Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

36 Chapter 36

36 Chapter 36

Damien’s POV 1

The taxi ride to Sera’s apartment felt like the longest twenty minutes of my life. Adrian had finally stopped crying, but he remained pressed against my side like a small, warm anchor, his tiny hand clutching my shirt.

“Mr. Damien?” he said quietly as we pulled up to the modest brick building. “Is Mommy going to be okay?”

“She’s going to be fine,” I assured him, though my chest tightened with worry I couldn’t quite suppress. “Your mommy is very strong.”

Ophelia answered the door before I could even knock, her dark hair disheveled and her eyes red-rimmed with exhaustion and stress.

She looked like she’d been running on pure adrenaline for hours.

“Thank God you found him,” she breathed, immediately reaching for Adrian and pulling him into a fierce hug. “I was so scared, little man.

Are you hurt? Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, Aunt Ophelia,” Adrian mumbled against her shoulder, his voice muffled but steady. “Mr. Damien found me in the forest and

brought me home.”

Ophelia’s eyes met mine over Adrian’s head, gratitude and something deeper shining in their depths. “I can’t even begin to thank you,”

she said, her voice thick with emotion. “When I realized he was missing…”

“Where’s Sera?” I asked, scanning the small apartment for any sign of my mate.

Ophelia’s expression darkened. “Unconscious in her bedroom. I found her at the school-she’d been beaten pretty badly.”She’s running a

fever, probably from shock and exhaustion. I was just about to run to the pharmacy for antibiotics and pain medication.”

My wolf snarled at the thought of someone hurting Sera, but I forced myself to remain calm for Adrian’s sake. “Go,” I said, gently

touching Ophelia’s shoulder. “I’ll stay here with them until you get back.”

Ophelia left, I found myself alone in the tiny apartment with a

swinging his little legs and

of having

you hungry?” I asked, realizing I had absolutely no idea how to care for a

up with cautious hope. “Could

could mac and

tiny kitchen surrounded by

the pasta until it

cheese sauce that had the consistency of

drifted from the doorway, where he’d been watching my attempts at domestic competence with the fascinated horror of

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36 Chapter 36

where I’d attempted to create what the box had optimistically

towel frantically at the smoke detector that was now beeping with the persistence

plan.”

the burners, opened every window in the small kitchen, and turned to

you say we

I’d heard from him all evening. “You’re

not,” I admitted, running a hand through my hair and leaving it more disheveled than

am at

his room with the serious demeanor of a

a dinosaur comforter that had clearly seen better days. Drawings covered

in careful block letters, along with what appeared to be

crayon. 1

favorite,” Adrian said, pointing to a drawing that featured two stick figures standing under a large yellow

Mommy under the sun. I made it for her

a thoughtful son,”

I had a daddy too,” Adrian said matter-of-factly, settling onto his bed and hugging a stuffed wolf that

find him, but I think he might

you

of childhood. “Because if he wanted to find us, he