Chapter 208 - Stolen Mate of My Sister (Seraphina & Kieran) Novel Free Online

Slowly, I turned, heart thudding hard enough to echo in my ears.

I couldn’t see what the danger was, but I could feel it like an instinctive awareness. My eyes strained as I surveyed my environment, struggling to make out what it was.

There-a shift between the trees. A shadow too fluid, too deliberate to be just the wind or snow.

“Who’s there?” My voice came out steady, though my pulse was anything but.

No answer. Just the faint crunch of snow under a heavy weight.

My senses sharpened, pulling in every detail: the faint exhale of breath, the low growl vibrating in the distance.

Fear froze the blood in my veins, colder than the snow.

I was not alone.

SERAPHINA’S POV

The scent hit me first-wild musk and hunger, raw and untampered.

The unseen presence pressed against me like a wall, primal and unrelenting.

Every instinct in me screamed, danger!

Then I heard it-the crunch of heavy steps, deliberate and slow, somewhere beyond the curtain of trees.

Snow displaced with each weighty stride, followed by the low, guttural huff of a massive creature exhaling steam into the frozen air.

I couldn’t see it yet, but its shadow loomed, and I could guess what it was-a bear. And not a small one.

Shit.

I shifted my weight slowly, pressing the woodpile closer to me like a flimsy barrier.

My first thought-funnily, stupidly-was to shift forms. Wolf against bear. Fang to fang, claw to claw.

But then reality slammed into me like an iron door in my face.

I couldn’t Shift.

I might have laughed if I weren’t so fucking terrified.

I’d trained so rigorously, worked so hard, so that I would not be defined by what I lacked, by my one deficiency.

But now, none of that mattered, and my weakness would finally, truly, destroy me.

The bear’s low growl rumbled through the trees. My pulse spiked so fast I thought I would die of a heart attack before the beast had a chance to even scratch me.

The shadow stepped closer, and, between the trunks, its massive form took shape. Moonlight struck silver against fur as the hulking mass blotted out what little twilight remained.

Its coat was mottled white and gray, blending into the snow so well it seemed carved from the very ice-a predator built for this Arena, for this exact environment.

And its eyes…they gleamed with predatory intelligence, hungry. Unwavering. And they were fixed on me-it’s prey.

I swallowed hard, my throat as dry as bone.

Okay. Think. Options.

Run? Stupid-I’d be overrun in seconds.

Fight? Even stupider-one blow and my skull would cave in.

Climb? Maybe not as stupid, but would I be fast enough?

My hand twitched toward the communicator band strapped to my wrist. There were people monitoring every challenge, weren’t there? They had to intervene if one of us faced actual death. Right?

I pressed the emergency button at the side, whispering, “Requesting assistance.”

Nothing. Just static and the faint crackle of interference.

I pressed the other side to link to my teammates’ watches. “Guys? Can you hear me? I need you.”

More static.

The cold must have been disrupting the signal (dammit, shouldn’t they have prepared for that?) Or maybe the Arena’s wards were intentionally dampening communication (in that case, why the fuck did they give us communicators to begin with?)

Either way, I was on my own.

The bear trudged forward. Snow shifted beneath its weight; powder sprayed around its paws. Every time it moved, its massive shoulders rolled, and its breathing grew louder, deeper.

My grip on the firewood tightened until bark bit into my skin. My heart raced so hard it hurt, an erratic drumbeat filling my chest.

This was it.

This was how I was going to die. Torn apart in a frozen arena, my body not even warm enough for a proper pyre.

My knees nearly buckled. A sharp, acidic grief welled in my throat as tears brimmed in my eyes.

I thought of Daniel, waiting to come home, cheering me on with his whole heart. Of my team, huddled in the cave, relying on me to bring back fire.

And then, absurdly, I thought of Kieran. Of the warmth of his hands on me just last night, far away from danger and ice.

I thought of the brilliant fury with which he tore apart the rogues who kidnapped me. If he were here, he would know what to do; he would save me.

Despair knifed through me, so sharp I almost doubled over. And in that chasm of hopelessness, when I thought nothing and no one could reach me-

‘Left, Sera.

A voice.

Soft, low, threading through my mind like the faintest ripple across still water.

‘Move Slowly. Don’t break eye contact.

My breath caught. What the fuck?

The bear growled again, shifting its bulk, testing the distance between us.

The voice pulsed again, firmer this time. “Trust me, Sera. Move left. Now!’

My hand twitched toward the communicator band strapped to my wrist. There were people monitoring every challenge, weren’t there? They had to intervene if one of us faced actual death. Right?

I pressed the emergency button at the side, whispering, “Requesting assistance”