Chapter 213 Digging

Chapter 213 Digging
Lazarus’s POV

I had learned a long time ago that my father never did anything without a reason.

He didn’t apologize without wanting something.

He didn’t return without a plan.

And he certainly didn’t cross half the continent with his Luna, his former pack members, and enough guards to make my border patrols nervous simply because he had suddenly developed a sentimental longing for the pack he’d abandoned.

Magnus didn’t do sentiment.

He did leverage.

That was why, before the sun had fully risen, I was sitting behind the desk in my office with Alec standing across from me and a stack of old records spread between us.

I stared at the papers.

Then at him.

“Start again.”

Alec exhaled.

“We’ve checked the obvious things.”

“Meaning?”

“Trade routes. Territory disputes. Old alliances. Recent communications between Magnus’s pack and neighboring territories. Financial records. Patrol movements.”

“And?”

“Nothing.”

I leaned back.

“Nothing?”

“Nothing that explains why he came here.”

I stared toward the window.

The pack was waking outside.

Smoke curled lazily from chimneys. Wolves moved along the paths between cabins. A group of younger warriors crossed the training grounds, laughing about something.

Everything looked normal.

But it wasn’t.

Magnus was here.

That alone meant something was wrong.

“He didn’t come here to reconcile,” I said.

Alec nodded.

“I agree.”

“He didn’t come to see Mother.”

“Probably not.”

“And he didn’t come to see me.”

Alec gave me a look.

“Definitely not.”

I almost smiled.

Almost.

“Then what does he want?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out.”

I reached for another file.

It was an old territorial report.

Nothing.

Another.

Nothing.

I tossed it aside.

“Search deeper.”

Alec frowned.

“How deep?”

“Everything.”

“That’s not particularly specific.”

“Then start with what he doesn’t want us to know.”

Alec stared at me.

“That’s… considerably less specific.”

I glared at him.

He lifted his hands.

“Right. Searching.”

I rubbed a hand over my face.

I hadn’t slept properly.

Not after what happened with Nova.

Not after seeing the way she’d looked when that pendant reacted.

And definitely not after hearing Elder Rowan say that Magnus had ordered people to keep secrets about her childhood.

My jaw tightened.

My father had known something.

Maybe he’d known for years.

And now he had walked straight back into my territory.

Straight toward Nova.

That couldn’t be coincidence.

Alec began sorting through another pile.

“There’s something.”

I looked up.

“What?”

He held up an old ledger.

“Not directly about Magnus.”

“Then why are you showing it to me?”

“Because it’s from twenty years ago.”

I stood.

“Twenty years?”

“Yes.”

He opened it.

“This was transferred from the old pack archives after the split.”

I walked around the desk.

“Show me.”

Alec turned the ledger toward me.

Most of it was boring.

Supply records.

Names.

Births.

Deaths.

Territory agreements.

Then he stopped.

His finger moved down the page.

“Here.”

I leaned closer.

It was a list of people who had been transferred between packs.

My eyes moved across the names.

Then stopped.

There were several names crossed out.

“Why are these redacted?”

“I don’t know.”

“Who did it?”

“There’s no signature.”

I took the ledger from him.

I flipped through several pages.

The same thing appeared again.

Names removed.

Dates missing.

Entire sections torn out.

My pulse quickened.

“These aren’t normal records.”

“No.”

“Find the archive copy.”

Alec looked at me.

“You think there’s another?”

“There always is.”

He nodded.

He disappeared into the storage room.

I remained standing there.

My eyes drifted toward the door.

Nova.

I thought about her face.

The way she’d trembled when Rowan mentioned her childhood.

The way she’d said she didn’t want to become another problem.

My chest tightened.

She still didn’t understand.

She had never been the problem.

The people around her were.

I looked down at the ledger again.

One page caught my attention.

A date.

Twenty years ago.

The same year Nova was born.

I froze.

Alec returned carrying another box.

“Found it.”

He placed it on the desk.

I opened it immediately.

Old documents.

Correspondence.

Patrol reports.

Medical records.

Pack council decisions.

I began going through them.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Then Alec pulled out a folded document.

“This one was sealed.”

“By whom?”

He turned it over.

His expression changed.

“Magnus.”

My blood went cold.

“Open it.”

Alec hesitated.

“Alpha—”

“Open it.”

He broke the seal.

Inside was a handwritten report.

I read the first line.

Then the second.

My stomach dropped.

“That’s impossible.”

Alec looked at me.

“What?”

I handed it to him.

He read.

His face changed.

“Alpha…”

“Keep reading.”

He did.

Silence filled the office.

Then Alec looked up.

“Nova’s name is here.”

I stared at him.

“Where?”

He pointed to the bottom of the page.

There it was.

Nova.

Not as a banished wolf.

Not as a criminal.

Not as an outcast.

As a child.

My hands tightened around the edge of the desk.

“What does it say?”

Alec swallowed.

“It says she was being monitored.”

“For what?”

He continued reading.

Then his eyes widened.

“Alpha…”

“What?”

“This wasn’t a punishment order.”

I stepped closer.

“What was it?”

Alec looked at me.

“It was an observation report.”

My stomach twisted.

“Observation of what?”

He slowly turned the page.

There was another name beneath Nova’s.

One I hadn’t expected to see.

My father’s.

Magnus.

And underneath it, a sentence written in his handwriting.

A sentence that made every hair on the back of my neck rise.

Do not let the child reach adulthood before the power fully awakens.

I stared at the words.

Alec went pale.

“Alpha…”

I didn’t answer.

Because beneath that sentence was something even worse.

A second line.

One that had been partially scratched out.

But not enough.

I could still make out the words.

If she survives the first awakening, bring her to—

The rest was missing.

I looked at Alec.

“Find the missing pages.”

He nodded immediately.

But before he could move, something caught my eye.

At the very bottom of the page was a final handwritten note.

Different ink.

Different handwriting.

Recent.

My blood ran cold.

I read it once.

Then again.

Alec leaned closer.

“What does it say?”

I couldn’t answer.

Because the note was only seven words.

Magnus is not here for Nova.

My eyes lifted slowly.

And beneath it was one final sentence.

He is here because of what Nova is.