Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 437

Andrei’s POV

She fell over the cliff, and my world shattered.

“NATALIA!”

I stumbled forward, cutting my hands on the jagged rocks as I fell to my knees. I reached for her, but it wasn’t enough. My arms weren’t long enough, palms weren’t large enough. I wasn’t fast enough, wasn’t good enough, wasn’t enough.

The last I saw of her were those eyes staring up at me. Clear wide, full of love and grief and self–blame.

She let him carry her over the edge. Whether because she blamed herself for Damon or simply from the shock of it, I couldn’t tell. But it didn’t matter.

Natalia was gone, disappearing beneath the clouds without so much as a scream. The dress she wore was covered in blood, fluttering around her legs as she and the monster that called himself a “King” careened into the swirling vortex of snow.

And then I didn’t see her again.

I must have knelt there for some time, screaming into the voice. Her name turned my throat raw and raspy. My heart shredded. I stared at the mist like she might rise out of it, a phoenix with wings of fire, but she never returned.

At some point, I felt my body rise. I wasn’t sure how I found the strength, but it didn’t matter. My mate was gone. I wanted to go with her. I was about to follow her into that abyss.

But just as one foot extended over the edge of that cliff, rough hands pulled me back. I kicked and clawed and bit, but multiple bodies held me fast. When my red vision cleared, I saw my Beta kneeling over me, terrified and confused but alive and surrounded by warriors.

The army had returned. They retreated for backup and returned.

“You were too late,” I snarled. I shouldn’t have been angry at him, but I was. I was angry at the world. At the universe. Most of all, I was angry at myself, and I needed someone to take it out on. “She’s gone–Natalia–my Natalia-”

My voice broke on her name, and I looked away, jaw clenching.

“Protect the twins,” she had said just before she fell. Of course, even in her final moments, she thought only of the children.

I knew, then, as I recalled her words, that it was for the best that my Beta had held me back. I had to stay behind for the twins. And for Damon.

Somehow, my feet carried me to the throne room. The castle was quiet, those freaks that the King called ” soldiers” strewn across the floor in bloody heaps. I heard shouts in the distance, but here, the only sound was that of Grace’s sobs.

“Get away from him!” She brandished a knife in a bloody, trembling hand. A group of those strange, crippled servants had formed around her. They were trying to look at Damon, but Grace was holding them back. One was dead at her feet, glassy eyes staring lifelessly up at the impossibly high ceiling.

“Grace.” I held my hands up and approached. The servants parted, hands passing over my bloodied armor as I waded through the crowd. When Grace saw me, she dropped the knife with a clatter and crawled toward me. I stooped and swept her up into my arms.

Chapter 437

+25 Bonus

“He’s… He’s still alive… But barely…‘

I dropped down beside my brother. The arrow was still embedded in his chest; it seemed to have just barely missed his heart by an inch. If we removed it, though, he would certainly bleed out.

Just then, one of the servants shuffled forward. “I… help…”

I jerked my head up. Those things could speak? I hardly trusted any of that monster’s creations, but they had slit the throats of so many soldiers… Maybe they had sided with us in the end. Maybe they had been on our side from the beginning.

I moved aside, ignoring Grace’s protests. The servants crowded around Damon. Grace sobbed into my neck inconsolably, and all I could do was silently stroke her back while I watched them.

One of them shuffled over to me. It–he–pushed his hood back to reveal a bald head covered in liver spots and one missing eye. The other was bugging out of his head like it, too, wanted to pop out.

He looked around with that wonky eye, then furrowed his wiry brow and looked at me. “Where… Chosen… One?”

“Chosen one?” I muttered.

He held up his hands, gesturing in the air. “Beautiful… Mother…”

Natalia, I realized with a start. He was talking about Natalia like she was some kind of martyr. I couldn’t answer. I just looked away, watching as the army medics arrived with a stretcher, which they carefully moved Damon onto. Grace scurried over to them, barking orders.

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