Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 446

Chapter 446

The next day was a blur. I split my time between Max’s bedside and Damon’s. My brother was still unconscious, still barely clinging to life despite the blood transfusion. Grace said he would pull through, but she didn’t sound

certain.

And Max… Max was sick. Feverish. He would wake sometimes, mumbling incoherently, and then slip back under. His breathing was labored. His skin was too hot one moment and too cold the next.

I stayed with him as much as I could. Fed him broth when he was lucid enough to swallow. Changed the cold compresses on his forehead. Held his hand when he cried out in his sleep. Jane hardly left his side, either.

By the following morning, Max finally woke up properly. His fever had broken overnight, and when his eyes opened, they were clearer than before.

“Daddy?”

“I’m here.” I leaned forward, gripping his hand. “How do you feel?”

“Tired.” He blinked slowly, looking around the tent. “Did you… Did you find her?”

“Max-”

“I heard her, Daddy. I heard Mommy’s voice. She’s alive. I know she is.”

“You were hallucinating,” I said, trying to keep my voice even. “You were freezing. Your mind was playing tricks on you.”

“No!” Max’s eyes flashed. “No, I wasn’t! I heard her voice! She was calling for help! She sounded scared….”

He trailed off, tears streaming down his cheeks now.

“Max.” I squeezed his hand. “I know it’s hard, but I saw Mommy fall. She’s gone, buddy. She’s… She’s gone.”

“She’s not!” He sat up abruptly, shoving my hand off when I tried to push him back down. “I heard her voice in a cave. You have to check! You have to!”

I wanted to tell him no. I wanted to tell him to stop holding onto false hope, that it would only hurt more in the end. But the look on his face…

He believed it. He truly, genuinely believed that Natalia was alive.

Maybe I wanted to believe it too.

“Where?” I asked after a moment. This felt like getting up all of our hopes for nothing, but I couldn’t stop myself. “Where was this cave?”

Max’s face lit up. “I can show you. I remember exactly where it was.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” I said firmly. “You’re still recovering. Just tell me.”

He described the location as best he could–east of where he had collapsed, near a cluster of large boulders that formed a sort of arch. He said he had heard Natalia’s voice crying out from within, and when he turned around to get me was when his pup form gave out from the cold and he collapsed.

1/2

Chapter 448

425 Bonus

“Please, Daddy,” he whispered when he was finished. “Please go check.”

I looked at him for a long moment. At his pale face and his hopeful eyes and his trembling hands. And I couldn’t

say no.

“Alright,” I sighed. “I’ll go look.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

The relief on his face just made my heart break further. I knew it was probably nothing, no matter how much we both wanted it to be something, but I had to check anyway. Even if only to give us peace of mind.

I left as soon as I could. The storm had passed, leaving everything covered in a thick blanket of fresh snow. The sky was clear, and the sun was bright enough to hurt my eyes.

I made my way east, following Max’s directions. It took longer than I expected–the landmarks all looked different under the snow–but eventually, I found the cluster of boulders he’d described.

And there, half–hidden behind them, was a dark opening in the mountainside.

A cave.

My heart started pounding. I approached slowly, scanning the entrance. I couldn’t see much from here, but the cave seemed to go back quite a ways. I stepped inside, listening–just wind howling. No voices. Max must have heard the wind and thought it was his mother’s voice.

I did walk a little ways into the cave until the path narrowed, but I found nothing. It broke my heart to think that I’d have to return to camp and tell Max that he’d been imagining things, but what else was I supposed to do?

I was just turning back to leave when I saw something: A scrap of fabric that had been caught on a jagged rock. It was torn and dirty and stained with something dark. But the color was unmistakable.

Crimson.

The same color as the dress Natalia had been wearing when she fell.

I reached out with a trembling hand and pulled the fabric free. It was real. Not a hallucination or a trick of the light.

I curled my fingers around it and peered deeper into the cave. Could she really be alive?