Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

17 Chapter 17

Damien’s POV 1

The moment Valerie’s venomous words left her lips, I felt like my brain was being consumed by a toxic mixture of jealousy and rage. The scent of fear and tension radiating from my mate hit me like a physical blow, making Alex snarl with protective fury in my mind.

Valerie had always been a repulsive creature. Ever since her wedding to my half-brother Gabriel-a pathetic excuse for a wolf who was nothing more than my father’s bastard son-she’d pursued me relentlessly. Gabriel himself was utterly worthless, a man I barely acknowledged beyond providing him with enough money to stay out of my way and out of trouble.

But Valerie’s appearance today, first insulting my mate in my own office and now this public humiliation, ignited something murderous in my chest. Her words were like poison injected directly into my bloodstream. Sera-my mate-had been with that useless waste of

space Gabriel? The brilliant, beautiful child she’d spoken of with such fierce love… was he Gabriel’s?

I watched security drag Valerie away, her shrieks echoing through the restaurant like the cries of a banshee.

Standing there with every eye in the restaurant fixed on us, I stared into Sera’s face-those magnificent emerald eyes now blazing with hurt and fury-and waited for her to deny it. All she had to do was say no, and I would have believed her without question. I would have

torn Valerie apart for even suggesting such filth.

Instead, Sera’s face went through a series of expressions-shock, pain, and finally, a rage so pure it made my wolf whimper with regret.

When she turned her back on me and walked away with her head held high, every instinct I possessed screamed at me to follow her, to

beg her forgiveness.

“You’re an idiot,” Lucas said quietly, appearing at my shoulder as the crowd began to disperse with obvious disappointment at the end of

the show. “A complete and total idiot.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” I growled, my eyes still fixed on the spot where Sera had disappeared.

“Well, you’re getting it anyway.” Lucas’s voice carried the particular tone he used when he was about to deliver harsh truths I didn’t want

to hear. “That woman just organized a flawless dinner party in under twenty-four hours, handled your impossible demands without

breaking, stood up to your sister-in-law’s public humiliation with more grace than most alphas could manage, and you repaid her loyalty

by immediately believing the worst.”

Each word hit like a physical blow, and I knew he was right. The moment Valerie had started spewing her poison, I should have shut her

down completely. Instead, I’d let jealousy and possessiveness cloud my judgment.

The other dinner guests were beginning to disperse. I could already imagine how this story would spread through the werewolf social

networks.

“I need to go after her,” I said, finally breaking free of whatever paralysis had gripped me.

“About damn time,” Lucas muttered, but there was relief in his voice.

through the restaurant’s revolving doors into the cool night air,

and jasmine tinged with the salt

114

gone left, toward the business district. I followed the trail on foot for several blocks,

reached my car, I was already pulling out my phone to call every contact

glimpse of emerald fabric getting into

I gunned the engine, weaving through traffic with reckless abandon as I tried to

the car through increasingly deserted residential

tight with panic. “Something’s wrong. Can’t

sedan pulled into the driveway of a modest house on a quiet side street. Through my windshield, I watched the driver get

around to the passenger side. Even from a distance, I could see that Sera’s movements were sluggish, uncoordinated. When

grip, the motion was

had drugged

through my system, so pure and intense that my vision

excuse for a wolf into pieces

up the front steps, watched her stumble and

help that was too weak

her inside the house, I was out of my car and shifting before my feet hit the pavement.

and my human consciousness merged with Alex’s primal fury until

single, burning purpose.

*Protect. Mate.*

from human to wolf form took less than ten seconds, but it felt like an eternity when

silver form hit the ground running, powerful legs eating up

in great bounding

of movement-Sera slumped on a couch, the bastard’s hands on her

set up in the corner. The sight sent such a surge

head and howled—a sound that carried

solid wood, but it might as well have been paper. I hit it

the hinges tore free from the wall,

room to crash

wolf-Michael, spun around with terror written across his face. Up close,

been partially torn, her hair disheveled, her beautiful emerald eyes glazed with whatever drug

incapacitate her.

She was breathing. That was

stumbled backward, his hands raised in a gesture of surrender that would have been laughable if I’d

09.19

2/4

coat rippling with muscle and my eyes

designed for tearing

could somehow disappear into it. “I

swear I didn’t know!”

my expensive suit somehow remaining intact despite the violent