Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

22 Chapter 22

Damien’s POV 1

The past few days had been absolute torture. Every morning, I’d called Lucas before my coffee had finished brewing. Every lunch break,

I’d summoned him to my office with increasingly desperate demands for updates. Every evening, I’d texted him the same question: *Any

news?*

The answer was always the same infuriating response: *Still searching. These things take time.*

Meanwhile, Sera worked at her desk just outside my office, completely oblivious to the storm raging inside me. She’d settled into her

role with impressive efficiency, anticipating my needs before I voiced them, managing my impossible schedule with grace that would

have impressed even Claire. But every time she leaned over to place documents on my desk, every time her vanilla and jasmine scent

wafted toward me, Alex would snarl with barely contained hunger.

*Claim her,* my wolf demanded for the hundredth time that day. *She’s ours. Stop this foolish waiting.*

But I couldn’t. Not until I knew for certain. Not until I had proof that she was the woman who’d haunted my dreams for five years.

Today had been particularly brutal. Sera had worn a fitted black dress that hugged every curve, and when she’d bent to retrieve a

dropped file, the sight of her perfect ass had nearly made me lose all control. I’d spent the afternoon with my hands clenched into fists,

fighting the urge to pull her into my office and finish what we should do.

By five o’clock, I was wound tighter than a spring ready to snap.

the intercom for what had to be the tenth time that

growled, not looking up from the quarterly reports

past hour.

have twenty-three pawn shops still to check, forty-seven jewelry stores, and a list of online auction

whose patience was

the moment I find anything. Asking me every hour

palm against the desk hard

through my office, and I saw Sera’s head turn toward my door through the glass partition. Her emerald eyes

flickering across her features, before she quickly looked

a love-struck teenager instead of a powerful Alpha who commanded respect

uncertainty was eating me alive. Every night, I lay awake imagining what

Every morning, I convinced myself

uncharacteristic gentleness. *And you’re making everyone around you miserable in the

tears over a minor scheduling conflict, and growled at the building’s security guard for having the audacity

717

suit jacket from the back of my chair. “I’m going out, I announced to the empty

hear me through the

strode past her desk without making eye contact, afraid that if I looked

unprofessional. Like pin her

Nightshadow,” she called softly as I passed, her voice carrying that

tighten.

finger hovering over the call button, every instinct

into the elevator and let the

I was seated at the bar of *Moonlight

drink expensive whiskey and pretend their lives weren’t infinitely more complicated than

with enough ambient noise to drown out the restless

thoughts.