Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

9 Chapter 9

Seraphina’s POV 1

After what felt like the longest afternoon of my professional life, I finally managed to complete all the arrangements for tomorrow’s dinner party at eight o’clock. My phone had been buzzing incessantly with calls from Ophelia, each message more frantic than the last. She’d already picked up Adrian from school, and according to her increasingly dramatic voicemails, my four-year-old son was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement about his first day, demanding to know when his mommy would be coming home.

When I finally escaped the office building, I found Ophelia leaning against her car in the parking garage, arms crossed and wearing the expression of someone who’d been plotting my lecture for the past hour. Adrian was secured in his car seat in the back, his little face pressed against the window as he waved enthusiastically at me.

“Mommy!” he called out, his voice muffled by the glass but his excitement unmistakable.

My heart melted instantly, washing away the stress of the day like magic. I slipped into the passenger seat and immediately twisted

around to face him.

“Hey, my little man! How was your first day at the big kid school?”

“It was AMAZING!” Adrian bounced in his seat as much as his safety harness would allow. “I made three new friends, and the teacher said I was very smart, and we painted pictures of our families, and-”

“Whoa, slow down there, champ,” I laughed, reaching back to ruffle his dark curls. “We’ll talk about everything over dinner, okay? Right

now we need to get you some supplies for tomorrow.”

Ophelia started the engine but kept glancing at me in the rearview mirror with barely contained curiosity. “Sera, you look like you’ve been through a war zone. What exactly happened on day one of your fancy new job?”

I let out a long, dramatic sigh. “Ophelia, I think I might need to dust off my resume and start job hunting again.”

Her foot slammed on the brake so hard we all lurched forward. Adrian giggled at the sudden stop, but Ophelia whipped around to stare

at me with genuine horror.

“Are you telling me you got FIRED? On your FIRST DAY?” Her voice rose to a pitch that probably only dogs could fully appreciate.

“Not fired exactly,” I said quickly, waving my hands to calm her down before she gave herself an aneurysm. “More like… hated by my new

boss.”

As we drove toward the mall, I regaled them with the tale of my telephone encounters with the mysterious and apparently psychotic Mr.

Ophelia pulled into a parking space, she was laughing so hard she was crying, and

not understanding

eyes, “you are absolutely incredible! Do

you not only survived two conversations with an angry

full weight of my impending professional doom. “Yeah, well, tomorrow

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9 Chapter 9

escort me

hand, squeezing it firmly. “Hey, look at me. Even if that happens-which it won’t-you know I’ve got your back, right?

After years of feeling completely

still felt like a

said, unbuckling her seatbelt with renewed energy. “Let’s go buy this little genius some school supplies and maybe find

next hour wandering through the mall, checking items off Adrian’s school supply list. We were heading toward the toy store-Adrian’s reward for being such a good sport about shopping-when I stopped dead in my tracks in front of an upscale boutique. There, displayed in the window like a piece of art, was

a corporate environment but with enough style to make a statement. It was similar to the dress Ophelia had convinced me to wear to that fateful Lunar Assembly five years ago, but

different league entirely.

against the glass like a

immediately

price tag visible on a nearby garment and feeling my wallet cry out in

costs more than

She turned to face me, her expression suddenly serious. “You’re not working

of the most powerful Alphas in the

like it or

held up a

“when your terrifying boss sees you wearing that dress, he’s going

to fire you. You’ll

“Ophelia-”

time you

and realized I couldn’t remember. Between working multiple jobs, putting myself through

Adrian, there hadn’t been money or time for anything that

don’t go in there and try on that dress right now,” Ophelia said with mock sternness, “I’m going to march in there

no choice but

I can’t