Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 381

Chapter 381

Andrei’s POV

The howls of wolves and the shouts of men grew distant as Damon and I hurried deeper into the cave. I leaned half of my weight on my brother as my wolf worked overtime to mend the wound in my abdomen. The sudden quiet of the deep cave was even worse than the noise outside.

“This way,” Damon whispered, although his voice echoed in the space even at that volume. I bit back a grunt as he helped me squeeze through a narrow passage, the rough rocks scraping at my wound. Thankfully, the passage opened into a larger chamber, and I took a moment to breathe and inspect my injury.

Damon hissed through his teeth when he got a good glimpse of the damage. With our wolves‘ night vision flickering to life, the wound looked even uglier. Pale and greenish and seeping with thick blood.

“Keep pressure on it,” Damon instructed. “Can you still walk?”

I nodded, although “walking” was more like “leaning on the wall and grimacing with every step“, but hey–at least I was moving.

“I won’t be able to shift now,” I pointed out as we continued making our way through the tunnels. “My wolf is trying to heal this wound, and it’s sapping all of my energy.”

My brother pressed his lips together. “Let’s just focus on putting as much distance between ourselves and the battle as possible for now. Then, we’ll worry about the logistics.”

“Our warriors are dying out there.”

Damon shot me a devastating look. “They’re already dead.”

My stomach lurched at the thought. Forty warriors. Forty good men and women. All dead because we were cocky, panicked, and didn’t prepare properly enough.

But none of us had expected the Bloodmoon warriors to fight like that. They were all wielding ruby weapons–all of them. How many more were there with weapons like that? What sort of atrocities could those weapons perform?

I shuddered as visions of those bloodthirsty warriors marching on the territories flashed through my mind. Systematically taking each pack down, they would easily slaughter everyone. They could take over the continent in a heartbeat.

But if we could stop them….

“We have to take out Helena,” I whispered as we shambled through the darkness. “If she falls, they’ll surrender.”

“And then what?” Damon’s usual charm was nowhere to be found, replaced by something bitter and tired.” March on the so–called ‘Winter King‘ next? He’s probably got ten times the soldiers and weapons compared to what we just witnessed.”

Damon was probably right. But I couldn’t bring myself to admit it out loud.

Just then, the distant echoes of voices reached our ears. “They went this way!” I heard a male shout. I cursed under my breath and picked up my pace.

Damon and I hurried through the caves for what felt like hours. The ground was rough and uneven, making movement slow and painstaking. But eventually, it smoothed out. Curiously, the walls grew smooth too.

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Cholder 34

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Suddenly, Damon pointed. “Look! Stairs!”

Whipping my head around, I saw what he was pointing at; a small set of stairs curving up into a passageway above.

“These aren’t caves,” I whispered. “They’re tunnels.”

The shouts were getting closer now, so Damon and I hurried up the stairs. We froze when we reached the top and found a narrow, but well–carved tunnel that led in only one direction. Exchanging glances, we made our way in that direction.

The tunnel twisted and turned seemingly interminably, but soon, as we ascended another set of stairs and finally another, the sounds of water dripping indicated that we were closer to the surface, and-

“You hear that?” Damon whispered, stopping me. “Voices.”

Indeed, upon straining my ears, I could hear voices coming from above–not from inside the tunnel with us, but from…

“Bloodmoon,” I murmured. “These tunnels must stretch under the compound.” An old escape route for attacks, perhaps built when the compound was first built by the settlers. Judging from the cobwebs in here, it had been lost to time.

Damon shot me an arch look. “I wonder if these lead directly to the Alpha’s quarters.”

“We’re about to find out,” I said. I grabbed one of the scimitars and reached into the bandage around my waist, wincing as I gathered a little blood on my fingertips. I then smeared it across the ruby. The stone began to pulse, then turn warm. Damon’s eyes widened, and he did the same with his sword.

We continued moving after that. In the distance, I could hear our followers getting closer. “I found stairs!” I heard someone shout. “They must have gone this way!”

“The fuck is this place? Tunnels?”

“Looks like it…”

So the tunnels weren’t well–known, it seemed. But I had little time to dwell on that. Damon and I began to jog- my wound was feeling marginally better, and I had a bit of energy back. Eventually, we spotted a ladder leading to what looked like a heavy iron trapdoor.

Damon ushered me over to the ladder and helped boost me up. “I’ll be right behind you-”

His words cut off as a guttural snarl echoed through the tunnel. At the other end, glowing yellow eyes appeared. A wolf flanked by two males, ruby weapons pulsing in the dim light,

“Go,” Damon said immediately, boosting me up higher.

“Wait. You’re not seriously-”

“Yes, I am.” Damon turned away from me, grabbing his scimitar as the warriors began to charge, war cries echoing through the cavern. “I’ll hold them back. Go.”

“Damon-”

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