Free Web NovelChapter 526: Chapter 526 A SECOND CHANCE (BONUS Chapter 4)
LUCIAN’S POV
Werewolf healing was a miraculous thing.
It was also deeply inconvenient for anyone trying to wallow properly in existential despair.
Most of my injuries had healed when I was unconscious, and by the following morning, the worst of the weakness had eased enough for me to stand without feeling as though my skeleton had been assembled by an enthusiastic amateur with a personal vendetta against structural integrity.
All I had as proof of what I’d gone through were my memories, and unfortunately, werewolf healing didn’t reach psychological wounds. Go figure.
By early afternoon, I had been relocated from the medical wing to one of the guest rooms in the packhouse.
The room itself was pleasant enough. Large windows overlooked the training grounds, where wolves moved through drills beneath the pale afternoon sun.
The furniture was simple but comfortable, and the muted earth tones made the room feel warmer than the sterile white room I’d woken up in yesterday.
There were fresh clothes folded on the dresser. Tea on the bedside table. A vase of moonflowers on the windowsill.
My gaze lingered on the flowers longer than necessary.
White petals curled softly around silver centers, their blossoms open despite the daylight filtering through the windows.
A witch’s flower.
Evelyn probably liked them.
A knock sounded against the door, and my heart skipped a beat.
"Come in."
The door opened, and Sera stepped inside carrying a folder tucked beneath one arm.
I kept my face straight so as not to betray the disappointment I felt that she wasn’t who I most wanted to see right then.
“Is it to your liking?” she asked, gesturing around the room.
I nodded. “Thank you.”
I didn’t add that I wouldn’t stay long enough to truly appreciate the room.
“If you need anything, I—”
“What’s that?” I interrupted, nodding to the folder.
I was exhausted from dwelling on my needs, and I just wanted something that wasn’t about me for a moment.
“A welcome-back gift, you could say,” Sera said, crossing the room and holding the folder out to me.
I took it cautiously, a little concerned by the pleased smile on her face.
I opened the folder and pulled out a fat legal document.
I flipped through the first page. Then the second. Then the third.
My eyes moved over transfer clauses, ownership agreements, and official recognitions, and by the fourth page, understanding settled heavily in my chest, and disbelief tightened my throat.
“Sera,” I managed to choke out, “what am I looking at?”
She leaned one shoulder against the wall near the window, and her smile widened.
"Following the collapse of Marcus and Jack’s operations, the allied forces seized all assets connected to the Draven network."
My eyes moved back to the papers.
Seized assets. Transferred ownership.
My heart skipped.
“OTS?” I asked quietly.
Sera nodded.
“Jack’s ownership claim was invalidated as proceeds derived from criminal activity and conspiracy charges piled up faster than lawyers could process them.”
I looked back down at the documents, but the words had blurred.
“The members who left are already moving back into the building,” she continued. “Those who stayed behind did an amazing job holding down the fort. Judy and Roxy are taking point to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible.”
She walked towards me and stretched out her hand. My breath caught as I stared at the object in her palm.
The OTS insignia on the seal caught the afternoon light spilling through the windows, and suddenly I was back on Sera’s porch, entrusting my legacy to her, unsure if I would come back to reclaim it.
Slowly, I looked up at her.
"Sera..."
Her expression softened as she pressed it into my hand.
"You trusted me to hold onto it until you came back," she said softly. "Now you’re back."
My legs gave out beneath me, and I sat down heavily on the edge of the bed as the full weight of what she was saying finally caught up with me.
My gaze dropped to the papers in my hands, to the signatures and official seals stamped across the pages.
My throat tightened painfully.
“I thought...” The words faltered before they could fully form, and I swallowed against the pressure building beneath my ribs. “I thought I’d destroyed it. I spent years building a place where people who didn’t belong anywhere else could feel safe, and then I handed the keys to the very people they needed protection from.”
Sera didn’t answer.
Maybe because there wasn’t anything she could say that wouldn’t feel dishonest.
Because I had destroyed it, hadn’t I?
