My Sister Stole My Mate, And I Let Her

10: Chapter 10 DANGEROUS COMBINATION 10: Chapter 10 DANGEROUS COMBINATION KIERAN’S POV

“The financials are solid, and their growth trajectory is impressive,” Gavin, my Beta, reported, sliding a tablet across my desk.

The screen displayed the sleek logo of Out of the Shadows.

“They’ve expanded their operations into LA last year.

Their model—providing sanctuary and training for wolves without packs, Omegas, the vulnerable—it’s garnered significant support.”

I skimmed the report, noting each figure and statistic.

A noble venture, on the surface.

Gavin’s tone, however, held a note of subtle caution, precise and measured.

“And the catch?”

“Their Alpha, Lucian Reid.

He’s…

unconventional.

Operates outside traditional pack hierarchies, ignoring expected protocols.

There are whispers he’s poaching members from established packs by offering what they lack—acceptance, for those their own families shun, and resources others cannot provide.”

The name meant nothing to me, but the description ignited a cold, familiar spark of irritation.

The idea that inherent weaknesses could be so easily “solved” was naive, straightforward and lacking depth.

If it were that simple, Edward Lockwood, with all his resources and desperation to fix his flawed daughter, would have found a solution for Seraphina years ago.

Seraphina.

The thought of my ex-wife was a persistent, aggravating thorn lately.

She hadn’t reached out to anyone since that day at the hospital.

Even matters concerning Daniel were handled via terse, efficient texts.

She was actively erasing herself from our world.

‘This is what you wanted,’ I reminded myself.

A clean break.

A clear path forward with Celeste, uncomplicated by the shadow of a marriage that should never have been.

Yet, every night when I closed my eyes, my mind conjured the attack with horrifying clarity, the images forming unbidden, precise, and relentless.

I hadn’t been there, but my Alpha instincts supplied the details with cruel precision—the shatter of glass breaking through the silence, the metallic scent of her blood hanging in the night air, sharp and unmistakable, the paralyzing fear she must have felt in that moment, frozen and inescapable.

When the rogue’s claws had reached for her throat in my mind’s eye, my own breath had seized, my body reacting before thought could follow, muscles tensing as if I could spring across the distance to intercept the attack.

Every primal instinct I possessed had roared to protect her—my ex-wife, my son’s mother, the mate I’d never claimed, the bond that existed whether I acknowledged it or not.

And I had been useless.

Then another shadow had intervened, arriving with lethal speed and efficiency that left no room for error.

I should have been grateful to the stranger for tearing the rogue apart.

I should have thanked the Moon Goddess that he’d reached her in time.

But watching him—in the relentless reel of my imagination—cradle her against his bare chest, a growl had ripped from my throat before I could suppress it.

My canines had ached, my vision tingeing with red, the familiar surge of instinctual dominance flooding through every fiber of me.

“Mine.” My wolf, Ashar, snarled.

Then I’d wake, heart hammering against my ribs in the vast silence of the Alpha suite.

That final word had to be a phantom, a relic of a strained bond, something left behind by time rather than something that still existed.

Sera was never mine.

For ten years, I’d refused to mark her, refused to grant her the title of Luna, because we never belonged to each other.

She was my wife by unfortunate accident, bound by circumstance and obligation, not by desire or choice.

Now, we were finally free.

Celeste was back, willing to forgive the past and build a future.

I couldn’t jeopardize that.

So why had seeing Sera’s icy, detached gaze in the hospital felt like a crack forming in my very foundation?

Why did the dream-image of another man’s hands on her waist make me want to paint those fucking trees with his entrails?

I dragged a hand down my face and stared out the window.

The moon was waxing, nearing fullness.

That’s it.

For ten years, the full moon had always pulled me to her, a relentless, physical craving I could never fully explain or control.

Her body had been the only solace for the restless, aggressive energy that consumed me each cycle.

But that wasn’t love.

It was Need.

A base, biological compulsion.

Now, we were divorced.

I had no reason to drag Sera back into that sordid dynamic.

Pushing back from the bed, I headed for the bathroom, turning the shower to cold.

I needed to drown the heat, the possessiveness, the unwanted echoes of a word that had no right to exist.

Mine.

***

I’d ultimately taken Gavin’s advice to visit the OTS headquarters in person.

Their financials were indeed promising, and a potential alliance held merit.

More pressingly, Ethan had confided his frustration over Celeste’s training.

A decade away from pack life had left her wolf weakened, and we couldn’t risk a repeat of what happened to Sera.

