My Sister Stole My Mate And I Let Her (Seraphina) novel Chapter 451

Chapter 451: Chapter 451 EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES

CORIN’S POV

“Careful with that!” I called out, watching two of our men haul a crate of wolfsbane onto the back of the transport truck.

The scent of blood and burnt earth clung to my throat, sharp and bitter, refusing to fade, no matter how often I exhaled.

“If it cracks open, you’re the one explaining to Marcus why his rogues can’t shift for a week.”

One of them huffed a nervous laugh, adjusting his grip immediately. “Noted.”

Across the clearing, Brett stood, arms crossed and expression tight but satisfied, overseeing the rest of the operation. Blood—not his—stained his sleeve, and a thin cut along his jaw was already healing.

We’d taken a few hits—Catherine and Marcus had become aware their shipments were being targeted, and their drivers had been prepared—but we’d anticipated that and still got what we came for.

My gaze shifted to the far edge of the site, where four men stood in a loose circle around the...thing we’d captured.

Someone oblivious would call it a ‘him.’

But he was neither a man nor a werewolf. Not anymore, at least.

It knelt where they’d forced it down, wrists bound behind its back, head hanging as if its spine had forgotten how to hold it upright.

Its chest rose and fell in slow, unnatural intervals, each breath slightly delayed, slightly wrong. Even from here, I felt the hollow wrongness that clung to it like a shadow.

A resurrected puppet.

After all the theories, all the fragments of information we’d had pieced together, we finally had something tangible.

“Worth it,” Brett said, coming up beside me, cradling his jaw.

“Yeah,” I replied, my eyes still on the puppet. “It was.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I reached for it and wasted no time in answering when I saw the name on the screen.

“You might as well be calling to congratulate us,” I said, turning away from the others. “Because I’ve got good news—”

“That’s not important right now,” Sera cut in, the brusque urgency in her voice instantly setting me on edge.

My grip on the phone tightened. “So what is?”

“Are you out of earshot?”

I turned, scanning the area, instincts sharpening.

“Hold on,” I said quietly.

I walked past the truck. Past the men. Past the edge of the clearing where the trees thickened just enough to swallow sound and sight.

Only when I was sure no one was within earshot did I stop. I cast a soundproof barrier around me for good measure.

“I’m alone,” I said.

Silence lingered on the other end for so long, I almost thought she’d hung up.

“Sera—?”

“How much do you know about Alpha Thomas of Cypress Vale?”

“Thomas?” I repeated, the name settling oddly in my mouth. “Not much. I mean...I know of him. Quiet type. Keeps to himself. He’s Brett’s friend. Close, from what I’ve seen. ...Why?”

There was another long pause before Sera spoke again. “Celeste remembered the day she was kidnapped.”

My brows pulled together.

“Remembered what exactly?”

“Who took her,” she clarified. “She was triggered by a scent. It brought the memory back in fragments at first. I helped her reconstruct the rest.”

“What did you see?” I asked, my voice dropping low even though no one was around.

“It was Thomas.”

My sharp intake of breath echoed in the private sound bubble.

“What?!”

“Thomas,” Sera repeated, her voice tight, as if she was speaking through gritted teeth. “He was at the hotel. Waiting. He took her.”

The intensity of her words pressed against my skin, amplifying every tremor racing through my body.

Thomas Bane.

Brett’s best friend.

The same man who’d been at the alliance meeting. Who’d sat there, soft-spoken and unassuming, nodding along while we discussed Catherine and her operations.

“You’re sure?” I asked, though even as the words left my mouth, I already knew the answer.

Sera’s power had grown at an almost frightening rate. She’d gone past the level of making mistakes. A misjudgment like this was entirely unlikely.

“I’m sure,” she confirmed.

I exhaled heavily, dragging a hand down my face as the implications began to stack on top of each other, each heavier than the last.

If Thomas took Celeste, did that mean he was working for Catherine, or did he have another motive?

Did Brett know? Was he a part of it?

“Does anyone else know?” I asked.

“Kieran, Celeste, you, and me,” Sera answered. “For now.”

“Okay,” I said after a moment. “Okay...I’ll handle it.”

A hesitant pause.

“Corin...”

“Yeah?”

“If he’s involved...if Brett knew—”

“He didn’t,” I cut in, the certainty in my own voice surprising me.

But I clung to it. I had to.

If Brett, a part of our inner circle, my sister’s fucking mate, had been involved in Celeste’s abduction, what did that make him?

“I’ll find out,” I added, softer now. “But I don’t think he did.”

There was a trembling exhale on Sera’s end. “Gods, I hope so."

The line went dead shortly after.

I stood there for a moment longer, staring at nothing, the phone still pressed to my ear, my breath coming fast and shallow as everything replayed itself in my head.

“Shit,” I muttered under my breath.

By the time I made it back to the clearing, everything was already being wrapped up.

“Move out!” I called.

***

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