Chapter 69 Aunt

Chapter 69 Aunt
The road to her house felt longer than she remembered.

Every step Selene took seemed to echo louder in her mind than on the ground. The air in the West Pack territory was colder than Montclair’s. Not because of the weather, but because of memory. The trees stood tall and silent, their branches stretching like quiet witnesses. The wind brushed against her hair, carrying the scent of earth and something old.

Home.

The word did not feel simple anymore.

Her chest tightened as the familiar outline of her small house appeared between the trees. The wooden fence was slightly crooked. The small garden in front looked neglected. The flowers her aunt used to water every morning were dry, their petals brown and falling apart.

Selene stopped walking.

Her heart began to beat harder.

What if my aunt started to hate me because I left her?

What if Kai told them something different?

What if they think I ran away?

What if Auntie stopped believing in me?

Her thoughts crowded her mind all at once. Her fingers curled into her palms. She could still turn back. She could walk away and return to Montclair. Ryzen would not question her. He would understand but she did not come here to run.

She came here to end something.

The plan she and Ryzen discussed still stood strong in her mind. It was not revenge in the loud sense. It was not chaos. It was truth. Exposure. Consequence. The lies that were built around her would fall, one by one but before that she needed to see her aunt.

She took another step and another. Until she stood right in front of the door she once opened every day without fear.

The paint was chipped.

The wood looked worn.

It felt smaller.

Selene lifted her hand.

It trembled.

She lowered it again.

What if she doesn’t want to see me?

What if I hurt her more by coming back?

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“You survived worse.”

Jenna’s voice echoed in her memory.

“Don’t shrink.”

Cariel’s voice followed.

“You don’t walk alone.”

Ryzen’s voice was steadier, stronger.

Selene opened her eyes.

Then she knocked twice.

The sound felt too loud in the quiet afternoon.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Silence.

Then she heard slow footsteps, it is dragging slightly.

Selene’s heart jumped to her throat.

The lock turned and the door opened and Selene forgot how to breathe.

Her aunt stood there but she did not look like the woman Selene left behind.

Her hair was messy, falling around her face without care. Her body looked thinner. Her shoulders were slumped forward like she was carrying something heavy for too long. Dark circles rested under her eyes. Her skin looked pale and tired.

Her aunt is not angry, not cruel but she looks grieving.

Her aunt blinked twice before her eyes widened slowly.

She stared at Selene as if she was looking at something impossible— like a ghost.

Her lips parted slightly.

“No…” her aunt whispered softly.

She blinked again and rubbed her eyes.

“No, no… this again…”

Selene’s chest tightened painfully.

Her aunt took a small step back.

“I told you to stop doing this,” she muttered to herself. “You are not real. You are not real.”

Selene felt her throat close.

Her aunt’s eyes filled with tears.

“I keep seeing you,” she whispered. “At the door. In the hallway. Sitting at the table.”

Her voice broke.

“I told myself I’m going crazy.”

Selene could not move for a second.

Her aunt shook her head slowly, staring at her like she was afraid to blink.

“You look thinner in this one,” she murmured quietly. “My mind is cruel…”

Selene stepped forward.

“Auntie,” she said softly.

Her aunt flinched.

“No,” she whispered again. “Don’t talk. If you talk, it will hurt more when you disappear.”

Selene felt something break inside her.

She reached forward slowly.

Her hand touched her aunt’s cheek.

It feels warm and real.

Her aunt froze.

Selene swallowed hard.

“I’m not a hallucination,” she whispered gently.

Her aunt stared at her.

Selene pressed her hand more firmly against her aunt’s face.

“I’m here.”

Her aunt’s lips trembled.

“You’re warm,” she breathed.

Selene nodded, tears forming in her own eyes.

“I’m here,” she repeated.

For a second, her aunt did not move.

Then suddenly, she grabbed Selene.

Her arms wrapped tightly around her, almost desperately. Her body shook violently as she cried.

The sound of her crying was not quiet. It was broken and deep. The kind of crying that comes after holding everything in for too long.

Selene felt her chest ache. She hugged her aunt back just as tightly.

“I’m sorry,” Selene whispered against her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

Her aunt shook her head quickly, still crying.

“Don’t,” she sobbed. “Don’t say sorry. I thought you were gone.”

Selene’s eyes burned.

“I thought they killed you,” her aunt continued, her voice shaking. “They told me you ran. They told me you betrayed us.”

Selene’s hands tightened around her aunt’s back.

“And then you didn’t come home,” her aunt whispered. “Days passed. Weeks passed. Months passed. No body. No letter.”

Her aunt pulled back slightly, holding Selene’s face in her hands like she was afraid she would vanish.

“I buried you in my mind,” she cried softly. “I told myself you were gone so I could survive.”

Selene felt guilt flood her chest.

She had been healing.

She had been loved.

While her aunt had been grieving.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered again, unable to stop the words.

Her aunt shook her head.

“You’re alive,” she said, almost in disbelief. “You’re alive.”

She pulled Selene into another tight hug.

Selene closed her eyes.

The house smelled the same.

Old wood.

Faint herbs.

Memories.

After a long moment, Selene gently guided her aunt inside.

“Sit down,” Selene said softly. “Please.”

Her aunt looked unsteady.

Selene closed the door behind them and led her carefully toward her bedroom.

Everything looked slightly dusty.

Untouched.

As if time paused inside these walls.

Selene helped her aunt sit on the bed.

Her aunt still held onto her hand.

Afraid.

“Look at me,” her aunt whispered.

Selene knelt in front of her.

“I am,” she replied gently.

Her aunt traced her face slowly with trembling fingers.

“You’re real,” she whispered again.

Selene nodded.

Her aunt suddenly noticed something.

Her eyes dropped to Selene’s neck.

The faint mark.

Her fingers froze.

Selene saw the shift.

She knew this moment would come.

Her aunt looked up slowly.

“What is that?” she asked, her voice still fragile.

Selene swallowed.

“It’s… a bond,” she said carefully.

Her aunt stared at her.

“With who?”

Selene took a breath.

“With the Alpha of Montclair.”

The room fell silent but this silence was different.

Her aunt’s eyes widened again, but not from disbelief this time but from shock.

“Montclair?” she whispered.

Selene nodded slowly.

Her aunt leaned back slightly, trying to process.

“You…” she began, then stopped.

Selene felt nervous now.

This was the moment where everything could change again but her aunt did not yell.

She did not accuse. Instead, her eyes filled with tears again.

“Did they hurt you?” she asked suddenly.

Selene blinked.

“No,” she replied softly. “They saved me.”

Her aunt stared at her.

Selene’s voice grew steadier.

“They found me by the river,” she continued. “I was barely breathing.”

Her aunt’s face crumpled.

Selene took her hands.

“They didn’t kill me. They healed me.”

Silence again. Then her aunt pulled her into another hug.

“You’re alive,” she repeated, like she needed to say it to believe it.

Selene closed her eyes.

Yes.

She was alive and she did not return weak. She returned with truth. She returned with strength and soon everything that was buried would rise but for now, she let her aunt cry and she held her tightly because before the war, before the truth, before the revenge.

There was this…Home and the woman who never stopped loving her.