Celeste found the idea of training in front of our pack members…

humiliating.

So we decided to get her a special one.

Stepping into the OTS complex, I had to admit the place had a distinct energy.

It felt purposeful, almost healing.

My only irritation was the absence of their Alpha, Lucian Reid.

My request for a meeting was met with a polite but firm deferral by a staff member.

“Alpha Reid is currently occupied with a precious guest.

He extends his apologies.”

Gavin bristled beside me—the Nightfang Pack was not accustomed to being put on hold.

I eased his anger, dismissing it as a negotiating tactic, a play for perceived value.

That detached curiosity evaporated the moment I saw her from the second-floor observation walkway.

Sera.

She was in OTS training gear, hair plastered to her forehead with sweat, chest heaving as she prepared for another drill.

The man opposite her was a mountain, easily twice her size.

Yet there was no fear in her eyes, only fierce, burning focus.

This was a Seraphina I had never seen.

The guide’s words about reinforced glass and kinetic sensors became a distant hum.

My world narrowed to the room below.

She held her own longer than I thought possible, but eventually, her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto her back, exhausted.

A strange relief washed over me, followed instantly by a surge of something far darker as the man leaned over her, his face close to hers, too close, his posture intimate.

A possessiveness, raw and startling in its intensity, slammed into me.

I was moving before I fully processed the action, leaving Gavin and the confused guide behind.

The sterile hallway blurred as I strode towards the training room.

I arrived just as they were leaving the room.

They were both breathing hard, the air thick with the mingled scent of their sweat.

To my raging senses, it smelled like claim.

My wolf, Asher, snarled silently, every muscle coiling.

“Sera.” My voice came out harsher than I intended.

She finally noticed me, her body going still.

For a second, something flickered in her eyes—surprise, perhaps a ghost of the old vulnerability.

Then it was gone, replaced by that infuriating, newfound ice.

She turned back to Reid with a casualness that felt like a slap.

“Thanks for the session.

I’m going to hit the showers.”

“So you’re just going to pretend I don’t exist now, Sera?” The words came out laced with a bitterness I didn’t bother to conceal.

“Or is it that you don’t want your new…

friend here to know I’m your ex-husband?”

Her eyes finally snapped to me, wide with incredulity.

“You mean the ex-husband who made it abundantly clear he wanted nothing to do with me?

What I do is none of your business.”

“Seraphina—”

The man reached her hands.

“Hey now,” he said, his tone calm but firm.

“Let’s all just—”

“Stay out of this,” I growled, glaring at their joined hands.

“This is a family affair.

No one needs you meddling—whoever the fuck you are.”

The man chuckled and took a step forward, standing next to Sera.

“I’m Alpha Lucian Reed of Shadowveil pack and the President of the organization that owns this building we’re standing in.”

I finally had an identity for this meddlesome stranger, and I didn’t like it one bit.

But if he thought his credentials were going to make me cower, he had another thing coming.

Every male in here was a fucking Alpha.

“I assume you’re the famous Alpha Kieran.” The man said.

“My apologies for missing our meeting, but you shouldn’t take it out on my guest.

As you can see, Sera is the precious appointment I had today.”

Hearing him use her name so familiarly made the anger on my skin feel twice as hot.

But the true fury ignited when Sera stepped forward, shielding him.

“Leave Lucian out of this,” she said, her voice cold.

“I asked to come today.

I had no idea about your…

business arrangements.

If I’d known you’d be here, I might have reconsidered.”

The dismissal in her tone was a fresh insult.

“Do you even know him, Sera?

Running off to a stranger’s territory alone?

Did you learn nothing from the woods?

If you don’t value your own life, think of Daniel.

Do you want him to lose his mother?”

The words were out, harsh and cruel, before I could stop them.

I saw the immediate impact—her eyes widened, the familiar flash of heartbreak I’d caused so many times flickering within them.

Then her expression hardened, her gaze turning to shards of ice.

“How dare you,” she whispered, the words sharp as blades.

“How dare you bring up that night.

If it weren’t for Lucian, I wouldn’t be here at all!”

I saw the tears welling, but she refused to let them fall.

Instead, she turned sharply to Lucian.

“I’m sorry.

I have to go.”

Then she was striding past me, heading for the exit, for the parking lot.

Lucian moved to follow her.

My feet felt rooted to the spot, heavy as stone.

The ghost of her shattered expression hung in the air between us, and for the first time in a decade, I had no idea what to do next.