[{"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-408":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},764532,1010,"Chapter 408 Z-01","my-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-chapter-408",408,"\u003Cp>SERAPHINA’S POV\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The last line blurred before my eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Do not trust me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The words pressed into me, heavy and suffocating, as if trying to take root beneath my ribs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a long moment, I didn’t move. I didn’t breathe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The letter trembled in my hands, the paper whispering under the strain of my grip, but I barely felt it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My mind had already fractured into too many directions at once, each thought crashing into the next before it could fully form.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lucian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Marcus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zara.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My cousin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The word echoed strangely in my head, foreign and intimate all at once. Cousin. Bloodline. Shared power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stared down at the ink again as if it might rearrange itself into something that made more sense if I just looked long and hard enough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It didn’t.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, everything unraveled further.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lucian had known from the beginning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not just who I was—but what. What ran through my veins. What I could become.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A sharp ache seized my chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every conversation, every piece of guidance, every moment he had stood beside me had been based on a lie.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or worse—calculation. Manipulation\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My stomach turned at that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No,” I whispered under my breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t that simple; it couldn’t be.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It might have started as a ploy, but I knew Lucian cared about me. No one was that good an actor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My fingers curled tighter around the letter, creasing the edge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sera.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kieran’s voice cut through the noise in my head, low and steady. He was close enough that I could feel his warmth seep into me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn’t look up immediately; I wasn’t sure what he would see on my face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, I focused on breathing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In. Out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Slow. Controlled. Measured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I tried to calm my thoughts, to find something solid to anchor myself to.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it felt like everything was shifting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sera,” Kieran repeated, gentler this time, his hand coming to rest lightly against my arm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There—solid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I closed my eyes and took a long, deep breath. Long enough to gather the pieces of myself that had scattered too far.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When I opened them again, the world felt...clearer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I forced my grip to loosen, and the paper straightened again, but the crease remained—a thin, permanent scar across the margin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fitting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m fine.” The lie slipped out smoothly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kieran didn’t call me on it, but I felt the shift in him anyway—the way his presence adjusted, closer without crowding, steady without pressing. He knew what I was doing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d seen me do it before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With Celeste.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With my parents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With everything that had tried to break me before I was ready to deal with it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compartmentalize.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Survive first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feel later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My jaw tightened as I folded the letter and set it aside on the counter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I would deal with Lucian’s secrets later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Right now...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I glanced down at the open box again and reached into it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The documents were thicker than they had looked at first glance, layered in uneven stacks—some neatly bound, others hastily clipped together, a few marked with annotations in Lucian’s unmistakable handwriting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My chest tightened again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ignore it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Focus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I pulled the first stack free and spread it across the counter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kieran shifted beside me, close enough to read over my shoulder, while Maya moved to the other side, already scanning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everything looked classified; Lucian must have risked a lot getting these.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alois lingered just behind us, silent, observant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I skimmed through the first few pages—data logs, monitoring records, energy fluctuations, patterns I didn’t understand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then my fingers stilled against the paper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No,” I whispered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What?” Maya asked, leaning closer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I went back to the beginning of the section and read more slowly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Subject: Z-01\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Designation: Zara\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Status: Stabilized—Partial Cognitive Retention Confirmed\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My pulse thudded heavily in my ears. I swallowed hard, continuing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—Observed behavioral responses indicate residual emotional imprinting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—Bond recognition present under controlled exposure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—Mate-link resonance detected despite structural reconstruction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The words seemed to tilt on the page.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sera,” Kieran said quietly, tension threading into his voice now. “Talk to me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I exhaled slowly, forcing the air out of lungs that suddenly felt too tight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They’re not just reviving bodies,” I said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maya frowned. “We already knew that.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No,” I said, shaking my head, my gaze still locked on the page. “Not like this.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I turned the document toward them and tapped the relevant lines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They’re retaining bonds.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s...” Maya grabbed the document out of my hand and scanned it. “That’s not possible.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It shouldn’t be,” I agreed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the proof was right in front of us.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lucian’s Zara—whether a puppet or the real thing—was not just alive, not just functioning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were still connected by the bond that should have snapped clean when she died.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My stomach twisted as the implications began to sink in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If they can retain emotional imprints...” I said slowly, thinking it through as I spoke, “then they’re not just controlling the puppets from the outside.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They’re reinforcing them from within,” Alois finished quietly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I looked up at him, and he met my gaze, his expression unusually grave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Using what remains of the original psyche as an anchor,” he continued. “It makes the control more stable. More resistant to disruption.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And more convincing,” Maya added.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My fingers tightened against the edge of the paper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes, that too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because if the bond felt real, if the connection responded the way it always had, then how would anyone tell the difference?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Worse, mate bonds weren’t just emotional; they were instinctual, fundamental.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even without acknowledging the bond, I knew how hard it had been to resist Kieran.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If something could replicate that—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A cold realization slid down my spine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If mate bonds can be sustained,’ I said, \"then so can familial and pack bonds.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kieran’s posture stiffened beside me. “They could use them to manipulate entire packs.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If they push this further,” I murmured, my thoughts racing now, slotting into place with terrifying clarity, “if they figure out how to fully stabilize it...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn’t finish the sentence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn’t need to.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because we all saw it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A world where the dead didn’t just return, they replaced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Where loyalty could be manufactured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Where trust could be weaponized.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Where no bond—no matter how sacred—could be relied on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It would break everything,” Maya said softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes,” I replied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My voice was steady now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because this—this was something I understood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a problem. A threat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something that could be analyzed, dismantled, fought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I flipped to the next section, scanning faster now, absorbing what I could.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were notes on failure rates. Instability thresholds. Neural degradation curves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But interwoven through all of it... Adjustments. Refinements. Progress.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They’re getting better,” I said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alois nodded. “Rapidly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How fast?” Kieran asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I skimmed a series of dated entries, my stomach sinking further with each one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Too fast,” I answered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the gaps between iterations were shrinking, the improvements compounding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whatever Lucian had done to slow them, it hadn’t been enough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I set the papers down carefully, forcing my hands to remain steady.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then we don’t treat this like what we’ve been dealing with so far,” Maya said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Exactly,” I agreed. “We treat it like a system, one that’s evolving.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kieran nodded. “We stop reacting to what it is now,” he said. “And start preparing for what it’s going to become.”\u003C\u002Fp>",1217,"2026-06-03T02:27:49.405Z",1,"novelbin.me","4e9fcadd469933225492e9b3c92135c264a7420d5191c9c28dda998fe37ec01a","my-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-chapter-409","my-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-chapter-407",488,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fmy-sister-stole-my-mate-and-i-let-her-cover.jpg"]