Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 216

Chapter 216

Natalia

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Max felt smaller than usual in my arms as I carefully lowered myself into the rocking chair in his room. His fever.

had spiked again, and even though Grace had assured me this was normal

in so much discomfort made my heart ache.

“Sing the moon song, Mommy,” he whispered against my shoulder as i

ildhood bugs, seeing my little one

Jhim close and began to rock in

the chair. Goddess, he was radiating heat even through his pajamas. He felt like a little space heater.

“Of course, sweetheart.” Without hesitation, I started humming the lullaby I’d been singing to him since he was a baby. The words warbled as I sang them, my voice shaking with worry, but he didn’t seem to mind.

In fact, far quicker than I expected, his breathing evened out and he fell fast asleep.

I sighed as I looked down at my son in my arms, pressing a cool cloth to his sweat–damp forehead.

This had to be worse than I’d initially thought. The fever had broken completely just days ago, and now it was back with a vengeance. What if it didn’t break this time? What if there was something seriously wrong with him?

And Goddess, what about their birthday party this afternoon? I’d spent weeks planning this surprise, wanting everything to be perfect for Andrei’s first real birthday celebration with the twins.

The thought of having to cancel it didn’t sit well with me, but I would do it if I had to. Without question.

A few moments after Max drifted off, Grace appeared in the doorway with her medical bag in hand. She quietly crossed the room, taking care not to wake him, and knelt in front of me. I didn’t tear my gaze away from Max as she dug into her bag and pulled out a few medical supplies.

“How is he?” she whispered as she began to work, placing a small monitor on his finger and holding a thermometer in front of his head.

“He seems more comfortable now. But Grace, I’m starting to think this might be more serious than we thought. What if-”

“Stop.” Grace’s firm and calm voice cut through my spiraling thoughts. She pulled the thermometer away from his forehead and showed me the reading: 100. That was two degrees less than an hour ago.

I let out a small breath.

“See?” Grace asked. “His temperature is already coming down again. I’ve seen this before with young wolves- sometimes their systems need a few tries to completely fight off an infection, but they can bounce back very quickly.”

“But what if he’s not better by this afternoon? The party-”

age. These “His wolf emerged early, Natalia. That means his immune system is stronger than most children his fevers look scary, but his body knows what it’s doing. That’s why he’s sleeping so soundly right now; his wolf is repairing his system.”

I wanted to believe her, but the maternal panic clawing at my chest wasn’t easily soothed. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” Grace stood and squeezed my shoulder gently. “Let him sleep for now, and I’ll be sure to check on him occasionally for fluids. In a few hours, he’ll be asking for a slice of that dinosaur cake, and you’ll be wondering why you worried so much.”

1/3

Chapter 216

“And if he’s not better?”

+25 Bonus

“Then we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it. But I’ve been doing this for years, and I know the difference between a lingering bug and something serious. This is just his little body being thorough about getting rid of whatever he picked up.”

After Grace left, I sat with Max for another hour, watching the rise and

chest and checking his forehead

every few minutes. Eventually, his skin felt cool to the touch again, and his costarted returning to normal.

When I was confident he was sleeping peacefully, I carefully transferred him to his bed, tucking his dinosaur blanket around him and leaving his door cracked open so I could hear him if he called for me.

Grace was right, of course. The party couldn’t be canceled; it was too important. Besides, I had invited all of Jane and Max’s little friends from the pack as well as half the adults in the region. It was too late to cancel now, mere hours before the party was supposed to begin.

I just hoped he would be feeling well enough to at least come downstairs and blow out his candles.

The party supplies were still scattered around the living room where I’d dropped them earlier. Looking at the bags of decorations, I felt another pang of uncertainty, but I decided to trust Grace.

I started with the streamers, unrolling long ribbons of green and gold that would transform our living room into a proper party space. The dining room table would hold the magnificent dinosaur cake Grace and I had created, along with all the presents I’d been secretly collecting for weeks.

The hardest part was hanging the streamers high enough to create the draped ceiling effect that was supposed to look like vines–dinosaurs in the jungle. I had grabbed a tall ladder from the garage, but even standing on the top step, I could barely reach the corners where the streamers needed to be anchored.

I stretched up on my toes, trying to wrap a green streamer around the light fixture in the center of the room. My fingers just brushed the metal when I felt the ladder wobble beneath me.

“Shit,” I breathed, grabbing for the fixture to steady myself, but the motion only made the ladder sway more violently.

For a heart–stopping moment, I felt myself tipping backward, the ladder tilting away from the ceiling. The ground rushed up toward me, and I had just enough time to think about how badly this was going to hurt when strong arms caught me around the waist.

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