My Sister Stole My Mate And I Let Her (Seraphina) novel Chapter 252

Chapter 252: Chapter 252 FIND. HER.

KIERAN’S POV

My office had never felt so small, so suffocating, so goddamned far from where I needed to be.

The moment my phone vibrated with the encrypted alert from my field unit, my lungs cinched tight. I read the message once. Twice. The damning words didn’t change.

’Target lost. Trail severed after entering restricted forest perimeter.’

“What do you mean you lost her?” I snapped into the comm.

Static cracked. “Alpha, we followed her as instructed. She crossed the main trail behind the Institute, entered the mountain forest, and then...everything cut out. The perimeter is shielded. We can’t get drones in. No visuals. No scent trail beyond the first ridge. We’re still scanning—”

“Not good enough!” I bit out. “Expand the radius. Sweep the valley. If you have to tear the mountain apart stone by stone—”

“Alpha—”

“FIND. HER.”

I ended the call and hurled the encrypted comm tablet against the wall.

The reinforced casing split with a sharp crack, but refused to break. Unlike my composure, which had already shattered beyond repair.

Of course, the goddamned New Moon Institute would hide behind protected zones. But shielded terrain? A place so secretive that even my best trackers lost her trail?

My jaw ached from how hard I ground my teeth.

Even when Sera crossed paths with human hunters in Seattle, I hadn’t panicked like this. Back then, I’d had eyes on her as she spectacularly handed their asses to them.

I’d known exactly where she was, exactly how many steps it would take me to reach her if she needed me.

But this?

This was blindness. This was silence. This was a fucking void where my mate should have been.

And it was unraveling me in ways I didn’t know I could unravel.

My worst fear coiled low and cold: Something happened to her.

Something happened, and I wasn’t there and—

The soft knock on my door almost demolished me.

“What?” I barked.

Daniel peeked in, and the knot of anxiety in my chest loosened a fraction. His pajama shirt was crooked, his hair rumpled, and there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead. His little fists were balled so tightly his knuckles were pale.

“Daddy?” His voice was small, and alarm bells rang in my head. He hadn’t called me ‘Daddy’ since he was four years old.

“I...I had a nightmare.”

My entire chest split wide.

I pushed away from my desk and opened my arms. “Come here, bud.”

He rushed into my embrace. I gathered him onto my lap, arms circling him tight. He shivered in my hold, despite the warmth radiating from him.

It was moments like these that reminded me he was just a little baby.

“I saw Mom,” he whispered into my shirt. “She was somewhere strange. Dark. And she looked...hurt. I tried calling her name, but she didn’t hear me.” His voice trembled. “I-I think something’s wrong. We have to go save her.”

Ashar surged awake within me, restless and wild, his claws scraping desperation into every inch of my being.

I wish I could reassure my son that it was just a dream, just a manifestation of his concern for his mother.

But that would be a bald-faced lie.

Daniel’s words were an ice-cold confirmation. He’d always been uncannily clairvoyant, and now he had a nightmare just hours before Sera’s trail went cold?

I didn’t believe in coincidences.

I stroked his hair and pressed my cheek to his temple, unable to tell where my trembling ended, and his began.

“Hey. Look at me.” Years of Alpha training made my voice steady despite the wild rush of panic flooding my veins.

He lifted his head, eyes glossy with fear—the same fear I fought to keep from swallowing me whole.

“I will find her,” I promised.

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