Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 554

Chapter 554

“Aunt Celeste figured all this out?” she said.

“Apparently.”

Jane was quiet for a moment, thinking. I recognized the look–it was the same one she got before a test, processing, sorting. Finally she said, “And the spell actually works?”

“Karl thinks so. Mostly.”

Neither of them said anything to that. I set the ruby down and looked at them properly–my eleven–year–olds standing in my bedroom in the middle of the night, both of them older than they should be and handling this better than most adults would. It hurt more than I wanted to admit.

“I know this is a lot,” I said.

“We just want him to come home,” Max said. Simple as that, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Because to him, it

was.

Jane reached over and nudged his arm. He shrugged her off.

We sat together for a while after that. I didn’t send them to bed and they didn’t ask to leave. Eventually Jane made me go through the map with her in detail, tracing the route, asking questions I didn’t always have answers to. Max sat on the end of my bed with his arms folded and listened to all of it.

Sometime after midnight, they went back to their rooms.

I didn’t sleep much after that.

I left at dawn.

I’d packed the night before, keeping it light. Just a travel pack, some cold weather gear, and enough food for four days. I could stop at the Broken castle on the way back–if I came back. If I had Andrei with me.

The ruby and the spell were wrapped carefully and tucked into the inside pocket of my jacket alongside the map. The grimoire 1 left with Karl. It was heavy and I wouldn’t need it.

The house was quiet when I came downstairs, but everyone was already up. I suspected as such, but I didn’t expect to see Max all dressed to go, bundled up with a pack on his shoulder.

“No way,” I said, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. “Who said you’re coming?”

He puffed his chest out. “I did.”

“No,” I blurted out. “You’re not coming with me.”

“But-

“}

“I said no, Max.” My voice didn’t waver. “That’s final.”

Max glared at me in that way that always made him look too much like Andrel He didn’t argue further, not out loud, but I could tell that he was deeply upset.

I didn’t care. This was too dangerous, and I was not getting any of the children Involved Max could be mad at me all he wanted. he would understand later why I had to leave him behind.

Especially if I didn’t make it back.

I took my time saying goodbye to everyone. Hope was still sleepy and confused, and I just told her I was going away again and that I’d be home soon. Jane promised to stay close to her and not get too mad if she got her sticky lingers on her lavorite books

Chapter 554

+30 Bonus

When it came time to hug Max, he embraced me, but he didn’t say a word. He looked away when I released him.

Karl was standing at the bottom of the porch steps when I headed outside. I came down and stopped in front of him.

“I started the car for you,” he said, handing me the keys. “You’ll drive to Bloodmoon first?”

I nodded. “Then head to the mountain from there and continue on.”

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