My Sister Stole My Mate And I Let Her (Seraphina) novel Chapter 249

Chapter 249: Chapter 249 MOONLIGHT ALLEY

SERAPHINA’S POV

The bookmark gleamed faintly when I stepped out of the director’s garden, its silver lines catching the late-afternoon sun.

I held it up, turning it until the light revealed the pattern more clearly.

And then I realized it wasn’t a pattern.

On the back, in tiny, delicate script, was a single line: Independently obtain the Moonlight Alley talisman.

No instructions. No explanation. No hint of what the talisman even looked like.

Alois had handed me a puzzle with no edges and expected me to assemble the picture before sunrise.

I exhaled through my nose. “Great. Fantastic. Nothing like a little vague mysticism to get the blood pumping.”

Alina hummed. ‘Don’t despair. You’ve always loved riddles.’

“Yeah,” I murmured. “Except when they’re about my life.”

‘Hey, your father walked this path. So can you.’

Those words steeled something in me.

She was right; my father must have gone through this same process.

And whatever truth he had been chasing, whatever truth had been kept from me my entire life—I was finally closing in on it.

I couldn’t let anything stand in my way.

I flipped the bookmark over again and studied it. That’s when I noticed an extra detail: a small, hand-carved map along the bottom—a crude sketch marking an area on the outskirts of the institute, shaded in gray.

Faint lettering read: Moonlight Alley.

A tingle ran down my spine. Alois didn’t tell me outright where to go, but he hadn’t hidden the path either.

So I followed it.

***

Moonlight Alley was nothing like the bright, open academic paradise I had come from.

Here, the air felt heavier. Denser. Shadowed.

The buildings were older, weather-beaten, clustered tightly together. Narrow corridors formed a twisting maze, the stone walls patched and cracked. Dim lanterns swung overhead, creaking in the cold breeze.

People lingered near doorways and narrow shops—wolves with threadbare clothing, Omega families sharing small scraps of food, mixed-bloods who kept to the shadows as if daylight wasn’t theirs to claim.

And every pair of eyes followed me.

Some curious. Most wary. A few hostile.

I might as well have walked in wearing a neon sign blinking ‘OUTSIDER!’

I maintained an open, neutral posture. Not dominant. Not submissive. Simply present.

Still, their gazes tracked me like a foreign specimen, intense enough to make my skin crawl.

The sooner I found what I was looking for, the sooner I could leave before one of those hostile gazes turned into a hostile fist.

But I didn’t have a lead. I didn’t even know what this talisman looked like.

So I did the only thing I could: I observed.

I drifted past small stalls selling cheap trinkets and worn amulets. Past a group of Omegas huddled together, whispering. Past a narrow shop with faded charms hanging from the doorframe—none special, none memorable.

Nothing screamed Moonlight Alley talisman. Not even a whisper.

I was starting to feel stupid, wandering like a lost puppy while the sun edged lower in the sky, when a small body slammed into me.

“Oof—!”

A child stumbled back, wide-eyed.

“Sorry!” he squeaked.

He looked a little younger than Daniel—nine, maybe eight. Big eyes, tattered clothes, a cap pulled low over messy auburn hair. He flashed me a bright, guilty smile and darted away.

A soft groan slipped out of me.

I was getting nowhere. I reached into my coat pocket, intending to call Maxwell in case he had any ideas of what treasure I was searching—

And froze.

He didn’t.

My hands frantically moved through my pocket, then the other one, just in case I’d misplaced it.

He did.

“That little—”

Alina cackled. ‘He stole from you!’

I hissed through my teeth, turned on my heels, and sprinted after him.

The boy was fast, much faster than most human children. He darted between market stalls, slipped under a low-hanging sign, and shot down a narrow passage that looked barely wide enough for a cat.

It would have been hard for a normal target to give chase.

But I wasn’t normal.

Thanks to Maya’s training, I could follow a squirrel up a tree if needed.

As I ran, my phone smacked against my coat pocket. I wouldn’t have cared if the little shit had taken my phone or wallet; they could be replaced.

But he’d taken the one thing I absolutely could not lose: the compass Daniel had given me. ‘So you always find your way back.’

No way in hell was I letting that go.

“Hey!” I shouted. “Stop!”

He didn’t. Instead, he giggled—actually fucking giggled—and veered sharply into a side alley.

I followed—and ran straight into a trap.

A low rope snapped upward, catching my ankle—but instinct kicked in before I fully realized what was happening.

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