Chapter 204 Returned family
Chapter 204 Returned family
Lazarus’s POV
The carriage had barely come to a complete stop before the atmosphere in the square changed.
It was subtle at first.
Conversations quieted.
Children stopped running between the tables.
Even the elders seemed to become suddenly aware of themselves, their eyes moving between the arriving family and Magnus.
I remained beneath the Moon Oak, watching.
Maris stepped down first.
She was almost exactly as I remembered her.
Elegant.
Composed.
Every movement deliberate.
Her dark hair was pinned neatly away from her face, and her traveling cloak sat perfectly over her shoulders despite the long journey. She looked nothing like someone arriving at a place filled with people who had every reason to resent her.
Then Seth stepped down.
He looked older.
Not dramatically.
Just enough to tell me that time had passed.
His shoulders were broader, his face harder around the edges, but his eyes were the same.
Those eyes moved across the square.
They passed over the elders.
Over Magnus.
Over me.
And then toward the path leading to my cabin.
He wasn’t smiling.
He looked almost…
Regretful.
I didn’t trust it.
Not for a second.
Two children climbed out after him.
The older one immediately reached for Maris’s hand. He looked around with open curiosity, taking in the unfamiliar buildings, the trees surrounding the village, the wolves who had stopped pretending they weren’t staring.
The younger boy stayed closer to Seth, clutching a small stuffed wolf against his chest.
They were strangers here.
And, more importantly, they were strangers to Nova.
They had never met her.
They had no memories of her.
No childhood stories that belonged to them.
Nothing.
And somehow, that fact made the moment feel even heavier.
The cabin door opened.
My attention snapped toward it.
Nova stepped outside.
She was still wearing my shirt beneath a soft cardigan, her hair slightly messy from sleep. She looked peaceful for exactly three seconds.
Then she saw the carriage.
Her steps stopped.
Her entire body went still.
I watched recognition move across her face.
First Maris.
Then Seth.
Then the children.
Her expression emptied.
She didn’t cry.
She didn’t gasp.
She didn’t say a word.
She simply stood there.
I started toward her.
She moved first.
Nova walked directly across the path toward me.
Not toward her sister.
Not toward her former mate.
Not toward Magnus.
Me.
She stopped at my side.
Her shoulder brushed mine.
Then her fingers found my hand.
I closed my fingers around hers immediately.
I didn’t ask if she was all right.
I knew she wasn’t.
But I also knew she didn’t need me to make a spectacle of protecting her.
She needed me beside her.
So I stayed.
Nova lifted her chin.
Maris watched the entire thing.
Her eyes dropped briefly to our joined hands.
Then returned to Nova’s face.
A slow smile appeared.
It wasn’t warm.
It wasn’t sisterly.
It was calculated.
“So,” Maris said.
Her voice carried easily across the square.
“This is where you’ve been.”
Nova’s fingers tightened around mine.
“I live here.”
Maris’s smile didn’t falter.
“I can see that.”
Her gaze moved over Nova again.
The clothes.
The necklace.
The mark partially visible beneath the collar.
Then she looked at me.
“And you must be Lazarus.”
I didn’t answer immediately.
I let the silence stretch.
Then:
“I am.”
Maris nodded.
“I’ve heard a great deal about you.”
“I can’t say the same.”
Something flickered in her eyes.
Nova’s lips twitched almost imperceptibly.
Maris noticed.
Of course she did.
She turned her attention back to Nova.
“You look well.”
Nova stared at her.
“I am.”
“Good.”
Another pause.
Maris’s smile became softer.
Almost affectionate.
Almost convincing.
“I was worried about you.”
Nova gave a quiet, humorless laugh.
That expression finally cracked.
“Worried?”
Maris tilted her head.
“Of course.”
Nova looked at her for several seconds.
Then said quietly,
“You haven’t changed.”
Maris’s eyes hardened.
“Neither have you.”
The tension between them seemed to spread through the entire square.
I could feel wolves beginning to shift uncomfortably around us.
Nova’s mother stood several feet away, watching with an expression I couldn’t read.
Her father looked irritated.
Magnus remained completely silent.
And Seth…
Seth hadn’t taken his eyes off Nova.
Not once.
There was something in his expression that made my wolf bristle.
Not desire.
Not arrogance.
Guilt.
Real guilt.
Nova noticed it too.
Her eyes met his.
“Seth.”
His jaw tightened.
“Nova.”
She immediately looked away.
“Don’t.”
One word.
He stopped.
His mouth opened slightly, as if he wanted to say something else.
But he didn’t.
Maris reached for his arm.
Her fingers curled around his forearm.
The gesture looked affectionate from a distance.
Up close, I noticed how tightly she held him.
“You don’t need to apologize,” she said quietly.
Seth looked at her.
“Maris.”
“You did what you had to do.”
Something in his expression changed.
“Did I?”
Her smile disappeared.
“Not here.”
Nova heard it.
So did I.
Her eyes narrowed.
