My Sister Stole My Mate, And I Let Her Chapter 1 THE MISTAKE

SERAPHINA’S POV

"Seraphina!"

I was jolted awake in my bed by the urgent cry of my name through the phone, my mother’s voice sounding sharp and brittle. Her voice trembled as it came through the receiver.

"Mom?" My throat felt raw. It had been ten years since she had last called—only the direst news ever prompted her to reach out.

"Your father—" Her breath hitched, then snapped. "He’s been attacked."

My stomach was instantly in knots, a frigid fear seizing me.

"What?!"

"Oh, Sera, he’s barely hanging on to life!" my mother wailed, her voice breaking.

Without a second thought, I flung the covers aside and sprang from the bed.

"Send me the hospital address," I managed to say, my voice quivering. "I’ll be there as quickly as I can."

I tiptoed down the stairs, trying to be quiet so as not to wake my son, Daniel. The light peeking from under my husband, Kieran’s, office door indicated he was still awake. As the Alpha of the pack, he always had an overwhelming amount to manage.

And if I were entirely truthful with myself—an excessive amount of resentment directed at me.

A mistake made a decade ago had shackled us together. A transgression he had never managed to forgive.

Consequently, I had no intention of disturbing him.

By the time I settled into the driver’s seat, tears were already coursing down my cheeks.

My father had always seemed invincible. Utterly unshakeable. The towering figure in my heart, despite his clear disapproval of me as his daughter.

Despite his absolute hatred for me. Yet, I had never conceived that he could be snatched away from me in such a manner—

I pressed the accelerator to the floor.

Upon arriving at the hospital, I found my mother and brother seated like forlorn figures outside the operating room. My chest felt tight. Was the giant truly going to fall?

I faltered. I could not bring myself to move closer. Not when their palpable disgust had effectively banished me long ago. After that fateful night ten years prior, I had been completely erased from their lives. To the rest of the world, they now had only one daughter: Celeste.

Did I even have a right to be here?

It had been a decade since any of us had spoken. Even after Daniel’s birth, all family communication was routed through Kieran. My father’s stance was unequivocal—he never wished to see my face again.

Would he truly desire my presence now?

What if his enduring resentment hadn't diminished?

I hesitated, my pulse thrumming loudly in my ears—until the distinct swish of the operating room doors slicing through the air interrupted my thoughts. The doctor emerged, peeling his gloves from his fingers.

"Doctor!" I propelled myself forward before I could stop myself, my voice trembling. "How is my father?"

The somber expression etched on his face conveyed the grim reality. "I regret to inform you, we did everything within our power... however, his injuries were simply too profound."

I clapped a hand over my mouth, stifling a sob that desperately tried to escape my throat.

"Is he... gone?" Ethan, my brother, spared me barely a glance as he directed his question to the doctor, his voice gravelly.

"Not yet." The man slowly shook his head. "But he will not survive the night. He has been asking for his daughter."

I took an involuntary step forward—then became rooted to the spot.

His daughter.

It couldn’t possibly be me. After ten years of cold indifference and festering resentment, the daughter my dying father yearned to see would most certainly not be me.

Ethan’s laughter was like shards of ice. "Ten years, and our family is still bearing the consequences of your past actions!"

I turned to confront him, tears blurring my vision. A decade had passed since I had last stood this close—since he had actually looked at me. Time had chiseled him into a formidable Alpha: his shoulders broader, his jaw more defined, an aura of dominance radiating from him in palpable waves.

But the visceral hatred in his eyes?

That remained unchanged.

My heart convulsed violently, akin to claws tearing at flesh.

"Because of you," he spat at me, "Celeste was forced to move away. Because of you, she cannot be here. Because of you, Dad will pass away with his final wish left unfulfilled."

"Yes, it is all my fault." My laughter was laced with bitterness, heavy with the burden of years of pain. "After all this time, I am still the first one to be accused. No one ever considers the truth—or how I might feel!"

Tears welled up and spilled over, my outburst momentarily stunning Ethan. But swift as lightning, his voice turned sharp as a razor:

"Your feelings? You callously stole your sister’s fiancé and now you dare to speak of feelings?"

My fingernails dug fiercely into my palms, reopening that deep, ugly scar from long ago.

Ten years prior, during the Blood Moon Hunt, I had just reached my twentieth birthday—the age when every werewolf discovers their destined mate. After a lifetime of being dismissed and ignored, I had felt an overwhelming desperation for that profound connection.

As a child, I had harbored a naive hope that Kieran might be my mate. But then his affections turned to Celeste—the flawless, radiant Celeste, the adored star of the entire Frostbane Pack—and I quickly understood my insignificant place.

What was I, truly? The Alpha's flawed offspring, the one incapable of even shifting. Utterly worthless.

