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.

pushed through the restaurant’s revolving doors into the cool night air, my eyes scanning

jasmine tinged with the

114

trail on foot for several blocks,

I reached my car, I was already pulling

caught a glimpse of emerald fabric getting into a silver

Even from this distance, I could see that it wasn’t a taxi. I gunned the engine, weaving through traffic with reckless abandon as I tried to keep the sedan in sight. My wolf was going completely feral, pacing and

followed the car through increasingly

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

a modest house on a quiet side street. Through my windshield, I watched the driver get

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

grip, the motion was weak

bastard had drugged my

through my system, so pure and intense that my

pathetic excuse for a wolf

stumble and nearly fall, watched her

help that was too weak to

moment he got her inside the house, I was out of my car and shifting before my feet

consciousness merged with Alex’s primal fury until we

single, burning purpose.

*Protect. Mate.*

ten seconds, but it felt

running, powerful legs eating up the

great

slumped on a couch, the bastard’s

sight sent such a surge of murderous rage through me

threw back my head and howled—a sound that carried every ounce of fury and territorial claim I

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

metal. The frame cracked, the hinges tore free

crash into the

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

dress had been partially torn, her hair disheveled, her beautiful emerald eyes

incapacitate her.

That was all that mattered in

a gesture of surrender that would have been laughable if I’d been capable

09.19

2/4

coat rippling with muscle and my eyes burning with supernatural fire. My

for tearing flesh

wall as if he could somehow disappear into it. “I didn’t know she was

swear I didn’t know!”

human form with fluid grace, my expensive