My Sister Stole My Mate And I Let Her (Seraphina) novel Chapter 545

Chapter 545: Chapter 545 THE SQUARE AND THE MENACE (BONUS Chapter 4)

DANIEL’S POV

Ava was avoiding me.

At first, I tried to convince myself I was just being paranoid. Maybe she was just caught up in her usual whirlwind.

Her summers at Nightfang had always been packed with training, lessons, and whatever new obsession she had picked up from Alois during the year, and I knew better than anyone that she wasn’t the kind of person who sat around waiting for someone else to entertain her.

But this time, something felt off.

Usually, when Ava came back for the summer, we were practically inseparable.

We trained together until one of us was too exhausted to stand, argued over everything from fighting techniques to which of us had won a particular sparring match or race or game years ago, and made so much noise that everyone around us had learned to tune us out.

Sometimes we’d disappear into the woods and race through the trees; sometimes we’d end up in the packhouse with my siblings climbing all over us; sometimes we’d simply sit up in the treehouse I’d gotten for my tenth birthday, talking about nothing and everything until we’d been there for hours.

This summer, none of that had happened.

I’d come to the packhouse every day since seeing her at the training grounds, and somehow, I kept missing her.

If she wasn’t sparring with Matt, she was training with someone else. If she wasn’t on the training grounds, she was studying in her room and refused to be disturbed. And if she wasn’t in her room, she was out.

With friends.

That stung the most.

Ava hadn’t had many friends when she first came to Nightfang.

Back then, she’d been this sharp-tongued little menace who seemed determined to bite anyone who got too close, and I’d spent half our relationship trying to figure out whether she wanted me around or wanted to throw something at my head.

Apparently, she’d made friends—a lot of them.

Now she was gone so much, I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d been cast aside. Replaced.

Worst of all, Cindy seemed to seep into every empty space Ava left behind.

She talked constantly, filling every silence with stories, questions, or some new gossip about people I barely knew.

Usually, I could tolerate it. Cindy had never done anything to deserve my irritation, and I didn’t want to be cruel just because she was more interested in me than I was in her.

But every time she appeared, all I could think about was the person who wasn’t there.

By Thursday afternoon, my patience was hanging by a thread.

I was alone on the training grounds, working through a series of combinations I’d been practicing with Dad and Gavin, when Cindy wandered over and started talking about something that I didn’t bother trying to follow.

My eyes kept darting to the edge of the field, hoping for a glimpse of auburn hair or the sound of that familiar teasing voice.

I blocked an imaginary strike, pivoted, and drove my fist into the practice dummy hard enough to make it rock backward.

Cindy kept talking.

Something about a party.

Or someone’s birthday.

Or maybe a dress.

I slammed my fist into the dummy again.

"Do you know where Ava is?" The question came out sharper than I’d intended.

Cindy stopped. Blinked. I think she was shocked that I’d said more than two words to her.

She shrugged, twisting a strand of hair around one finger. "She went out."

"Where?"

"I dunno. Out."

I stared at her, clenching my jaw.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "With some people."

"What people?"

Her lips curved slightly, and something about the expression irritated me.

"Matt was going."

A knot twisted in my chest.

"And?"

She shrugged again. "A few others. Bree, Yvonne, Kevin, and Bryce, I think. They’re probably partying somewhere. Matt knows how to get fake IDs. They invited me, but"—her smile turned coy—“I’d rather just hang with you.”

Everything else she said blurred into static, except for that one detail.

"Ava is partying?"

Cindy laughed. "Why are you acting surprised? She’s sixteen, Daniel, not six. Why do you even care?"

Why did I care?

I’d spent the entire week sitting around like an idiot waiting for my best friend to acknowledge my presence so we could exchange more than a handful of empty words.

Meanwhile, Ava was out with Matt and a bunch of other people, laughing and partying as if I didn’t exist.

I turned away before Cindy could catch the strain twisting my expression.

"Whatever."

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