When even my own family and pack offered me minimal attention, how could Kieran possibly desire me? I never anticipated altering anything significant. But that specific night, upon hearing of his impending union with Celeste, the sheer agony pierced deeper than any beast’s claw. For the very first time, I succumbed to the oblivion of drink.

I expected to awaken forgotten in some dingy, secluded corner. Never in my wildest imagination did I envision finding myself utterly sated and naked in Kieran’s bed.

The potent liquor had blurred my senses. That night remains a jumble of broken recollections. Before I could even begin to piece together the events, Celeste stormed in—her piercing shriek tearing through the silence as she took in the scene.

Then, the pandemonium erupted: Celeste's frantic wails, Kieran's deeply regretful apologies, the pack's venomous murmurings, my own choked explanations—all abruptly halted by my father's forceful slap across my face.

"I wish I'd never brought you into this world!"

The aftermath unfolded in a horrifying, muted daze. Kieran was seen carrying Celeste's unconscious form towards the infirmary. Ethan let out a furious growl, directing it at the staring pack members. My mother's soft crying could be heard. And Father’s eyes—oh, the gods—that look of absolute disgust. I had always sensed his disdain for me, but never had it been so intense that it stole the very breath from my lungs.

"I didn't..." My barely audible whisper faded, unheard. No one was listening. Absolutely no one.

In the blink of an eye, I became the pack's preferred target for their scorn. Where they had previously mocked my flawed shifting, they now spat the word "whore" as if it were a sacred blessing. Even lowly Omegas would corner me in dimly lit corridors, their hands as presumptuous as their insults. Females would cross themselves as I passed, hissing "husband-thief" like a malicious curse.

The sheer weight of it was crushing. When admirers of Celeste left death threats etched into my doorway, I gathered my meager belongings and fled under the shroud of a new moon. My intention was to disappear permanently... until the morning sickness began. Until the physician announced my pregnancy to the entirety of the Blood Council.

That was the sole reason Kieran chose to marry me. He was a man of honor, an Alpha who would never abandon his heir.

Yet, it shattered my family.

My parents and brother harbored hatred for me, believing I had broken Celeste’s heart. Kieran’s pack, NightFang, despised me because I was not the Luna they had envisioned. And Celeste, consumed by her rage, relocated abroad.

"You've ruined everything!" Ethan’s accusatory voice pierced through my thoughts. The poison in his glare struck a deep wound. Undiluted, even after a decade.

Though blood bound us as siblings, Ethan had never once treated me as his own sister. Celeste was the only sister he held dear. He detested me for driving her away.

But was it truly all my doing? I might be weak and unremarkable, but I was never so depraved as to deliberately ensnare my sister's beloved. Yet, they never bothered with the truth. They simply needed someone to cast blame upon.

"Do you see this?" My hands quivered, yet my voice adopted a frosty, unyielding tone. "My voice was never acknowledged. My existence was never valued. So tell me, Mother—" I turned to face her, my throat tightening. "If you never truly wanted me, why didn't you simply smother me in my cradle? Why go through the pretense of calling me here, as if I still held some importance?"

"How dare you address Mother in such a manner?!" Ethan bellowed, his fangs elongating. "Marrying Kieran didn't magically bestow Luna status upon you. That title was always meant for Celeste!"

"I never desired any of this!" I retaliated, my voice laced with bitterness. "I was prepared to vanish. You could have allowed Celeste and Kieran their perfect mating ceremony and simply acted as though I never existed!"

Ethan's lips twisted into a mocking smirk. "Don't play the victim," he sneered. "You knew full well Kieran would never abandon his pup—"

"Ethan!" Mother's command, though faint, carried a whisper of her former authority as Luna, yet her scent was now tinged only with exhaustion and sorrow. "Enough. We shall not squander your father’s final moments on this ancient feud."

She couldn't even meet my gaze as she uttered, "Go see your father." Her eyes darted away, as if my presence caused her pain. Ethan shot me one last venomous glare before slumping into a nearby chair.

Gathering my resolve, I pushed the door open.

Fear nearly suffocated me—fear of witnessing that familiar disappointment in his eyes one last time. But as I saw him lying there, the man I had spent my entire life both fearing and yearning to please…

The imposing figure from my nightmares was gone. The father who had once appeared invincible now lay still, his chest covered in bandages, his face ashen. The eyes that had always blazed with disdain whenever they fell upon me… now held an unnerving emptiness.

Tears streamed down my face. Why did this pain cut so deeply?

This man—this colossal figure who had despised me from the very moment I revealed myself as wolfless. Who had looked at Celeste with pride and at me with utter shame.

The memory of our final encounter still clawed at my heart.

There was no wedding ceremony for Kieran and me. No joyous celebration. Only my father’s unyielding grip forcing my hand to scrawl my name onto the marriage contract.

"Now you have what you wanted," he had snarled, his Alpha power suffocating the space between us. "From this day forward, you are no longer my daughter."

