Chapter 217 Letter

Chapter 217 Letter
Lazarus's POV
“Where was Seth this morning?”
The question hung between us like the edge of a blade.
Maris's smile stayed exactly where it was.
Too exact.
Too practiced.
“With our sons.”
The answer came so quickly it barely sounded thought about.
I didn't speak.
I simply looked at Alec.
He understood immediately.
He unfolded the patrol report again.
“That's not what my men saw.”
The room went quiet.
Maris's eyes shifted to the paper in my hand.
Only for a second.
Then she laughed softly.
“There must be some mistake.”
Alec didn't laugh.
“Our northern patrol logged movement before dawn.”
He tapped the report.
“One male wolf.”
“Alone.”
“Leaving the guest cabins.”
“Heading toward the restricted northern woods.”
Maris's expression remained composed.
“Seth likes walking.”
“In forbidden territory?”
“He didn't know.”
“He was told.”
She crossed her arms.
“So now you're accusing my husband of sneaking around?”
“No.”
I folded the report carefully.
“I'm asking where he was.”
She looked me straight in the eye.
“I already answered.”
The silence stretched.
Then I walked toward the door.
“Alec.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“Find Seth.”
Maris spoke immediately.
“He's probably with the children.”
I looked back.
“If that's true...”
I opened the door.
“We'll find him there.”
We found the children first.
They were playing outside the guest cabins under the watch of two of our guards.
Little Rowan—the older boy—was trying very seriously to teach his younger brother how to throw pinecones into a bucket.
The younger one missed spectacularly.
Then laughed so hard he fell into the grass.
For a brief moment...
My anger softened.
None of this was their fault.
They were innocent.
They had no idea their parents were carrying enough secrets to poison an entire pack.
One of my guards straightened when he saw me.
“Alpha.”
“Where's Seth?”
The guard frowned.
“We haven't seen him since dawn.”
I glanced sideways.
Maris had followed us.
Her smile disappeared.
“That's impossible.”
The guard shook his head.
“He left before sunrise.”
“Alone.”
“I assumed he had permission.”
Maris stared at him.
“You're mistaken.”
The guard looked uncomfortable.
“I don't think I am.”
A second guard stepped forward.
“I saw him myself.”
“He entered the northern path.”
“Never came back through the checkpoint.”
Maris's jaw tightened.
Then she recovered almost instantly.
“He probably took another route.”
“There isn't another route.”
I answered before the guards could.
She looked at me.
“The northern woods end at old cliffs.”
“No one crosses there.”
Unless they know exactly where they're going.
“Quietly,” I told Alec.
He nodded.
No alarms.
No public accusations.
Not yet.
If Magnus realized we were investigating Seth...
Whoever Seth had gone to meet would disappear before sunset.
We left two guards near the guest cabins.
Not obvious.
Just close enough.
Then Alec and I headed north.
The northern woods were different from the rest of the territory.
Older.
Quieter.
The trees grew closer together here, their branches weaving so tightly overhead that sunlight broke through in scattered gold patches instead of broad beams.
The air smelled damp.
Moss covered fallen logs.
Fern leaves brushed against our boots as we walked.
“This place always creeps me out,” Alec muttered.
“Good.”
He looked at me.
“Why good?”
“People avoid places that creep them out.”
He sighed.
“You're becoming philosophical.”
“I'm becoming suspicious.”
“There it is.”
We followed the path until it disappeared beneath years of fallen needles.
Then Alec crouched.
“Tracks.”
I joined him.
One clear boot print pressed into softer earth.
Fresh.
“Size?”
“Matches Seth.”
I studied the imprint.
He hadn't been running.
He'd been walking steadily.
Like someone who knew where he was going.
We kept moving.
Another print.
Then another.
Eventually the path narrowed until thorn bushes crowded both sides.
Alec stopped again.
“There.”
A strip of fabric fluttered from a branch.
Dark blue.
He carefully pulled it free.
“This isn't Seth's.”
I frowned.
“He wasn't wearing blue.”
“No.”
Alec turned the fabric over.
“Too fine.”
The cloth was expensive.
Not patrol clothing.
Not ordinary pack clothing.
Almost ceremonial.
“Keep it.”
He tucked it away.
Then something else caught my attention.
The ground changed.
Wolf tracks.
Several of them.
Large.
Too large for ordinary patrol wolves.
