My Sister Stole My Mate, And I Let Her Chapter 478 CONGRATULATIONS

MAYA’S POV

Rage no longer felt like an emotion.

It was heat. Pressure. Breath.

Something feral and vicious clawing beneath my skin that wouldn’t ease until I tore Lucian’s throat out.

But before I did that, I would have answers.

I would drag him back to Sera and make her split his mind and lay his reasoning bare.

Why did he desert OTS, the refuge he forged, the trust he won, the people who relied on him, to serve as Catherine and Marcus’ puppet?

“Sorry,” he whispered from his spot on the ground.

I snarled just as Nyra and Logan lunged for him—

The shockwave hurled us backward, tilting the world all over again. Before I regained my bearings, Lucian had vanished deeper into the forest after Jack.

Ignoring the pain and pressure, Nyra bolted after him with a savagery that drowned out all my instincts.

She crossed barely ten feet before the ground changed beneath us.

The forest seemed to inhale.

A dark pulse spread outward from the place Lucian had disappeared, spilling through the roots like black ink poured beneath the soil.

Symbols surfaced across the ground in flashes of blue-white witchlight before vanishing again, and then the trees ahead twisted, bending perception around themselves until the path we had been following folded into three identical trails.

Nyra skidded hard, claws tearing deep grooves into the earth.

Beside me, Logan stopped just as sharply.

I snarled and threw myself toward the path that held the strongest part of Jack’s fading scent.

My shoulder hit an invisible wall hard enough that stars burst across my vision.

Pain jolted through Nyra’s body, but it only fed the fury burning through me.

I slammed against the barrier again, harder this time, and the impact sent a ripple through the air, revealing for one brief second the shape of the trap around us.

Lucian had folded the forest into a cage.

The pathways ahead mirrored the chaos of the square with cruel accuracy.

Black smoke drifted low across the ground even though there was no fire, and beyond it, I could see the ghost of Jack’s trail splitting into false directions.

In one direction, the scent of blood surged so strongly it felt real. In another, the broken brush and claw marks continued deeper into the trees.

In a third, a hollow-eyed wolf shape moved between the trunks before dissolving into smoke.

He had trapped us in an echo of Jack’s escape—an imitation of our earlier failure.

That realization drove me wild.

‘Maya,’ Ethan said through the mind link, his voice steady despite the tension running beneath it. ‘Stop throwing yourself at it.’

Nyra wheeled toward him, teeth bared.

‘They’re getting away.’

‘I know.’

‘Do you? You don’t seem to fucking care!’

Ethan did not answer quickly enough.

That silence enraged me even more.

Nyra lunged toward another false trail, but this time Logan cut in front of me, using his body rather than force to block my path.

He lowered his head, blue eyes fixed on mine, and I felt Ethan reaching for me through the link with careful pressure, the way someone might extend a hand toward an animal caught in a snare.

‘You’re not thinking clearly.’

I snapped my teeth at him before I could stop myself.

Logan did not flinch, but something in Ethan’s presence tightened.

I hated that too.

I hated everything.

Nyra’s breath came harsher.

My thoughts would not stay in order.

Lucian standing in front of us.

Lucian saying he was not the enemy, and using witchcraft anyway.

Sera lying near the platform with ash in her hair.

Kieran telling us not to let Jack escape.

Jack’s corrupted wolf tearing through the barricade.

Everything tangled together until fury and hurt became one unbearable thing inside me.

‘He betrayed us,’ I snarled through the link.

Ethan’s answer came softer this time. ‘Maybe.’

That made me freeze for half a heartbeat.

Nyra turned slowly toward Logan, rage still burning through her body but now sharpened by the terrible suspicion that Ethan was holding back something.

‘What do you mean, maybe?’

Logan stepped closer, careful and deliberate.

‘I mean, Lucian could have killed us if he wanted to. He didn’t.’

‘Shit. I’d better find him and give him my profound gratitude.’

Logan huffed. ‘I’m just saying, this feels more complicated than it looks.’

I hated how reasonable he sounded.

I hated that a part of me understood exactly what he meant.

And I hated most of all that understanding did nothing to calm me.

Before I could answer, silver pressure washed through the forest, and the trap trembled.

Every false trail shivered. The hollow-eyed wolves dissolved. The black smoke thinned into ordinary dust.

