pressing it into my hand. “They were all positive. We’re really going to have a baby, Andrei.”

I stared at the test, my mind racing. “When?”

“The doctor thinks I’m about six weeks along, which means…” She counted on her fingers. “It would have been conceived right around the time of the banquet. Our night together.”

Our night together. The night I barely remembered because I’d been so drunk I could hardly stand.