Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 354

Chapter 354

Natalia’s POV

The morning of the meeting dawned cold and rainy, which felt like an omen. The gray, gloomy sky did nothing to settle my anxiety, and as the winds picked up until they were rattling the windows, I feared the Alphas might not show at all.

By the time the caravan arrived around noon, I was practically vibrating with nerves. If it weren’t for Andrei’s hand resting on my lower back, supporting me, I might have melted into a quivering puddle of fear right then and there.

“Lunas. Alphas.” Andrei nodded his head politely to each of the attendees in turn. Catherine with her stern–faced but not unkind–looking husband, Ellen with her man grumbling to himself in the cold, and Meg, whose husband stood beside her, eyeing Andrei and I almost warily.

“Welcome to Moonshadow,” Andrei went on, gesturing to the estate behind us. “Please, come in. It looks like it might rain again any moment.”

Indeed, the bad weather had only broken just long enough for us to greet our guests. As soon as we were inside, the winds picked up again and the rain began to patter against the roof once more. Andrei and I led the Alphas and Lunas to the meeting room, and we all took seats around the large table while coffee was poured.

“First of all, thank you all for coming,” Andrei began, looking around at our guests. “We know it’s dangerous to travel between the territories at the moment, and we really appreciate you coming to us.”

Ellen’s husband, Dan, made no effort to hide his scoff. “Yes, well, if it weren’t for Ellen’s insistence, I wouldn’t have come at all. The one who is begging for an alliance should probably be the one to make the journey, after all.”

Andrei’s jaw tightened. “I understand, Alpha Dan. And it’s a reasonable expectation. But I should also remind you that Moonshadow stands at the center of our respective territories, making it simplest for everyone to come to this location rather than another.”

“And we thought it best if everyone met up at the same time, instead of individually,” I added. “To reduce any risk of misunderstandings.”

Dan merely huffed in response. “And where is Alpha Damon?” Meg’s husband, Darrick, suddenly asked, leaning forward in his chair. “Ashmoor is allied with Moonshadow these days, is it not? Shouldn’t he be present for these talks?”

“Or perhaps he’s still bitter over the love triangle nonsense,” Dan muttered under his breath, making Ellen gasp from behind her hand.

I shot Dan a hard look. “Damon is recovering from a life–threatening injury,” I retorted quickly. “He already spent a lot of time here recently and had to return home to his pack, but he sends his regards to all of you. I assure you, there is no bad blood between us. In fact, Damon recently got engaged.

“”

“Forgive me, ‘Mira of Ashmoor,“” Dan remarked, “but I’m not sure if I trust your word on the matter. Not after you spent five years pretending to be someone else. Or have you forgotten about that?”

I bristled indignantly, jutting my chin out, but Andrei held up his hand. “Now, now. There’s no need to pick a fight. You don’t have a perfect past yourself, Dan. But I’ll spare you the embarrassment of mentioning your history at this table.”

The Alpha’s face reddened, as did his wife’s beside him. Everyone at the table knew about the past scandal from three

years ago, anyway; Dan cheated on Ellen with his Beta’s wife. I heard through the grapevine that he quite

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literally got on his knees and begged Ellen to take him back.

I was still astonished that she did, but their personal life was hardly my business, nor mine theirs.

Beside Dan, Alpha Darrick chortled. “Quick to wit, as usual, Andrei. I see your old ball and chain hasn’t smoothed over your rougher points just yet.

That comment elicited a well–deserved sina

up after that.

Meg. Darrick winced, rubbing the back of his head, and shut

“Well, then. Now that that’s out of the way,” I said, pulling out my notebook, “can we begin the actual meeting now?”

The guests nodded. Andrei and I launched into our prepared proposal. It was the same one I’d given the Lunas during their last visit, albeit with a few more finely–tuned adjustments. We outlined everything to the best of our ability while the guests listened, occasionally jumping in with their own questions or concerns. Mostly, however, they just listened.

When we were finished, I wasn’t all that surprised to find that the Alphas, unlike their wives, weren’t quite as quick to accept the possibility of an alliance.

Of course, Dan was completely against it and was the first to make his opinion known.

“To be blunt, I don’t trust either of you,” he said, pointing at Andrei and me. “You, Natalia, faked your own death. And you, Andrei, are the one who pushed her to that point. You frightened your own mate so much that she fled and lived under a different identity for five years. Honestly, you both seem toxic and untrustworthy in your own ways.”

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