[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-my-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her":3,"chapter-my-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-my-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-chapter-279":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","My Sister Stole My Mate, And I Let Her",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},764403,1010,"Chapter 279 THE UNDERCURRENT","my-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-chapter-279",279,"\u003Cp>LUCIAN’S POV\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The LST internal platform rarely surprised me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most posts followed predictable rhythms: after-action reports polished to within an inch of their lives, congratulatory blurbs that said everything and nothing, the occasional clipped announcement—noise, curated and controlled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So when Selene’s post detonated across my feed, it wasn’t the fact that it went viral that caught my attention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was who was in it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was mid-brief when the alert chimed—three short pulses, priority-coded. I dismissed the staff with a flick of my hand and glanced down at the tablet instead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The thumbnail loaded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sand. Sun. Motion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Seraphina.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stilled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was unmistakable, even in a fleeting glimpse, her posture loose in a way I’d never seen before, laughter tumbling out between quick breaths, so entirely at ease in her own skin it was difficult to look away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I expanded the video.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Laughter spilled from the speakers. Children shouting. The rhythmic thud of a ball hitting sand. The sea roaring steadily in the background.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The video framed her in motion: agile, unguarded, hair swept back, skin glowing with exertion and life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was positively incandescent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And she looked stronger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not just physically. The difference was subtler than that—an ease in the way she occupied space, a confidence that didn’t posture or perform.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It sat in her shoulders, her timing, the way she trusted her body to catch itself when she stumbled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A small, private satisfaction unfurled in my chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Good.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alois had been right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Letting her go—truly, without restrictions or watchful leashes—had been the correct decision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Painful. Risk-laden. Uncomfortable in every way that mattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But correct.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then a man stepped into frame.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I paused the video. Rewound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watched again, slower this time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The way he anticipated her movement. The way he adjusted position without a word. The way his hand caught her at the waist when she slipped—not possessive, not dominating, but...natural.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too natural.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His touch didn’t seem romantic or possessive, but there was a resonance, a kind of trust between them I didn’t know what to do with.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I leaned back in my chair, steepling my fingers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn’t like it. Not one bit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seabreeze had been on my radar the moment I learned it was Seraphina’s final stop. I’d dispatched quiet feelers—nothing aggressive, nothing that would draw notice. Just enough to build a profile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And what came back was...thin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Uncomfortably so.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Despite Selene’s high-profile presence in LST, despite her open invitation to curious parties, Seabreeze remained oddly opaque.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Records were clean but shallow. Historical conflicts neatly resolved. Power structures stable to the point of boredom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too neat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rumors existed, of course—hybrids, old bloodlines, strange alliances beneath the waves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But nothing concrete. Nothing scandalous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luna Selene herself posed no threat. Neither did her mate. Their power was obvious, their priorities transparent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the man in the video...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I replayed the clip again, isolating his presence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He moved with the quiet certainty of water, not force. His presence didn’t declare itself; it settled. And beneath it all, woven through his movements, was something not quite wolf. Not entirely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was something else there, something that didn’t quite align with the usual signatures my mind catalogued without effort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Interesting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And potentially dangerous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not to Seraphina directly—no, I didn’t sense malice there. But to the careful calculation I’d been making since the Institute.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A variable outside the equation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, I refused to panic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because Seraphina wouldn’t linger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She’d said as much herself, in the brief, candid check-ins she shared with Maya and me in our group chat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Casual messages. Locations mentioned in passing. A photograph of the sea at dusk. A dry remark about sand getting everywhere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not as detailed as I would have liked, but enough for me to breathe—especially after my shadows lost her trail after the Institute.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was just as Alois said: waiting required faith in Sera.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whoever this new variable was, I had to trust in Sera, in her choices. And in myself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I scrolled past the video to see the attention Selene’s post had gathered—comments piling in from various factions, congratulations layered over speculation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most of them reoriented around the same question: Was Sera settling in Seabreeze?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The suggestion grated—not because I believed it possible, but because I refused to let the narrative exist at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had no intention of letting that speculation take root, plausible or not.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I typed a comment, knowing my admin account would push it to the top of every feed that mattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Good to see our LST Champion thriving, even off-duty. OTS looks good on her, wherever she goes.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Neutral. Affirming. Redirective.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within seconds, the likes and comments rolled in. The conversation reoriented just enough—Seraphina framed not as Seabreeze’s guest, but as OTS’ ambassador.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As someone passing through, not settling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then I sent her a private message.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’The sea breeze suits you. But I hope you don’t forget that Christmas is fast approaching—and we’re already preparing for your homecoming.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I sent the message and leaned back, letting the hum of the room settle around me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The video continued to play on a loop in the corner of my screen—Seraphina laughing, alive, lighter than I’d ever seen her. And always, beside that man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I would allow it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I would not ignore the undercurrent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because threats didn’t always announce themselves as threats.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sometimes, they smiled. Sometimes, they caught you before you fell. Sometimes, they waited quietly beneath the surface, content to be overlooked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And those were always the ones worth looking out for.\u003C\u002Fp>",915,"2026-06-03T02:27:49.405Z",1,"novelbin.me","33561438337ffd8d06f00270111ed45f8a1c963dadce36f2d070a705f0fbb487","my-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-chapter-280","my-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-chapter-278",488,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fmy-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-cover.jpg"]