Never had I wept so uncontrollably—never had I pleaded so desperately. But all I received was the sight of his frozen back and his final, venomous pronouncement:

"Your birth was a mistake, Seraphina. If you dare show your face again, I swear you will never know another moment of happiness."

He had unerringly kept his promise.

His malevolent curse had tainted every second of my existence, while my so-called "esteemed" husband transformed our union into a gilded prison through his constant silence and utter disdain.

Loathing should have been my sole companion—for this family, for this destiny.

Yet, as my father’s fingers feebly twitched upon the sheets, a traitorous flicker of hope ignited within my heart. Before rational thought could intervene, I was by his side, gripping his chillingly cold hand.

"Dad?" My voice wavered, tinged with a dangerous, nascent hope.

His pallid lips parted, as if straining to articulate words.

But before any sound could escape—

BEEP—!

The heart monitor shrieked its final warning. The display line turned stubbornly flat.

"NO!" The cry erupted from my very being. He couldn't depart—not like this. Not without granting me a glimpse of forgiveness in his eyes. Not before our deeply entwined hearts could finally find release.

The door violently swung open, and Ethan and Mother shoved me aside with brutal force, sending me sprawling onto the cold floor.

"He's gone..." Mother crumpled against Ethan, her form convulsing with anguished sobs. "My mate... my Alpha...!"

Ethan's grief seemed to choke him into silence—until his intense gaze fell upon me. His wolf was perilously close to the surface, fangs bared. I harbored no doubt he would tear my throat out. That is, until Mother restrained his arm.

"You venomous serpent," he spat, venom dripping from his words. "Any sliver of joy you’ve managed to cling to—I will violently rip it away from you."

A hollow, mirthless laugh echoed within the confines of my mind. Why was their singular obsession always to pilfer my happiness? A commodity I had never known.

The physician entered, murmuring somberly to my mother, "Luna, it is time we prepare Alpha Edward's remains."

I drifted numbly into the hallway, my soul irrevocably scarred, tears streaming down my face without restraint. As the pack's elite began to arrive, not a single soul acknowledged my presence—precisely as it had perpetually been.

However, their customary indifference held little sway over me now. I stood in a hardened stupor before the chamber containing Father’s body, still unable to fully comprehend the stark reality that he would never again open his eyes to meet ours—

Until Kieran’s resonant voice pierced the heavy silence.

"My deepest sympathies, Margaret." He gently took my mother’s hands, embodying the picture of a devoted son-in-law. "Rest assured, I shall assist Ethan with every necessary arrangement."

Moonlight cascaded through the windows, casting a luminous glow upon his broad shoulders. The streaks of silver at his temples did nothing to diminish the commanding aura of a prime Alpha in his zenith. Not a single hair was out of place despite the urgent, midnight summons.

The most formidable Alpha of the formidable NightFang Pack. His mere presence possessed the power to command the very atmosphere.

"Your presence brings me solace, Kieran," Mother wept, clinging to his arm.

As he drew her into a consoling embrace, his piercing amber eyes met mine over her shoulder—then swiftly averted as if they had detected an unsightly blemish on the wall.

"What precisely transpired?" he inquired, turning his attention to Ethan. "How could Edward have been subjected to an attack?"

Ethan’s jaw tightened fiercely. "A standard border patrol. However, the accursed rogues appeared in unprecedented numbers—and they were armed with silver weaponry." His throat worked convulsively as he fought to regain his composure. "It was a meticulously planned ambush. Father stood no chance."

My mother's renewed cries of anguish echoed through the corridor. Kieran firmly grasped Ethan's shoulder—

"Those rogues will face retribution for this transgression," he vowed with grim determination.

I remained a spectral presence at the fringes, an outcast amidst my own family’s profound tragedy.

The three of them—Mother, Ethan, and Kieran—stood as an unyielding bastion of shared grief, an impenetrable circle into which I could not possibly penetrate.

"I have dispatched a summon for Celeste," Ethan added abruptly. "She ought to arrive shortly."

"Oh, my poor, dear girl!" Mother sobbed into her hands. "To have missed her father's final moments..."

My gaze involuntarily darted towards Kieran’s face once more.

Our eyes met again, a silent, charged exchange.

His expression remained an impenetrable mask—chillingly remote, calculating, utterly devoid of any discernible warmth.

Ten years of sharing the same bed, and yet he still felt galaxies removed. I had never once managed to touch his heart.

And now, with Celeste’s imminent return, a crushing, terrible truth bore down on my chest like an immense iron weight: I was on the precipice of losing my second family.

Were my wolf capable of expressing herself, she would have emitted a low, mournful whine from deep within her throat. I could not ascertain if I possessed the fortitude to withstand the impending tempest—but one certainty burned with a brilliance eclipsing all fear:

No matter what adversities were to descend, no one, absolutely no one, would ever wrench my son away from me.

No one.