Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

Chapter 19

Damien’s POV 1

After our intense encounter in the car, Sera had collapsed against me, her breathing evening out into the deep rhythm of exhausted sleep. The drug, combined with everything she’d been through tonight, had finally claimed her consciousness. I held her for a long moment, watching the peaceful expression on her face, before carefully adjusting her torn dress and starting the car.

My wolf was restless, pacing anxiously in my mind. *She needs to be somewhere safe,* Alex insisted. *Home. She needs to be home.*

The problem was, I realized with growing frustration, I had no idea where home was for her. I’d hired her, worked beside her for days,

claimed her as my mate, and yet I didn’t even know her address. The realization sat like a stone in my chest, highlighting just how much I

still didn’t know about the woman who had turned my world upside down. 2

I pulled over and dialed Claire’s number, knowing she’d still be awake despite the late hour. She picked up on the second ring.

“Damien? Is everything alright? How did the dinner go?”

“Claire, I need Seraphina’s home address. Now.”

There was a pause. “What happened? Is she hurt?”

“She’s fine,” I said quickly, though the memory of finding her drugged and helpless in that bastard’s house made my hands clench on the

steering wheel. “I just need to get her home safely.”

“I see.” Claire’s voice carried that particular tone she used when she suspected there was far more to the story than I was telling her.

Street, apartment 2B. It’s in the Riverside

the area-older buildings, working-class neighborhood, the kind of

buildings hadn’t been updated since the 1970s. It was a twenty-minute drive

business district

you,” I

a narrow brick building that looked

yellow light on cracked sidewalks. A

how her emerald dress-now wrinkled and torn from the evening’s

She stirred slightly as I lifted her but didn’t wake, her

was secured with an old-fashioned buzzer system. I found the button

as footsteps echoed

opened to reveal a young woman with dark hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, wearing yoga pants and an oversized sweater that suggested she’d been waiting up for Sera’s return. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of me-a stranger in an

hell are you?” she demanded, stepping protectively into the doorway despite being barely five and a half

ON 20

719

you do to Sera?”

Nightshadow,” I said quietly, not wanting

my face to Sera’s still form and back again.

to drink at the company dinner tonight.

safely.”

appearance more closely-the flushed cheeks, the disheveled hair, the torn strap of her dress that I hadn’t noticed in the dim light of the car. “Too much

bring her inside?” I interrupted, not wanting to explain the full story while standing in a public hallway.

Ophelia stepped aside, leading me up a narrow staircase to the second floor. The hallway was cramped and dimly lit, with thin carpeting that had seen better years. She unlocked a door marked

but immaculately clean. A small living room opened into an even smaller kitchen, and I could see a single bedroom beyond. Everything was organized with the precision of someone who couldn’t afford

said, still eyeing me with suspicion as she led