Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 24

Chapter 24

But as I reached the corridor that curved toward the front gate, someone stepped into my path.

Lilith.

Her mask of politeness was gone now. Her lips were curled back, her voice a snarl.

“You think you’re clever,” she said. “Pretending to be dead, crawling back in here on Damon’s arm like some tragic survivor.”

I didn’t flinch. “Excuse me.”

“Don’t play dumb.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She laughed bitterly. “Don’t you dare. You’ve been hiding in Ashmoor all this time–letting him play the hero, letting my mate fall to pieces-”

“Your mate?” I cut in. “Funny, I thought you were still waiting for the wedding.”

Her mouth twitched. “He was mine first.‘

“And he’s yours now,” I said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I tried to side step her, but her hand lashed out and grabbed me, her nails digging into my arm.

She snapped then–eyes blazing, control shattered.

“You’re still coveting him, aren’t you?” she spat. “You think you can just appear again and he’ll run to you? You left him. You faked your death. That’s the kind of manipulative snake you are.”

I tore my arm out of her grip and raised my chin. “If your bond with him is so strong, Lilith, why do you sound so scared?”

Her nostrils flared. “You’re nothing. A failed Luna. A discarded contract.”

“And yet you’re screaming at me in a hallway. Doesn’t that say more about you?”

“I defeated you once. I’ll do it again,” she said.

“What the hell is that supposed to-”

With a shriek, she lunged.

I sidestepped, but her hand caught the fabric at my waist. I shoved her, she yanked back–and suddenly, we were off–balance.

Too close to the terrace doors.

Too close to the water beyond.

Chapter 24

There was a shout.

Then we hit the edge of the pool.

And fell.

***

+25 Bonus

The cold hit like a fist.

A breath ripped from my lungs before I could hold it, and then I was under–submerged, swallowed whole. Water surged over my head, slammed into my chest, filled my ears with a roaring silence. I flailed, but my limbs didn’t respond right. My dress tangled around my legs. My arms sliced through water that felt thicker than it should.

Panic rose instantly.

Not again.

The shock of the fall vanished beneath something worse–deeper.

Memory.

The weight. The drag. The black.

Sea water. Broken glass. A seatbelt that wouldn’t unlatch. A car window I couldn’t break.

A scream locked in my throat, swallowed by the water.

There had been a flash of headlights. A curve. Tires skidding. Then the world had tilted sideways and dropped.

Now, again, the water pressed in from every angle. Cold like teeth. My chest heaved, desperate to pull in oxygen, but all I tasted was chlorine and panic.

No air.

No sound.

No escape.

I clawed upward, but the surface wouldn’t come. My body thrashed, frantic. Every kick weaker than the last. My lungs screamed. My heartbeat roared in my ears.

I opened my mouth and choked.

The reflex was primal. Stupid. Human.

Water flooded in.

My body remembered what my mind had worked so hard to forget.

The way drowning felt–slow and fast all at once. The betrayal of your own instincts. The way the world goes so still before it ends.

Chapter 24

Drowning.

Again.

***

I don’t know how long I was under.

Maybe seconds.

Maybe hours.

Then I felt it.

Arms.

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