“What did he have to do?”
Maris turned toward her.
“Nothing you need to concern yourself with.”
Nova laughed once.
It wasn’t amusement.
It was disbelief.
“That’s still your favorite answer.”
Maris’s jaw tightened.
“Nova.”
“No.”
Nova finally released my hand.
Not because she was moving away from me.
Because she wanted to stand on her own.
She stepped forward.
“What did he have to do?”
Seth looked at her.
His expression was almost painful.
Maris stepped slightly between them.
“You’ve had a difficult few days. You’re emotional.”
Nova’s face changed.
“I am not confused.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“You implied it.”
Maris sighed.
“I came here to bring my children to meet their grandfather.”
Nova glanced toward the boys.
They were watching all of us with innocent confusion.
The older one whispered something to his mother.
Maris leaned down.
“What?”
He pointed subtly toward Nova.
“Who is she?”
The question wasn’t loud.
But the square had gone so quiet that everyone heard it.
Nova’s face went still.
Maris looked at her son.
Then at Nova.
“She’s your aunt.”
The boy looked at Nova again.
There was no recognition in his eyes.
Only curiosity.
Nova forced herself to smile.
It was small.
Polite.
Painfully controlled.
“Hello.”
The boy gave a shy little wave.
“Hello.”
The younger one peeked from behind Seth’s leg.
Nova didn’t approach them.
She didn’t pretend.
She didn’t kneel down and demand affection from children who had never met her.
Instead, she stepped back toward me.
And I saw something in her eyes.
Not anger at the boys.
Never that.
Something deeper.
The realization that while she’d spent years being treated like a monster by her family…
these children had grown up without even knowing she existed.
Seth noticed.
His face tightened.
“You don’t have to—”
Nova looked at him.
“I don’t need anything from you.”
His mouth closed.
Maris’s hand tightened around his arm.
Then she looked at Nova.
“We came peacefully.”
Nova’s eyes sharpened.
“I know.”
“We’re family.”
That word made something inside Nova visibly recoil.
She stared at Maris.
“Family?”
Maris didn’t answer.
Nova laughed softly.
“You don’t get to use that word because you arrived in a carriage.”
Several elders shifted.
Agatha lowered her eyes.
Rowan’s jaw tightened.
Nova continued.
“Where was my family when I was being thrown out?”
Maris’s expression hardened.
“You don’t know the whole story.”
“Then tell me.”
Silence.
Nova took another step.
“Tell me.”
Maris said nothing.
Nova’s voice trembled.
But she didn’t back down.
“Tell me what I did.”
Still nothing.
“Tell me why I deserved it.”
Maris looked away.
That was enough.
Nova’s eyes glistened.
But no tears fell.
She turned slightly.
“Exactly.”
Magnus finally spoke.
“Nova.”
Her head snapped toward him.
“What?”
His expression remained controlled.
“This isn’t the place.”
Lazarus stepped forward.
“No.”
Magnus looked at me.
I held his gaze.
“She doesn’t owe any of you privacy.”
A murmur moved through the crowd.
Magnus’s eyes narrowed.
I continued.
“You came into my territory.”
I gestured toward the square.
“You will respect the rules of this pack.”
His jaw tightened.
“And if I don’t?”
“Then you’ll find out exactly how much patience I have left.”
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then Nova’s voice came quietly from beside me.
“I don’t need you to fight every battle for me.”
I looked at her.
“I know.”
Her eyes softened for a second.
“But thank you.”
I nodded.
Then Seth spoke.
“He’s right.”
Maris turned sharply.
“What?”
Seth released her grip.
“He said she doesn’t owe us anything.”
Maris stared at him.
“You don’t get to decide that.”
“I think she deserves to know.”
Something flashed across Maris’s face.
Fear.
It disappeared almost instantly.
But Nova saw it.
So did I.
Seth looked directly at Nova.
“There are things you were never told.”
Nova’s breathing changed.
“What things?”
Maris stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Seth didn’t look at her.
Nova’s eyes remained fixed on him.
“What things?”
Seth swallowed.
His gaze dropped briefly to the ground before returning to hers.
“I…”
His voice faltered.
For the first time since he’d arrived, he looked genuinely broken.
Maris grabbed his arm again.
“Seth.”
He looked at her.
She whispered something too low for the crowd to hear.
His expression hardened.
“No.”
Her fingers tightened.
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
Nova stared between them.
Her confusion deepened.
“What are you talking about?”
Seth slowly pulled his arm from Maris’s grasp.
Then he looked at Nova.
There was no arrogance in his face now.
No cruelty.
Only regret.
“Nova…”
She waited.
He took a breath.
“There was a reason I rejected you.”
Nova’s face drained of color.
My wolf rose instantly.
Maris’s composure finally shattered.
“Seth.”
He didn’t look at her.
Nova’s voice was barely audible.
“What reason?”
Seth closed his eyes for a moment.
Then opened them.
And looked directly at the woman he’d once broken.
“You deserve to know why.”