My Sister Stole My Mate And I Let Her (Seraphina) novel Chapter 516

Chapter 516: Chapter 516 IN THE AFTER

SERAPHINA’S POV

I woke before dawn the next morning.

Not because I was rested—I wasn’t—but because my body no longer knew how to remain fully still.

The only comfort was Kieran’s arms around me when I opened my eyes.

Even in sleep, his hold on me remained firm, and when he blinked awake seconds after me, I recognized the same exhaustion in his eyes that I felt in my own bones.

By the time we stepped out of our room, Nightfang was already in motion.

The packhouse corridors carried a low hum of anticipation, footsteps overlapping as people moved purposefully from one task to the next, voices kept deliberately subdued.

Everyone understood that today was not a celebration—not yet, at least.

It was reckoning.

The main hall had been prepared in advance, the long chamber lit with softened daylight filtered through high glass panels.

The table stretched wide enough to accommodate every Alpha of the Allied forces, their presence filling the space with a gravity that pressed against the air itself.

I paused just inside the doorway.

Mirek was already there, seated with his arms folded, his expression carved into something unreadable but alert.

Callister stood near one of the side columns, speaking quietly with Maxwell, who looked as though he hadn’t slept in days.

Helen sat upright with composed stillness, though her fingers tapped faintly against the edge of the table in a rhythm that betrayed impatience and maybe a little anxiety.

And then there were others—Alphas whose names I had only heard in passing before this war forced us all into the same reality.

Each of them carried the same thing in different forms: exhaustion, frustration, grief, the lingering tension that none of us had yet managed to shake.

Ethan stood near the far end of the table.

And beside him—

“Maya!” Her name left my lips as a sigh of relief.

She turned, and for a second, neither of us moved.

Then the distance between us disappeared, and suddenly I was pulled into an embrace so tight it stole my breath.

She smelled like familiarity and warmth and something that made my chest ache.

“Seraphina, you absolute fucking legend,” she whispered against my shoulder, her voice thick.

I choked out a laugh, remembering when she’d said those exact words to me after winning the LST.

When we finally pulled apart, I took her face in my hands, scanning her.

“And you? Are you okay? The baby—how are you both?”

She gave me a soft smile, a hand sliding over her still-flat stomach.

"We’re fine," she said quietly. "You were gone for three days, not a year, Sera."

Something inside me loosened, and I exhaled slowly, pressing my forehead against hers.

“Besides, I should be the one asking about you, dumbass,” she added, brushing her thumb lightly over my wrist.

Before I could reply, Ethan appeared at my side and pulled me into a bear hug.

“I was so worried,” he mumbled into my hair.

I tightened my arms around him.

“I’m here,” I assured him. “We won.”

When I pulled back and looked into his eyes, I saw relief, yes, but also a depth of concern that had not fully lifted.

“I heard about Mom,” he said softly.

I swallowed against the sudden lump in my throat.

“She’s in the medical wing,” I told him. “We’ll go see her after this.”

He nodded stiffly.

Kieran stepped up beside me a moment later, exchanging a hug with Ethan. Even Maya wrapped her arms around him.

“If you came back without her, I would have killed you,” she said softly.

He let out a dry chuckle, patting her back. “I don’t doubt it.”

Soon after, the room settled, and the briefing began without ceremony.

Alois spoke first, recounting the objective events with painstaking detail while projecting faint, shifting diagrams of residual psychic readings into the air.

Corin sat further down the table, his focus sharp, occasionally exchanging low remarks with Brett and Maris, who also looked like sleep had eluded them.

The air thickened as data filled the silence.

Then, various delegates began presenting reports.

Casualty counts. Recovery updates. Rogue detentions. Medical stabilization of affected victims. Structural collapse assessments from the island site.

Each sentence added another layer to the weight we were already carrying.

After the reports, the conversation shifted, and all eyes slowly turned toward Kieran and me.

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