Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 531

Damon’s POV

We moved like lightning through the Thornwood, faster than we had ever traveled before. In wolf form, we didn’t stop to rest. Didn’t stop to eat. We didn’t stop running until we finally reached the Bloodmoon compound.

Only then, exhausted and breathless, did we stop to rest.

“Rest, eat, and drink,” I commanded the small, efficient squad of warriors I had brought with me. Only my best and most loyal. “We’re leaving at dawn.”

I heard a few scattered groans, which was understandable, seeing as how dawn was merely a few hours off. But no one complained. They all knew the gravity of the situation.

Celeste was waiting for me when I entered her study. She was standing by the small window that overlooked the plaza below. Her gnarled hands were clutching the back of a nearby chair, and her thin, gray hair was pulled back severely.

She didn’t turn when I walked in.

“You came quick,” she said simply.

“It’s urgent.” I crossed the room. “I need all the information you can give me. What did Andrei look like? Which direction, specifically, did he go? And have you seen or heard anything else? Any unexpected disasters or deaths in the area?”

Celeste whipped her head toward me. Even having been aged beyond recognition by the ruby her mother once wielded, her eyes were still as sharp as ever. I understood why Natalia had grown to like her so much despite everything. She was intelligent and quick, and not one to mince anything, let alone words.

“Damon, what the fuck is going on?” she barked. “Why did you respond to my letter with a retinue of warriors and questions about deaths?”

My throat tightened. Truthfully, I didn’t know how much to tell her. Because I didn’t know much myself. I just knew that Andrei had been having strange visions, which had worsened considerably ever since the war ended. Initially, we’d thought they were simply related to the fumes he’d inhaled in the mountain. But they hadn’t stopped.

And now… Now, he was killing people and running off in wolf form with their corpses in tow.

Isaac was going to kill Natalia. That much was true. I didn’t care if the fucker died, and I didn’t blame Andrei one bit for killing him.

But running away with his body? That wasn’t like Andrei at all. He’d just left Natalia laying there, tied up and terrified. And now she was telling me about dark rituals Isaac had planned.

Did Andrei have the same things planned?

I decided it would just be easier to tell Celeste everything. So I did. She didn’t interrupt as I spoke. In fact, recognition flashed across her face, and she sank onto the chair behind her, muttering, “I knew it… I knew it wouldn’t be over…”

“Is there something you know about this?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Not really. My knowledge about the Winter King’s plans didn’t really extend beyond what mine and my mother’s tasks were here. But I always wondered if all that talk about demons was true.”

I blinked. “There’s no such thing.”

Celeste looked up at me. Just then, Karl’s voice said, “That might not necessarily be true.”

I turned, not having expected to find Karl sitting by the fireplace. As it turned out, he had been sitting there the entire time, so quiet that I hadn’t even noticed him. He stood slowly, then pulled something out of the trailing sleeve of his robe.

A book. It was old and weathered, with brittle yellow pages and a worn cover that had indiscernible text on it. When he handed it to me and I opened it, I realized that it wasn’t just because the text was old and rubbed away, but the entire book was written in a language I didn’t understand.

“What is this?” I asked.

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