My Sister Stole My Mate And I Let Her (Seraphina) novel Chapter 355

Chapter 355: Chapter 355 SO-CALLED STRATEGY

KIERAN’S POV

Marcus Draven might not have sent parchment. He might not have stood in a council chamber and issued a formal challenge.

But funding rogue units to target my mate...

"Marcus has declared war."

I stood in Frostbane’s strategy room, palms braced against the long oak table scarred by generations of Alpha disputes, and let the fury cool and sharpen into a blade of ice.

"You have no proof of Marcus’ involvement," Ethan pointed out. "It’s their word against his."

I nodded. "True. Which is why I’m mobilizing the western patrols. I’m placing them just outside Silverpine borders, breathing down their necks. If a rogue so much as sets foot on Silverpine land, that establishes association. And association with rogues violates inter-pack law. That gives me grounds. Grounds for formal censure. Grounds for sanctioned retaliation.”

I let the words settle.

“Then we attack.”

Ethan’s disapproval was obvious in the crease between his brows, the tightening of his jaw, and the way his arms crossed tightly. “You’re escalating.”

“He made the first move,” I replied. “I’m responding.”

“No.”

My head turned slowly towards the voice.

Corin stood across the table from me, arms loosely at his sides, gaze steady.

“Excuse me?” I said, voice low.

“No,” he repeated, unapologetic and firm. “Not like that.”

“And how exactly are you involved in Nightfang’s military decisions?”

Sera moved at that point, and her hand came down over mine on the table.

“I agree,” she said quietly.

I turned to her, my eyebrows rising.

“You agree,” I echoed, my words trembling despite my effort to sound composed.

Her gaze did not waver. “Not like that.”

Something sharp flared in my chest that had nothing to do with Marcus.

“You’ve known him for what,” I asked her, “a handful of weeks? And you’re taking his side over mine?”

She shook her head. “That’s not what this is.”

“That’s exactly what it feels like,” I said, the edge no longer fully concealed.

"I just want you to be cautious."

I straightened, drawing my hands back from the table, jaw tight enough to ache.

“I will not sit idle while another Alpha orchestrates attacks on my mate.”

“No one is asking you to sit idle,” Sera said, her voice lower now, careful. “I’m asking you not to charge blind. I don’t want you to lose.”

“I never lose.”

Her eyes glinted silver for an instant.

“Not yet,” she whispered.

The room went still.

“Explain,” I demanded.

“Just now, as you were laying out your plan,” she began, “I saw something.”

Something tightened under my ribs as I remembered the last time she saw ‘something.’

“Saw what?”

“If you retaliate,” she said. “It will end badly for Nightfang. For you.”

My jaw clenched. “How?”

It was Corin who answered. “Marcus lets you attack, but he doesn’t meet you head-on. The rogues will be on the front line, so he’ll suffer no loss, and then the narrative will spread: You escalated without proof. You become the aggressor. You look impulsive. Unstable. And once that perception settles, your allies start having doubts. They start to recalculate.”

“And while you’re focused on putting out those fires,” Sera added, “he makes his next move.”

Corin’s gaze shifted pointedly to Sera. “He hits you where it hurts.”

The air in the room thinned.

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