Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 458

Chapter 458

+25 Bonus

Andrei’s POV

My head was pounding. My mouth tasted like blood and ash. I tried to move, but my body wouldn’t respond. Everything felt heavy and wrong.

“Ah. You’re awake.”

That voice. I knew that voice.

My eyes cracked open. The world swam before me. I blinked, forcing my vision to clear so I could make out where I was.

I was in a cage–a hanging cage suspended from an impossibly high ceiling by thick chains. Below me was water, but it wasn’t normal. It stank like sulphur and chemicals, and it had a strange, murky hue to it. Hot tendrils of steam curled up from the surface and burned my eyes.

And standing on the edge of the water, staring up at me, was the King.

“So,” he said. “You found my hidden palace. My true palace.”

I lunged forward, but the cage swung wildly. He was too far, anyway, for me to reach. It was futile.

He smiled. “I must admit, I’m impressed you made it this far. Most wouldn’t have survived the journey through the caves. But then again, you’re not most people, are you? You’re Natalia’s mate.”

Natalia. Her name sent a jolt through me. “Where is she?” I croaked. My voice felt like it had been scraped raw.

“That’s none of your concern.”

“If you’ve hurt her-”

“Of course I haven’t hurt her, you dullard. In fact, I’ve been taking excellent care of her. She’s currently in recovery–the labor was rather intense, but she got through it.”

The labor. My blood turned to ice. Did Natalia give birth? I recalled her telling me about rubies that could speed up pregnancies. The thought made me sick. And what about our child? Was it born healthy? Was it born alive at all?

“I’ll kill you.” The words came out as a snarl. I gripped the bars so hard my knuckles went white. “I’ll rip you apart.”

“You’re welcome to try.” He gestured to the cage. “Once you get out of there, of course.”

I threw myself against the bars. The cage swung violently, but the metal held. I tried again. And again. Each time, the cage just swung harder, making my head spin even more. Finally, I collapsed, breathing heavily. Bile bubbled at the back of my throat, threatening to spill over.

The King just watched with amusement the entire time. Then, calmly, he turned on his heel and left.

I was alone.

1/2

Chapter 458

+25 Bonus

But not for long. Damon stepped out of the darkness. Blood pooled at his feet.

“Brother,” Damon said. He looked exactly as he had before he died. Pale. Bloody. Eyes glazed over. I looked away.

“You’re not real,” I whispered.

“You let me die, Andrei. You promised you’d protect me.”

“I tried.”

“You failed. Just like you failed Natalia. Just like you’ll fail your children.”

“Stop.”

“They’re all going to die because of you.” His voice was closer now, but I still refused to look “Everyone you love. Everyone you touch. They all die.”

“STOP.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. When I opened them, Damon was gone. But I also wasn’t in the cage anymore. I was standing in a field of ash and bone. The sky above was red. In the distance, I could see figures moving toward me.

They were twisted, grotesque, made of meat and bone and limbs that were all wrong. Horrible creations by the King’s hands. The King was the Devil, and this was his kingdom.

I knew, in an instant, that this was Hell. I’d died and gone to the place I’d always known I’d go to someday; I just didn’t expect to arrive so soon.

“Andrei…”

I picked my head up. “Natalia…?”

“Andrei…”

I tried to call back, but my throat was too raw. The sound came out as nothing more than a rasp.

But it didn’t matter, anyway. It wasn’t real.

None of this had been. The hidden palace, the King, the cage. It had all been a mirage cast upon me over the heat

of Hell.

I had died when Natalia fell over that cliff.

日

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