Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 46

Dammit, I still blamed myself. If I had just been a better Alpha, a better protector, Lilith never would have been taken. I had already failed her once. Could I really condemn her now over something that might not be her fault?

“Andrei,” Natalia said sharply, making me look at her. There was that fire in her eyes again. “She drugged Damon. She arranged for me to be attacked. You know she did.”

Natalia might have been right–hell, the evidence certainly pointed in Lilith’s direction. But looking at Lilith crying, remembering all she’d endured, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t look at her and see a woman who would do something so awful. I just saw a frightened, hurt woman who had suffered enough.

“Go home,” I said quietly.

“What?” Natalia’s voice rose. “You’re just letting her-”

“I said go home, Lilith.” I didn’t look at Natalia again. “My Beta will take you home.”

Lilith didn’t need to be told twice. She fled from the tent. I didn’t watch her go, but rather found myself watching Natalie’s reaction–disbelief, then frustration, then rage. Her mouth twisted in a new way with every emotion.

And all the while, even as Lilith’s sobs faded into the distance, all I could think about was how Natalia’s lips had briefly been on mine.

And how, unexpectedly, my desperate attempt to make her tell me everything had only backfired.

Because today had been a disaster. And the wolf inside of me wanted to taste her lips one more time.

Natalia

I stared at Andrei in disbelief. He had just let her go. After everything we’d seen, all the evidence, he’d just sent

her home like a child who had misbehaved at school.

“You can’t be serious,” I said.

Andrei wouldn’t meet my eyes. “It’s a family matter. I’ll handle it.”

“A family matter?” I scoffed. “She tried to have me killed! She drugged my mate!”

“We don’t know that for certain.”

Damon gestured to the laptop. “Is a fucking video of her dropping something into my drink not enough evidence?”

“You don’t understand what she’s been through,” Andrei said, staring at the now–dark laptop screen. “The trauma she endured-”

“Trauma doesn’t give someone a free pass to attempt murder!”

But I could see it in his face. In my eyes, he’d already made up his mind. Lilith could drug people, arrange attacks, try to destroy lives, and he’d still choose her. Still protect her. Because he loved her, and he didn’t care what

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Chapter 46

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happened to me or Damon.

The tiny hope I’d been nurturing, that maybe Andrei wasn’t the monster I’d once thought he was–it died right there in that security tent.

If there was ever any doubt in my mind that one or perhaps even both of them hadn’t arranged the attacks on me five years ago, then it was gone now. I didn’t trust this situation one bit.

“We’re leaving,” I said, taking Damon’s arm. “Come on.”

Damon stood without protest. He looked exhausted, the lingering wolfsbane in his system making him sluggish and weak. I guided him toward the exit, needing to get out of there before things spiraled even further.

“Natalia, wait.”

I didn’t stop. Didn’t turn around. Andrei had made his choice five years ago, and he’d just made it again. Lilith would always come first. Her needs, her wants, her crimes–all forgiven because he had never stopped loving her.

And whether it was her or him who tried to get me out of the picture, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was the fact that he wouldn’t care if I suddenly disappeared or “died” again.

We made it to the parking lot, where I helped Damon into the passenger seat–I had long since sobered up and felt well enough to drive–before I heard footsteps behind us. I spun around, knowing who it was without even having to look. Andrei was holding something out to me.

The bottle of ointment from earlier.

“For your leg,” he said simply, pressing it into my hand. “Use it twice a day. It’ll help with the scarring.”

And with that, he turned on his heel and left me standing there.