Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 269

Chapter 269

Natalia’s POV

The festival was a vibrant swirl of colors and noises. Flower petals were strewn across the cobblestone ground, streamers hung between rafters and lightposts, and people clad in flower crowns and flowing garb were twirling in front of a band playing lively music.

I turned to my brother. “Festival of Flowers?”

“It’s a celebration we typically throw when the warriors return from an important mission,” he said, stooping to pick up a handful of petals. “The petals are plucked during the time the warriors are gone. Hopefully, by the time they return, there’s an array of colors to welcome the warriors back to a beautiful place filled with life and love.”

Andrei and I exchanged looks. I couldn’t help but smile; it was an unexpected and even a somewhat odd tradition, but it was sweet. And after the mission we’d just been on, it was nice to come back to a world of beauty and music.

“Go,” David said, nudging me with his elbow. “You should enjoy the festival. It lasts until sundown and then there’s a feast.”

I shrugged and took Andrei’s hand, leading him deeper into the festival. He didn’t speak but followed easily, green eyes flicking around. There was an open expression on his face that was a relief to me after how closed off he’d been about this entire place.

It didn’t take long for us to spot Max and Jane playing in the square with a group of other kids. A healer was standing nearby, watching Max with a trained eye.

“Mommy! Daddy!” Jane shouted, pushing the wheelchair with Max in it toward us with some effort. She threw her arms around my legs, then pointed at the flower crown on her brother’s head. “Look! I made Max a flower crown. He said it’s too girly but I think it looks pretty.”

“That it does,” I laughed, dropping to a crouch in front of them. “Did you guys behave while we were gone?”

Max nodded vehemently, making the flowers bob on his head. “The healer said I could play with the other kids for a while because I was so good.”

“Well, it’s easy for you to be good because you can’t walk anywhere,” Jane sighed, planting her hands on her hips. “I got in trouble for running around inside, so I got stuck pushing around Max’s wheelchair as punishment.”

I snorted. “It can’t be that bad pushing your brother around.”

“No, but he’s heavy!” Jane whined.

Andrei and I laughed, then left Jane and Max to continue playing–the other kids had concocted some kind of ring–around–the–wheelchair game–and made our way toward the heart of the celebration.

As we lingered by the fountain, I caught sight of Helena and Celeste near one of the food stalls, both dressed in flowing gowns. Celeste’s eyes found mine across the crowd, and her nostrils flared briefly before she looked away. I decided not to let her sour mood dampen the atmosphere.

Chapter 269

+25 Bonus

“Here,” David said, appearing out of nowhere and pressing cups of something warm and fragrant into our hands. “Festival wine. It’s traditional.”

I took a cautious sip, remembering all too well my recent experience with mysterious beverages. But this was clearly just spiced wine, sweet with honey and warming my chest as it went down. Andrei drank his more readily, and the tension immediately began to visibly slip from his shoulders.

“Better?” I asked, bumping his arm with mine. “Nothing like a little booze to smooth everything over.”

He smirked, then surprised me by reaching for my free hand and lacing our fingers together. “Much better.” The simple gesture sent warmth shooting up my arm. It had been so long since we’d been able to just… exist together without some crisis demanding our attention. I wanted to savor this for as long as I could.

“Oh, perfect timing!” A young woman appeared in front of us and gestured for us to follow. “We need another couple for the games!”

We didn’t have a chance to react before the woman was already herding us toward a circle of couples sitting on blankets spread across the cobblestones.

The first game involved cards–a Bloodmoon version of a matching game that required both partners to work together to remember which cards had been played. Andrei and I fumbled through the first round, laughing when we inevitably chose the wrong cards.

“You’re supposed to be remembering the red ones,” I hissed under my breath as Andrei reached for a blue card.

“I thought you were remembering the red ones.”

“Wait… Are we both remembering the red ones?”

“Well, that explains why we keep forgetting the blue ones.‘

I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all, and just shook my head and reached for another card.

We did better in the second round, actually managing to collect three matching pairs before being eliminated. The other couples cheered for us anyway, and by the time we moved to the next game, I was thoroughly tipsy and joining in on the cheers for other pairs even though they were beating us.

“Next up,

charades!” the girl announced, producing a bowl filled with folded pieces of paper. “Each couple takes turns acting out what’s written on the paper. The couple that guesses the most correct answers wins!”

I groaned. “I’m terrible at charades.”

“Lucky for you, I’m not,” Andrei said, pulling me to my feet as our names were called first.

He drew a slip of paper from the bowl, read it, then immediately began his performance. Without hesitation, he pretended to howl at the moon, then dropped to all fours and began prowling around like he was on the hunt. One woman shrieked and burst into a peal of laughter as he went to bite her ankles like a dog.

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