I crouched beside one.
“Fresh.”
Alec frowned.
“They just... stop.”
He was right.
The prints ended abruptly.
No return tracks.
No continuation.
Nothing.
Like whoever had made them had vanished.
I looked around slowly.
The woods had gone silent.
No birds.
No insects.
Even the wind seemed quieter.
My wolf stirred uneasily.
“Something's wrong.”
Alec nodded.
“I feel it.”
Then—
“There.”
He pointed through the trees.
Stone.
Half-hidden beneath ivy.
We pushed through thick vines until the forest suddenly opened into a small clearing.
An old shrine stood at its center.
I'd forgotten it existed.
The Northern Moon Shrine.
It hadn't been used since before Magnus left.
Weathered stone columns leaned slightly with age.
Moss climbed their sides.
Wildflowers grew between cracked steps.
Except...
The flowers near the entrance had been crushed recently.
Someone had walked here.
Recently.
Very recently.
Alec ran his fingers across one of the columns.
“No dust.”
I looked closer.
He was right.
Someone had cleaned it.
Not perfectly.
But enough.
My eyes moved across the carvings.
Then stopped.
A crescent.
My breath caught.
The exact same crescent shape I'd seen hanging from Nova's pendant.
Every line matched.
Every curve.
Every tiny notch near the bottom.
“What the hell...”
Alec looked over.
“You've seen that before.”
I nodded slowly.
“Nova's pendant.”
His expression changed.
“This can't be coincidence.”
“No.”
It couldn't.
I climbed the worn steps.
The stone altar stood untouched.
Or so I thought.
Then I noticed scratches near its base.
Fresh ones.
Someone had moved it.
“Alec.”
He came beside me.
Together we pushed.
At first, nothing happened.
Then—
Stone scraped against stone.
The altar shifted.
Hidden beneath it was a narrow compartment.
My pulse quickened.
Inside lay a folded letter.
Dry.
Carefully protected.
Waiting.
Alec picked it up carefully.
“The seal.”
I looked.
Not Magnus's.
Not Seth's.
A crest.
Elegant.
Three intertwined vines surrounding a crescent moon.
Recognition hit immediately.
Nova's mother's family crest.
My stomach tightened.
I broke the seal.
The paper crackled softly.
The ink was recent.
Only a few days old.
I read the first line.
My blood ran cold.
The girl has begun remembering.
Alec leaned closer.
“What else?”
I unfolded more.
Another line.
Do not let Lazarus discover—
The rest had been ripped away.
I cursed under my breath.
Someone had deliberately removed the second half.
Alec searched the compartment again.
“There's nothing else.”
I stared at the torn edge.
Whatever came after Lazarus's name...
Someone had decided was worth hiding.
Then my wolf growled.
Low.
Warning.
I froze.
Alec heard it too.
“What?”
I looked toward the trees.
“Don't move.”
The forest had gone unnaturally still.
Then—
A twig snapped.
Behind us.
We turned simultaneously.
Nothing.
Just trees.
Then another sound.
Closer.
Someone was breathing.
Watching.
Alec's hand moved toward his knife.
“Did you hear—”
“I heard it.”
I folded the letter and tucked it inside my jacket.
Another crack echoed through the clearing.
This time from the opposite side.
Whoever was out there...
They weren't trying to stay hidden anymore.
They wanted us to know they were there.
A shadow slipped between two trees.
Too fast to identify.
“Alec.”
“Already moving.”
We bolted after it.
Branches whipped against my face.
Leaves exploded beneath our boots.
The figure darted through the trees with impossible familiarity, weaving between rocks and fallen trunks without slowing.
“Stop!”
No answer.
We gained ground.
Then lost it again.
The shadow disappeared behind a massive oak.
I reached it seconds later.
Nothing.
Empty.
Gone.
Alec stopped beside me, breathing hard.
“Where did they—”
He fell silent.
On the ground.
Exactly where the figure had vanished.
Lay a single object.
A silver chain.
Broken.
The pendant that should have hung from it was missing.
I picked it up carefully.
The metal was still warm.
And engraved on the clasp—
were two initials.
M. V.
Maris Vale.
My grip tightened around the chain.
Alec stared at it.
“Alpha…”
I looked back toward the empty trees.
Whoever had been watching us...
hadn't just escaped.
They'd left us a message.