My Sister Stole My Mate And I Let Her (Seraphina) novel Chapter 262

Chapter 262: Chapter 262 UNEXPECTED VARIABLE

SERAPHINA’S POV

The silence that followed my warning was absolute.

No one moved. No one reached for a weapon or a door latch or a comm.

They just stared at me—Gear through the rearview mirror, Wren frozen mid-breath, Codex’s fingers hovering above his tablet, Iris standing rigid between the front seats like a carved figure.

Their skepticism didn’t bristle with hostility or the careless dismissal I’d come to expect. Instead, it was careful, deliberate, as if they were weighing me on invisible scales.

And I couldn’t blame them. I couldn’t explain what was happening.

Not in any way that would satisfy soldiers trained to trust data and experience over ‘hunches.’

Alois might have mentioned my journey, but I doubt he told them about the Origin Archives and the Starlight Hallway.

About how the world had split open there, revealing just how fragile the boundary between realities could be. About how my senses apparently now slipped through those cracks instead of merely skimming the surface.

Iris’ gaze sharpened, not on the dark beyond the headlights—on me.

“All right,” she said, her voice calm. “Then tell me this. How many?”

The question landed heavily, more a responsibility than an inquiry.

I swallowed and closed my eyes.

My breath deepened, pulse finding a steady rhythm. The hum beneath my skin adjusted, tuning itself like an instrument being brought into alignment. I didn’t push outward. I didn’t reach.

I listened.

The energy field around us bloomed into clarity—layered, crowded, vibrating with intent. Shapes pressed in from every direction, not as individuals at first but as pressure points, like dents in the air where something solid should not be.

Circling. Waiting.

My chest tightened.

“At least twenty,” I whispered. “That’s conservative.”

A heartbeat of silence. Then a ripple of tension through the team.

"Are you sure—"

The night erupted.

Howls ripped through the darkness, feral and ragged, weaving together in a chorus that sent shivers racing up my arms.

Shadows peeled away from the treeline, bodies emerging in motion, eyes catching the headlights with predatory gleam.

A pack of rogues.

They fanned out fast, sealing off every escape route with ruthless precision.

Gear muttered a curse, hand darting to the ignition. Wren’s posture snapped into readiness, fluid and lethal. Codex’s tablet chimed, systems flickering to life as he recalibrated.

Iris spoke with a quiet authority that needed no volume.

“Team,” she said, voice crisp, her eyes on the field. “Formation delta. Wren, flank left. Gear, right. Codex, defense and comms.”

Her gaze flicked to me. “You. Keep sensing. I want to know their plan of attack.”

I nodded, heart pounding, and closed my eyes again.

The ambush had layers. That was the first thing I saw once I let go of incredulousness.

There were the visible rogues—moving fast, aggressive, confident.

And then there were the others.

The ones crouched higher along the cliff edges. The ones waiting behind the wreckage line. The ones whose presence distorted the field not with noise, but with absence.

“They’re staggered,” I rushed out. “Two rings. First wave draws you out. Second hits your blind side.”

Iris adjusted instantly. “Shift the line,” she barked. “Don’t overextend.”

Steel flashed. Gunfire cracked the air. The night exploded into chaos.

Iris vaulted from the vehicle, her boots striking the ground with a decisive crack.

“I’m coming with you,” I said.

Iris didn’t even turn. “Negative.”

“What?”

“You stay here.”

I leaned forward. “I’ve been trained. I can fight, and I can half-shift.”

“I bet you can,” she said, finally looking at me. “But not tonight.”

Anger flared hot and sudden. “You don’t get to sideline me after asking me to map the battlefield.”

“This isn’t punishment,” Iris snapped. “It’s risk management.”

“I’m not helpless!”

“No,” she agreed. “You’re unpredictable.”

I blanched.

“You lack control,” Iris continued. “You’re sensing things you don’t understand yet. If that ability spikes mid-fight, it might immobilize you, or you’ll draw attention you can’t survive. There are too many variables.”

“You don’t know anything about what I can survive,” I shot back.

“Enough,” she barked, her tone leaving no room for argument. “Stay with Codex. Guard the cargo.”

She turned away before I could argue again.

The order hit harder than I expected.

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