Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 378

Chapter 378

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Mother grinned like the cat that got the cream. “This, however… This is my finest work.” She pushed the wheelchair out into the light. The old man curled in the seat barely stirred at the movement →just groaned softly, gnarled hands twisting in his lap.

I gasped when Mother pushed him into the light and took his head in both hands, gently lifting it so I could see his

face.

“Do you like him?” Mother giggled. “He was my first attempt with your father’s ruby, and I dare say it worked spectacularly.”

I couldn’t speak, but this time, it had nothing to do with my pain or missing teeth.

The man sitting in the wheelchair was Alexander.

My stepfather. Natalia and David’s father.

The once–formidable Alpha of Bloodmoon… Reduced to a quivering old husk of hollow bones and leathery skin.

His eyes, once bright and sharp, were now clouded with cataracts. His teeth were missing, wrinkled lips curling around smooth gums. His skin seemed to hang from his bones, his spine so twisted he couldn’t sit up straight.

Horror shot through me.

Father’s ruby… The one he had sent with Mother and I when we first came here. The ring she wore on her finger.

I never thought it was more than just a ring, but now, knowing what I knew now about the rubies…

“How…”

The word came out as hardly more than a rasp. Mother released Alexander’s head, letting it loll forward onto his chest, and held her hand up so the small, nondescript stone caught the light.

“Did you know that rubies are my birthstone?” Mother asked, slowly approaching me. “I always hated them.”

“How is it… possible…”

She shrugged one shoulder and came to stand in front of me, the tips of her shoes brushing my feet. Still admiring the ring, she said softly, “I’ve never been quite sure how these things work. But that’s not for us to question.” She glanced up at me from her hand. “But I can show you this one’s power.‘

My heart leapt into my throat. Cold panic swept over me, and I tried to stand, but it was no use. My body was too broken and battered. One of my legs was certainly broken, and my head was too concussed to see straight.

–

Mother snorted. “You know, I’ll admit I’ve always been a little jealous of your beauty. You got more of your father’s genetics than mine.” She turned her hand so the ruby was facing me. “But how can I be jealous of an old hag like you?”

Before I could react, it started to happen. The ruby pulsed with an otherworldly light like a fire gleaming within.

My body began to twist before I could blink.

The broken bones melded together, crooked and wrong. My spine twisted, neck bent. My vision went fuzzy around the edges. When I looked down at my hands, my fingers were turning gnarled and old, just like Alexander’s.

I might have screamed, but the pain of my broken body being molded into this form was too great to even make a sound. My mouth could only open, a rasp of an exhale coming out and nothing more. I slid down the wall and

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completely to the floor, curling up in a fetal position. My hands scratched against the hardwood, gnarled, blackened nails cracking.

I could feel my body turning to dust. Bones.

Mother was going to kill me like this. She was going to age me until I was timeless, decay me until I was nothing but a pile of white powder in the wind.

But then she stopped. The pain remained, but my body stopped twisting, my hands stopped blackening with age.

Mother’s lips curved gleefully.

“I think that’s good for now,” she murmured. “I think I’ll keep you just like that.”

Just then, the sound of more shouting and metal clashing in the courtyard caught Mother’s attention. She peered out, and her smile widened even further at whatever she saw below.

“I can’t wait to try out my favorite toy o

that bastard, Andrei,” she whispered.

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