My Sister Stole My Mate And I Let Her (Seraphina) novel Chapter 548

Chapter 548: Chapter 548 THE SQUARE AND THE MENACE (BONUS Chapter 7)

AVA’S POV

Daniel’s words didn’t matter.

For two days, I repeated that lie often enough that I almost managed to believe it.

‘I meant without me.’

Daniel had always been infuriatingly bossy, forever telling everyone what they should or shouldn’t be doing, whether it was his place or not. Those four words had no right to haunt me like a bad song stuck in my head.

Except they did.

They followed me while I trained, while I ate, while I tried to study, and especially when I lay in bed at night staring at the ceiling, wondering whether he’d actually meant what I thought he meant.

He couldn’t have, though. He had a girlfriend, and I had no business reading into something that was decidedly nothing.

I needed to get that damn boy out of my head.

So, of course, when Bree suggested a bonfire party in the woods two nights later, I jumped at the chance.

‘Don’t go to parties alone.’

Yeah, Daniel Blackthorne didn’t tell me what I could and couldn’t do.

I was going to spend time with my friends without wondering where he was or what he was doing. I would live my own life, just as I was perfectly entitled to do.

This time, however, I wasn’t going to drink.

One mortifying amnesiac encounter was enough for a lifetime.

The bonfire had been built in a clearing surrounded by towering trees, their branches forming a dark canopy above us as sparks rose from the flames and disappeared into the night.

Music played from a portable speaker near the logs, and groups of teenagers were scattered around the fire, talking, laughing, and passing around drinks.

I settled onto a fallen log between Bree and Yvonne, nursing a cup of root beer and immersing myself in their conversation about a concert Bree had attended last fall.

For the first half hour, it worked—I could pretend I was a normal teenager whose biggest concern was the mosquitoes feasting on my bare legs.

Then I heard Cindy’s voice.

I knew when she arrived, and had elected to pretend she didn’t exist, but her voice was so obnoxiously loud it echoed through half the clearing.

She was sitting on the other side of the fire, holding court with a group of girls who were hanging on to her every word, and the smirk on her face told me she reveled in the attention.

“Oh, he’s gorgeous,” she gushed. “And he’s chosen me. Once I get my wolf, I’m sure the mate bond will click into place like”—she snapped her fingers—“that.”

My grip on the cup tightened. She couldn’t have possibly been talking about what I thought she was talking about.

One of the girls gasped, "Seriously? I’ve seen him at pack runs, but—you actually met Daniel’s wolf? Like face to face?"

Cindy laughed. "Of course. I was the first person he showed after his parents."

My stomach dropped.

For a moment, the music, laughter, and crackling fire were drowned out by the sudden rush of blood in my ears.

Daniel’s wolf.

Daniel had gotten his wolf.

And I was finding out from fucking Cindy.

Cindy, who he’d shown. Who he’d chosen?

I stared into my cup, watching the firelight tremble across the surface of the liquid until it blurred.

Daniel knew when I got my first period, told all the worst jokes in the world to distract me from the pain.

I knew about the time he accidentally dropped Theo and made him wear hats till the bump went down.

He knew I had occasional nightmares about the fire that destroyed my home and took my grandmother.

I knew he sometimes had inexplicable dreams that made him wake up shivering and drenched in sweat.

That was what Daniel and I did: we shared things.

Or at least, I had thought we did.

I’d managed to push aside the disappointment and hurt I felt about him and Cindy, but this—this settled like an anchor in my chest, and I couldn’t quite breathe right around it.

Maybe Daniel hadn’t told me because he didn’t think it mattered.

Maybe I wasn’t important enough anymore.

I took a long swallow of my drink, which now tasted like tar, and forced myself to focus on Bree and Yvonne’s chatter about a fall music festival.

And when someone suggested a game of Truth or Dare, I agreed mostly because I needed something else to occupy my mind.

The game started harmlessly enough, with ridiculous questions and embarrassing stories, but as the night progressed, the dares became increasingly personal and explicit.

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