Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 583

Natalla’s POV

I fought like hell.

My arm shook from the strength it took not to let that blade drive down toward Andrei’s chest. Max’s screams faded into the distance. The knife hovered six inches above Andrei’s chest, getting closer with each second.

I had both hands wrapped around the handle now, one trying to drive it down and one trying to pull it back. Neither of them was winning. My teeth were clenched so hard my jaw ached. Andrei stared up at me from the ground, not moving.

I couldn’t tell if it was because he couldn’t or because some small part of him was letting this happen.

The vision came a moment later.

A pale hand resting on top of mine.

The world went quiet, and when I looked up, I saw that she was there.

The Moon Goddess looked the way she always did. Calm. Certain. Her hand covered mine on the knife handle, and her grip was gentle, not forceful, which was somehow

worse.

She wasn’t pushing me. She was guiding me, the way you guide a child’s hand when you’re teaching them to write.

“It ends here,” she said softly, gently, her free hand smoothing my hair out of my face. “One motion, and it will be done. He will not suffer–I’ve ensured the angle of the knife will bring a swift death. And everything you’ve spent five years protecting will be safe.”

“You keep saying that,” I ground out.

“Because it’s true.”

The knife dipped another inch. I grunted, struggling to hold it at bay. All the while, the Moon Goddess’s touch remained gentle. She was barely putting any effort in.

No. No, no, no…

“Mom.”

Max’s voice came through the haze. Quiet, certain, calm. Calmer than I could be right now.

“Mom, you don’t have to do this.”

The vision flickered. The Moon Goddess’s fare stayed hovering in front of me, but the edges of her cracked, and through the cracks I could see the corridor again, and Max kneeling beside me with his hand on my arm.

I looked at the Goddess,

She looked back at me, patient as ever, and waited, as if she knew I would do her bidding anyway.

I squeezed my eyes shut and thought about Andrei.

I thought about the man I fell in love with before I even wanted to admit it to myself. I thought about the first time—not the night of that ball, but before that, when we were still married for the first time.

The one time we were good together back then was in bed.

Then, I thought about his laugh. How he would restrain it at public events–a mere chuckle. But when he was playing board games with me and the twins, or running around with Jane clutching his back and making airplane sounds, or when Damon said something particularly stupid, it was…

Free. Light. Loud and full of mirth.

I loved that sound more than anything.

“No,” the Moon Goddess whispered. “No, you can’t-

I scrunched my eyes shut tighter and thought about Andrei dancing with me. How he stepped on my toes sometimes, but he always guided me with ease. His palm warm and steady against mine. His heart beating beneath my fingertips.

That was the man I had fallen for. And he wasn’t gone. Not so long as I held onto him and refused to let go.

When I opened my eyes, I found that the Moon Goddess was still there, but she was just an outline now shimmering in the air. The weight on my hand began to lighten, but it wasn’t enough. I needed more.

I thought about the tree. The big one, out on the grounds, its branches bare against the winter sky. The moon above it, a bright fingernail in the sky, turning everything a silvery hue.

Damon standing with his back pressed to Andrei’s. Andrei’s hand warm around mine, and his voice, steady and low, saying the words like he meant every single one

Chapter 584.