The trees unbent one by one, and the blue witchlight beneath the roots flickered like dying embers before disappearing completely.

A moment later, Sera stepped into the clearing with Kieran at her side, his face still streaked with dried blood.

Alois followed behind them, his amber eyes narrowed with keen interest rather than alarm, while Corin moved with silent grace at Sera’s other side. My relief washed over me so powerfully that Nyra almost buckled.

Sera’s gaze immediately found mine. “Maya.” The gentle tone in her voice nearly undid me.

Nyra shifted before I could even consciously decide to do so. My human skin returned, and the biting cold air enveloped me simultaneously as Sera rushed forward, bearing clothes. I donned them with trembling hands, my frustration making every movement far too sharp and jerky.

Ethan shifted beside me and accepted a pair of pants from Kieran, yet his attention remained fixed on me. “We need to keep moving,” I stated, my voice rough as I turned towards the path Lucian had taken. “Jack’s trail is nearly gone.”

Before I could take a single step, Ethan's hand caught my wrist. I glanced down at his hand, then up at his face. “Let go.”

“No.” The single word, uttered quietly, carried the unmistakable weight of an Alpha. My temper finally snapped.

“Jack is loose, and Lucian is helping him. What the hell are we just standing around for?”

Ethan’s expression remained unchanged, but his grip softened just enough that it no longer felt like a physical restraint. Instead, it felt like profound concern. That stopped me more effectively than any force could have.

“Maya,” he said, his tone careful, “you are not going back into this fight.” I stared at him as if he had suddenly begun speaking an entirely different language. Then, I let out a single, sharp, humorless laugh. “Excuse me?”

Alois cleared his throat softly from behind Ethan. My eyes instantly cut towards him. “Do you have an opinion you wish to share?” “I haven’t said anything.” “You made a noise.” He raised an eyebrow but wisely chose not to speak again.

Sera stepped closer, concern creasing her features. “Maya, what is going on?” “What’s going on?” I snapped back. “Why is everyone acting as if Jack Draven didn’t just vanish into the forest, aided once again by Lucian?” I whirled to face them. “And why is everyone looking at me like I’ve lost my mind?”

Ethan inhaled slowly, and in that moment, I realized he looked less like a man making a difficult decision and more like one confirming a terrifying suspicion that had haunted him for far longer than this immediate situation. “I’ve suspected for a while,” he admitted.

My anger faltered, despite my best efforts. “Suspected what?” His eyes roved over my face, and the tenderness I saw there sent my stomach plummeting before I could even comprehend the reason. “Your emotions have been unusually volatile,” he said gently. “More so than normal. You’ve been exhausted and restless. Your scent shifted days ago, but with everything that’s been happening, I wasn’t certain enough to voice my thoughts.”

My heart began to pound furiously. Alois stepped forward, his expression uncharacteristically cautious. “The blast and the Shift likely aggravated what was already making itself known. I can confirm it now.” I looked between them, my throat suddenly feeling incredibly dry.

“Confirm what?” Sera’s eyes flew wide open, and she instinctively slapped a hand over her mouth. I took a staggering step backward. “No.” Ethan’s hand tightened its grip on mine.

“Maya,” he said, his voice soft. I shook my head vehemently, knowing that if I allowed him to finish that sentence, the entire world would irrevocably change, and I was simply not prepared for that reality. Not while enemies were closing in from all sides, and the air was thick with the smell of blood and smoke. “No,” I repeated, though the word had lost almost all of its former conviction. Alois’s voice gentled. “Congratulations. You’re pregnant.”

The forest momentarily ceased to exist. My mind went utterly blank, so completely that the trees, the smoke, the battlefield, Jack, even Lucian, all faded away. Pregnant. The word simply refused to fit inside the confines of my head. I looked at Ethan. He was watching me as if I were something both incredibly precious and utterly terrifying all at once.

“Oh my gods,” I whispered. Beside me, Sera made a small sound, a mixture of pure joy and raw fear. I glanced back toward the trail again, instinct attempting to surge back to the surface, but Ethan stepped fully in front of me this time. “No,” he stated firmly. “Ethan—” “No.” His voice cracked with emotion. “You are not going after that creature while carrying our child.” The words struck me harder than any command ever could. Our child. Shit.