My Sister Stole My Mate And I Let Her (Seraphina) novel Chapter 543

Chapter 543: Chapter 543 THE SQUARE AND THE MENACE (BONUS Chapter 2)

DANIEL’S POV

Ava moved back three years ago to study under Alois at the New Moon Institute, and when she left, the packhouse felt empty in a way I’d never noticed it could.

Laughter still filled the halls, the training grounds still echoed with the shouts and grunts of practice, but there was a certain flicker of life that was just...gone.

She spent most of the year there, training and studying, learning things I could barely begin to understand from the old wolf and the other scholars who had taken her under their wings.

But every summer, she returned to Nightfang, and her visits turned the season into my favorite time of year.

The problem was that my life had gotten considerably more complicated since we were children.

My days overflowed with physical training, strategy lessons, pack history, council observation, weapons practice, and more responsibilities than I knew what to do with.

On top of that, I had four younger siblings who possessed an almost supernatural ability to sense whenever I had free time.

If I sat down to read, Sophia wanted to know what the book was about.

If I went outside to train, Theo and Leon wanted to spar with their rubber staffs.

If I locked my bedroom door, Lila would run headfirst into it and give herself a concussion.

Privacy and respite had become theoretical concepts.

So when Ava returned each summer, I had to fight for every minute I got with her. It wasn’t easy, but I always found a way.

This year, it was more important than ever that I saw her.

Because, earlier this spring, I finally got my wolf, Thatcher.

It had been one of the biggest moments of my life, something I’d counted down to with a wild mix of excitement and impatience.

Meeting Thatcher was everything I’d dreamed: pack runs, private runs with Ashar and Alina, a constant companion in my mind who knew me better than anyone else ever could.

The only problem was there was one person I hadn’t shared him with. Ava.

“Mundane technology” was a frowned-upon concept at the New Moon Institute, which meant Ava didn’t have a phone and our only mode of communication was a handful of emails we managed to send back and forth like once a month—which was not enough.

I didn’t want to share the best news of my life via email.

I wanted to watch Ava’s eyes light up when she met Thatcher in person. I wanted to feel her hands run through his fur.

But more than anything, I just wanted to see her again.

The moment that familiar voice cut through the clatter of sparring, something inside me tightened, pulling me irresistibly toward it, and I ditched Cindy in the middle of a sentence. I didn’t even feel particularly guilty about it.

“Is your diaper full? That why you move so sloppily?”

I laughed and quickened my pace.

I was just going to say hello. Ask how her year had been. Ask if she’d had a good trip.

You know, friend stuff.

Except when I reached the edge of the training field and saw Ava, I forgot what I had intended to say.

For a second, I could have sworn I was six years younger.

It was déjà vu: the same training grounds, the same girl taunting her opponent, even the same older boy, Matt.

He was eighteen now, taller and broader than the gawky boy whose ass had been handed to him by a girl half his size.

Apparently, some things didn’t change.

Except maybe one thing: there was no mistaking this Ava for a boy.

Her auburn hair had grown long over the years, its color brighter beneath the afternoon sun, flashing copper whenever she turned. She had pulled it into a high ponytail that swung mesmerizingly behind her with every movement.

She wore a black sports bra and shorts, practical training clothes that left no doubt about how hard she had been working.

My gaze lingered on her toned midriff a moment too long.

I forced myself to look away.

Then, despite myself, I glanced back.

‘Interesting,’ Thatcher mused, his amusement a buzz in my brain. ‘Very, very, interesting.’

‘Shut up.’

He chuckled softly, but fell silent, and we watched Ava fight.

She was still a sight to behold.

I had trained with her for years, watching her learn formal technique, add it to her rough, natural skills, and hone them into something uniquely hers.

She flowed. That was the only word I could find for it.

She moved like water gliding around stone, like a snake shifting course in an instant, like a blade that struck without warning or need for announcement.

Every movement seemed connected to the next, her body responding before thought could interfere.

“Come on, Matt,” she taunted, moving just out of his reach. “You’re making me sleepy.”

Matt’s laughter caught me off guard.

The Matt I remembered had been furious whenever Ava taunted him, especially when they were children. Now he simply shook his head, grinning as he came after her.

“You talk too much.”

“Says a lot about you who can’t keep me occupied enough to focus and shut my mouth.”

“Oh, I’ll shut it,” he retorted, a suggestive gleam in his eyes as he lunged.

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