Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 229

Chapter 229

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We split up, each taking a different section. I found myself in the genealogy records, pulling down heavy books filled with family trees and bloodlines. Most of it was written in fading text that was difficult to read, but I forced myself to focus, scanning page after page for any mention of Bloodmoon lineage.

The hours blurred together. My eyes burned from squinting at faded text, and my back ached from hunching over massive books. But every time I thought about giving up, I pictured Max lying motionless in bed, burning up from the inside, and I forced myself to keep going.

“Anything?” Andrei called from across the room where he was buried in territorial maps.

“Nothing concrete,” I called back. “A few mentions of Bloodmoon marriages into other packs, but no locations.”

Damon had been methodically working through what looked like military records, but he’d been quiet for the past hour. I glanced over and saw him frowning at a particularly thick volume.

“There’s something here about a group of refugees after the pack was attacked,” he said without looking up.” But the records are incomplete.”

I turned back to my own research, but my eyes were getting bleary and the words weren’t making much sense anymore. The exhaustion from the past few days seemed to be finally catching up to me–all those nights of interrupted sleep, the constant worry about Max, and not to mention the emotional roller coaster of being back at Moonshadow.

I blinked hard, trying to focus on the page in front of me, but my eyelids felt impossibly heavy.

Eventually, I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew, I felt something warm being draped around my shoulders. I opened my eyes to find Andrei crouched beside my chair, his jacket now wrapped around me.

“You were shivering,” he said quietly.

I hadn’t even realized I was cold. The library’s air conditioning had been running all evening, and I’d been so focused on my research that I hadn’t noticed the chill seeping into my bones.

“What time is it?” I asked, looking around the mostly empty library.

“Almost midnight.” Andrei settled into the chair beside mine, close enough that his familiar scent wrapped around me like a warm blanket. “Damon’s still working, but I thought maybe you should get some rest.”

“I can’t rest,” I said, although even as I said it, I was in the midst of stifling a yawn. “Not while Max is sick.”

“You’re not going to help him by collapsing from exhaustion.”

I knew he was right, but the guilt of sitting here doing nothing while my son fought for his life was too much to bear. “What if we can’t find them? What if this Bloodmoon pack really is gone, and we’re just wasting time while Max’s condition gets worse?”

Andrei’s hand covered mine where it rested on the arm of my chair. His palm was warm and rough and familiar. “We’re going to find them.”

“How can you be so certain?”

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Chapter 229

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“Because I have to be.” His green eyes met mine, and for the first time in all my years of knowing him, I could see a twinge of fear in his gaze. He was trying to hide it, but it was there. “Because the alternative isn’t acceptable.”

I turned my hand over so our palms were pressed together, fingers intertwining. “I’m scared.”

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