Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 487

Natalia’s POV

I must have sat outside Andrei’s office for hours. I sat there, without moving, until my back ached from leaning against the door and my legs had gone numb from sitting in the same position for so long. But I

refused to move.

The sun was starting to set when I finally heard movement on the other side of the door. A chair scraping against the floor. Footsteps. Then the lock clicked.

The door opened and I nearly fell backward. Andrei caught me before I hit the ground.

“Natalia.” His voice was hoarse. “How long have you been sitting there?”

“Long enough.” I looked up at him. His face was pale and gaunt, and for a moment, I saw a flicker of the man I’d seen in the caves. I blinked, and he was gone. “Can we talk now?”

He helped me to my feet, then pulled me into his arms. The hug was desperate and tight, like he was trying to convince himself I was really there. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered into my hair. “Goddess, I’m so sorry. I could have killed you. I almost…” His voice trailed off.

“But you didn’t.”

“I had my hands around your throat, Natalia. I was choking you. If my Beta hadn’t pulled me off-”

“But he did. And I’m fine.” I pulled back enough to look at his face. “Andrei, listen to me. What happened out there? What did you see?”

He looked away. “I don’t know. One minute I was sparring with you, and the next…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “It wasn’t you I was seeing. It was something else. Someone else.”

“What was it?” I whispered.

He didn’t answer. That was all the answer I needed.

I took his hand and led him down the hall to the sitting room. While he waited, I grabbed a first aid kit from the kitchen. Then, we sat on the couch together while I got to work carefully cleaning away the dried blood, disinfecting his wounds, and wrapping his hands in bandages.

“You need help,” I said as I worked. “Real help. Not just training until your hands bleed or avoiding us or pretending everything’s fine.”

“I don’t need help.”

“Yes, you do.” I finished wrapping his left hand, fastening the bandage with a butterfly clip, then got to work on the other. “There’s a psychologist in Ashmoor. I saw her after the twins were born. I was struggling with… everything. The postpartum stuff hit me hard, and I couldn’t handle it on my own.”

Andrei looked at me. “You never told me that.”

“Because you weren’t there. But she helped me. A lot. Taught me how to process everything. How to separate the trauma from the present. I think she could help you too.”

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Chapter 487

+25 BONUS

He didn’t speak.

“I know you’re used to handling things on your own,” I went on. “I know you think asking for help makes you weak or whatever bullshit you tell yourself. But this clearly isn’t something you can just power through. And I can’t watch you destroy yourself trying.”

He was quiet for a long time. Finally, when I finished wrapping his hand, he stood. “I don’t need it. I don’t need to speak to… a therapist. I don’t want to.”

“Why not?”

“Because talking about it makes it real. And if it’s real, then that means-” He shook his head again. “I can’t. I think it’s better if I just ignore it until it goes away.”

His words frustrated me, but I refused to let it show. I stood and crossed the room to him. “Come with me.”

He didn’t protest as I led him upstairs to the nursery. Hope was asleep in her crib. The yellow walls I’d painted glowed softly in the evening light coming through the window.

Andrei stopped in the doorway, frozen like he didn’t want to get closer to her, but I pulled him along with

me anyway.