Maybe not intentionally. Maybe not maliciously. But consequences had never cared much for intentions, and the damage my choices caused remained the same.
The only thing I’d done right for OTS was placing it in Sera’s care.
“Thank you,” I whispered, looking up at her as a tear slid down my cheek. “I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
She shook her head. “You don’t need to repay me.”
My gaze dropped as guilt settled heavily in my chest, pressing against my ribs as memories of old lies, old manipulations, and desperate choices crowded in around me.
Even after all the ways I’d hurt her, she had still fought to protect the legacy I had handed over to monsters.
I didn’t know how I was supposed to carry a debt like that, let alone repay it.
“Oh gods, are we wallowing in self-pity again?” a sharp voice cut in as the door opened. “If you ask me to kill you, I won’t hesitate to stab you with a pretty little silver dagger.”
I looked up as Maya stepped into the room, and I tensed as I remembered the last time we’d occupied the same space.
The woods.
The scent of blood and corruption.
Nyra lunging for my throat.
My magic wrapping around her in glowing chains because I’d run out of options, and desperation had made choices for me.
Awkward didn’t begin to cover it.
I stood, bracing myself as she crossed the room.
Sera straightened too. “Maya, he’s still recovering. Don’t—”
Maya threw her arms around me and buried her face in my chest. "You absolute fucking idiot."
For a moment, I simply stood there, too startled to react as the reality of it struggled to catch up with me.
Anger. Accusations. Catastrophic bodily harm. That’s what I’d prepared for, what I deserved.
Maya’s arms tightened around me. “Hug me back, asshole.”
Slowly, cautiously, afraid the moment might disappear if I moved too quickly, I lifted my arms and held her back.
She was familiar and comforting in a way that made something tighten painfully in my chest.
Eventually, Maya stepped back just enough to look me over, her expression caught between affection, relief, and the lingering remnants of anger she hadn’t entirely let go of.
“You look terrible.”
“I was recently dead.”
“Ah, yes. I heard about the whole martyr act.” She cocked her head. “If you wanted to die so much, why didn’t you let me kill you in the woods? I would have greatly enjoyed it.”
Despite everything, despite the exhaustion and the guilt and the lingering ache beneath my ribs, I laughed.
It was small and rough around the edges, but with it, I felt the first threads of the tight knot in my chest begin to unravel.
Maya’s expression softened at the sound.
"I was so angry at you," she admitted quietly. "After the woods, after hearing you tried to kill Sera, I didn’t know if I wanted to hug you or throttle you."
"Both are valid reactions."
"They’re not mutually exclusive."
A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth as I looked down at her belly.
"Congratulations, by the way."
Something gentler settled over her expression as her hand absently pressed against her stomach.
"Thank you."
We shared a smile, and then she asked gently, “So, what now?”
I exhaled heavily.
"Shadowveil needs its Alpha, and OTS..." My gaze drifted to the folder and seal still resting on the bed beside me. “OTS needs a founder who has earned the right to stand in front of his people again.”
There was so much wreckage I had to wade through: a pack I had abandoned, alliances I had strained, and people who deserved explanations and atonement I wasn’t sure I knew how to give.
"I don’t know where to start," I admitted. "But I can’t face them until I’ve done that work. And I can’t do it here.”
Sera exchanged a glance with Maya before looking back at me.
"Then stay a little longer before you leave."
I hesitated.
"The bonfire celebration is tomorrow night," Sera said. "You’ve spent two weeks unconscious and one day trying to carry the weight of the world again. Give yourself another couple of hours."
Before I could answer, Maya pointed a finger at me.
"And you’re coming back before this baby is born."
I chuckled. "That’s an order?"
"Absolutely."
“Then I suppose I have an official timeline.”
Later, after they’d gone and the room had fallen quiet again, my eyes drifted to the door.
Evelyn hadn’t visited yesterday.
She hadn’t visited today.
Maybe she wouldn’t visit tomorrow either.
Maybe she’d already said goodbye in the only way she intended to.
Still, as evening sunlight stretched long shadows across the floorboards and painted the room in soft bronze, I found myself listening for footsteps in the hallway.
