My Sister Stole My Mate, And I Let Her

Chapter 544: Chapter 544 THE SQUARE AND THE MENACE (BONUS Chapter 3)

AVA’S POV

The shower had been running for long enough that the bathroom mirror was completely fogged over, but I still hadn’t moved.

I stood beneath the scalding spray, forehead pressed to the slick, misted tile, letting the water pour over my hair, trail down my neck, and soothe shoulders still humming with the ache of exertion.

Usually, a hot shower after sparring was one of my favorite activities. It was where tension drained from my muscles as I replayed everything, figuring out where I’d made mistakes and how I could improve next time.

My time with Alois had taught me that I was a quick learner. I had progressed faster than he had expected when I first returned to the New Moon Institute three years ago, absorbing techniques and theories with an ease that had surprised even me.

Each lesson unlocked a new door, and behind every door waited another challenge, another skill to master, another piece of the world to understand.

I loved the discipline, the certainty that if I worked hard enough, I could become better than I had been the day before.

There was only one part of my training that wasn’t a success.

My wolf.

Alois had assessed me not long before I first left Nightfang, and he had been careful when he explained what he believed would happen.

The injury I had suffered as a child during the fire in Moonlight Alley, combined with the trauma surrounding it, had left scars far deeper than we thought.

My wolf might be delayed because of it.

Or she might never come at all.

I had nodded when he told me, had even offered a smile.

Sera had spoken to me about it afterward, when she found me sitting alone in my room, staring at a book without actually reading a single word.

She hadn’t offered empty reassurance—that was one of the things I appreciated most about her.

Instead, she had told me about her own experience, about waiting until she was thirty before finally receiving Alina.

I’d spent years thinking that eighteen was practically ancient. Thirty seemed like a lifetime away.

And yet Sera had waited that long and still become the most powerful werewolf I had ever known.

If anyone could make me believe that not having a wolf yet didn’t mean I was broken, it was her.

Alois had encouraged me too, reminding me that power didn’t always arrive on the schedule we wanted, that some things couldn’t be forced without causing more harm than good.

I understood; I swear I did.

Still, there were moments when uncertainty and disappointment burrowed beneath my skin and settled somewhere I couldn’t reach.

Today was one of them.

Normally, I kept my emotions locked down tight, but one run-in with Daniel freakin’ Blackthorne and all my control vanished like mist.

Now, all I could see was the way he strode onto the training grounds, radiating the confidence of someone certain of who he was meant to be.

The way his hair tumbled across his forehead, the new depth in his voice, and how, when he looked at me, I became painfully aware of every breath I took.

I closed my eyes with a heavy sigh.

I had spent six years convincing myself that the strange little flutter in my chest whenever Daniel looked at me was nothing worth examining. It had been easier that way.

Except I knew better now.

I had known for a while; I just hadn’t wanted to admit it.

I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when my feelings had developed.

Maybe it had been all those hours training together when we were younger, when Daniel had patiently corrected my footwork and then groaned in exasperation when I used the same technique to knock him onto his back.

Maybe it had been our endless arguments and ridiculous competitions, the way he always seemed to know exactly which button to push and I always seemed incapable of letting him have the last word.

Maybe it was his laugh or his smile or the awe with which he looked at me when I managed to surprise him.

Or maybe it was because I blinked and suddenly he was tall and broad-shouldered and ridiculously, frustratingly handsome—

I groaned. "Ugh."

I reached for the shower tap and twisted it harder than necessary.

Silence rushed in around me, and for a few seconds, I simply stood there, water dripping from my hair and skin as the warmth of the shower faded from the room.

I closed my eyes and forced myself to push every thought of Daniel out of my head.

I didn’t want to think about his laugh or his smile or the hurt in his eyes when he learned I’d been back for a week without telling him.

Most of all, I didn’t want to think about the way I flinched when he reached for me. I didn’t want to think about why I’d flinched.

Of course, immediately, it was all I could think about, and I was transported back to the day I’d returned to Nightfang.

I’d just finished unpacking and was going to use the phone in the common room to call Daniel. But I froze at the entrance when I heard Cindy’s voice.

She’d been talking to a group of girls, her voice bright with the particular kind of pride that made it impossible not to be curious.

I wasn’t an eavesdropper by nature. But Daniel’s name on her tongue? I couldn’t help myself.

Huge mistake.

Apparently, Daniel and Cindy had gotten closer over the last couple of months.

They spent every night talking on the phone.

They’d kissed on New Year’s Day.

Then Cindy had flashed her rapt audience the bracelet he’d given her: a simple but gorgeous pink circlet with her initials nestled in the center.

I’d been...stunned. Flabbergasted.

Daniel and Cindy? What? When? How? Why?

No answer would have sufficed, and thinking about it for even a second caused a gnawing ache in my chest.

So I’d thrown myself into training and studying and pretended that neither of them existed in my world.

But then Daniel had reached for me today and there, clear as day, was a blue beaded bracelet with his initials in the center—a perfect match to the one Cindy had brandished.

Cindy, who’d been right beside him, gawking at him like he regularly vaulted into the sky to turn on the moon.

I swallowed against the sudden dryness in my throat.

I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself, refusing to let myself linger on the thought.

I crossed the bathroom and stopped in front of the mirror, wiping a clear patch through the fog with my palm.

The girl staring back at me looked nothing like the child whose life changed forever when she picked Sera Blackthorne’s pocket.

My face had lost the softness of childhood, my features sharper now, my body lean and strong from years of training.

The little rascal with the unfortunate haircut, whom people had mistaken for a boy, had disappeared somewhere in the last six years.

I’d spent years forging myself into someone stronger, faster, more skilled. I’d changed nearly everything—except the one thing that mattered most.

Daniel still saw me as the little thug I had been.

To him, I was still just Ava from Moonlight Alley, the annoying kid who constantly challenged him and talked too much and refused to let him win anything without a fight.

I rolled my shoulders back and forced the same smile I’d worn for Alois when he told me I might never be a normal werewolf.

Maybe this was how things were supposed to be.

Maybe Daniel would always be my oldest friend, my sparring partner, the boy who simultaneously made me laugh until my stomach hurt and yell till my face burned, who had grown into someone I couldn’t stop thinking about.

I turned from the mirror, unable to face that hollow smile a moment longer.

Most of my life had been spent learning lessons: how to live with uncertainty, how to push through pain and loss.

How to accept that not everything I wanted was meant to be mine.