Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 167

Chapter 167

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Chapter 167

Natalia & Andrei

Natalia

A scream tore from my throat as Jane’s head disappeared beneath the surface of the dark water. I sprinted toward the shoreline, but my heels sank into the soft earth, slowing me down. I kicked them off without stopping.

Andrei was faster.

He hit the water before I could even reach the edge. The lake swallowed him whole, leaving only ripples and silence in his wake.

“Jane!” I screamed at the water, falling to my hands and knees by the shore, digging my fingers into the moss. JANE!”

Max was beside me now, shivering and sobbing. water and Jane leaned too far and-”

”

“She fell in! The lady

nocolate and we went to look at the

“What lady?” I grabbed his shoulders, but he was too hysterical to answer clearly. Sobbing now too, I ripped off my shawl and wrapped it around his small body, then pulled him close.

The seconds I waited felt like an eternity. The water remained still and black. Where were they? How long had it been? How long could a five–year–old hold her breath?

“Natalia!”

I turned to see Grace and Damon crashing through the underbrush, both looking disheveled. Grace’s lipstick was smudged and Damon’s shirt was half–untucked, but I barely registered their appearance as they reached us.

“What happened?” Damon demanded.

“Jane fell in the lake. Andrei went after her.” My words came out broken between sobs. “It’s been too long. They’ve been under too long-

Suddenly, the water erupted about fifteen feet from shore. Andrei’s head broke the surface with Jane’s limp form clutched against his chest.

She wasn’t moving.

I waded into the lake without thinking, hardly even feeling the cold water as it soaked through my gown. Andrei was already swimming toward shore.

“Is she breathing?” I called out.

He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to; when he reached the shore, I saw that Jane was unconscious in his arms. Wordlessly, Andrei dropped to his knees and delicately placed her on the moss.

I let out a strangled cry. She was so still. So small.

Andrei immediately positioned himself over her, tilting her head back and checking her airway. “Come on, sweetheart,” he murmured, pinching her nose and covering her mouth with his.

I watched in abject horror as he breathed into her lungs, then rhythmically pumped his hands against her chest.

Nothing. I clutched her cold little hand and pressed it to my lips.

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Chapter 167

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“Please,” I whispered. “Please, Jane. Come back to Mommy.‘

Andrei continued working, water dripping from his soaked hair onto Jane’s still face. “Come on,” he said as he pumped her chest. “Come on, Jane.”

Suddenly, Jane’s body convulsed. Water poured from her mouth as she coughed violently, her eyes fluttering open.

“Mommy?” she wheezed.

I sobbed with relief, gathering her into my arms. “I’m here, baby. Mommy’s here.”

Jane coughed up more lake water onto me, her small body shaking against mine. But she was breathing. She was alive. Max threw his arms around us and I held them both tighter than ever before.

Over their heads of dark hair, I looked up at Andrei, who was sitting ba exertion. His white shirt was transparent and clinging to his skin, his

and dripping onto his shoulders.

heels, chest heaving from the having fallen loose from its knot

Our eyes met across the space between us, and something passed between us. Something I couldn’t name but felt in my bones.

How could this man be the person who had tried to hurt me?

The realization was so violent that I thought I might be sick. Andrei had just risked his life to save my daughter.

He had breathed life back into her lungs with his own breath–how could he be the same person who had written that letter ordering my death?