Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 278

Chapter 278

Andrei’s POV

The smell of smoke hit me first. Then came the scent of blood.

By the time I walked out of the forest, the devastation was all too obvious. Pillars of dark smoke were billowing from various buildings in Ashmoor, and even from where I stood, I could hear the sounds of shouting as people ran to put out fires.

I found Damon in the main Ashmoor house, hunched over a table covered in maps and reports. He looked up when I walked in and was so relieved that he immediately strode over and pulled me into a tight embrace. I hugged him back.

“Thank the Goddess you’re back,” he said, pulling back and clasping my shoulder. “How’s Max?”

“Better. Still needs more time before he can travel.” I looked around the maps and documents on the table.” How bad is it really?”

Damon scrubbed his hands over his face. “Worse than I wrote. I just found out that they attacked three other guard posts on the other side of the pack. They hit strategically and then pulled back before we could even gain our bearings.”

My jaw clenched. “This isn’t typical rogue behavior.”

“I know.” Damon gave me a meaningful look. “I also just received word from two other packs that similar attacks have been going on across the territories. This is so much bigger than we expected.”

I sank down into one of the chairs at the table with a sigh and picked up one of the reports, tired eyes scanning it briefly before I turned to my brother.

“What’s the plan?” I asked.

“I’ve been thinking about that.” Damon moved around the table and pointed to another section of the map. “We need to coordinate our defenses. Treat Ashmoor and Moonshadow as one unit now. It’ll be easier to reinforce the borders if we disperse our warriors evenly around the perimeter rather than focusing on territories.”

I nodded, knowing he was right. We were stronger together. “Joint patrols?”

“More than that. I’m thinking we should merge our border forces completely. Create one continuous defensive line from the northern mountains all the way down to the southern river.” Damon traced the route with his finger. “But I think we should consider building a wall.”

“A… wall.”

Damon looked up at me. “I know it sounds extreme, but these rogues aren’t going away. If anything, they’re just getting stronger.”

I nodded slowly. A wall would take months to build, massive resources, and cooperation from both packs. But if it kept our people safe…

“What would we need?”

1/2

Chapter 278

+25 Bonus

“Every able–bodied adult from both packs. We’d have to mobilize civilians. Set up work rotations, supply lines…” Damon pulled out another map, this one showing the terrain in detail. “The good news is we’ve got natural barriers in some places. Rocky outcrops, steep grades. We’d only need to build maybe fifteen miles of actual wall.”

“Fifteen miles is still a hell of a lot of stone and lumber.”

“Which is why we need everyone working. Warriors, crafters, even the damn bookkeepers.” Damon looked at me seriously. “We don’t have a choice, Andrei.”

Of course there was no fucking choice. I’d seen what these rogues could do, and if they were getting organized enough to coordinate attacks like this…

“Let’s do it,” I said, standing. “We can start planning the logistics immediately. I’ll reach out through our trade routes and see if we can get advances on lumber and materials.”

With that, I left Damon to handle his own matters and returned to Moonshadow. We hadn’t been hit during the recent attack, but I immediately dispatched my warriors to reinforce the border and sent a good portion to Ashmoor to see how they could help.

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