Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 10

Chapter 10

“I’m sorry you came all this way,” I said. “For nothing.”

I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Your ex–wife is likely dead, Andrei. And I’m sorry for it. I always liked her.”

He winced, but he didn’t make a move to leave.

I sighed. Fine, then, if he wanted to play it this way.

He wouldn’t find her.

Not unless I let him.

ANDREI

Damon was lying.

I’d known him too long not to see it in the way he shifted his stance, the way his shoulders twitched when he spoke about Natalia like she was already gone.

She wasn’t.

I didn’t need proof. I didn’t need witnesses or a signature on a damn logbook. I could feel it in my bones. In my blood. In the ache that hadn’t dulled since she left.

She was alive.

And she was close.

But he wasn’t going to believe that.

“There’s been no body,” I said. “And without a body, I will go on looking for her. Forever, if I have to.”

Lilith’s voice filtered in, soft and diplomatic. “Damon, surely you understand how worried Andrei is. Natalia means a lot to him.”

I shot her a warning glance, but she kept talking.

“We’ve searched every neighboring region. All leads brought us here. If she truly isn’t here, why not let us check the grounds and put our minds at ease?”

Damon didn’t even blink. “Because this is my territory. And you’re not entitled to search anything.

I sighed.

“It’s been a long day, Damon. A long drive. Do you mind putting us up for a night or two?”

His arms crossed over his chest, but he reluctantly agreed to host us. And if Natalia was here, so help me, I was going to find her.

One or two days turned into a week.

I had my men search clandestinely. And they found nothing.

But I knew she wasn’t dead. I knew it.

I had taken to wandering Damon’s packhouse, trying to walk off the jittery, not–right feeling when a young woman looked at me in the packhouse kitchen and suggested a walk through the servant’s quarters.

“If you want to really stretch your legs,” she said. “It has a lot of steps.”

Anxious and restless, I decided to take her advice.

Up and down the steps of the servant’s quarters.

And that’s when I caught it.

Too private.

“Open it,” I said.

“No,” Damon replied instantly, stepping between me and the door. “You are not permitted to open rooms in my house without cause.”

“I have cause.”

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