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.”

the tiny apartment with a four-year-old who was clearly trying very hard to be brave

he’d been through. Adrian sat on the edge of the couch, swinging his little legs and

make of having a

realizing I had absolutely no idea how to care for a child. “I could…

cautious hope. “Could we have mac and cheese? That’s my

could mac

I stood in Sera’s tiny kitchen surrounded by what could only

overcooking the pasta until it resembled mushy cardboard and

a cheese sauce that had

voice drifted from the doorway, where he’d been watching my attempts at domestic competence with the fascinated horror of someone witnessing a train wreck in slow motion. “I think the

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36 Chapter 36

to create what the box had optimistically labeled “creamy cheese sauce.” The smell was somewhere

waving a dish towel frantically at the smoke detector that was now

plan.”

opened every window in the small kitchen, and turned to face Adrian with

do you say

sound I’d heard from him all evening. “You’re not very good at cooking, are

not,” I admitted, running a hand through my hair and leaving

I am

arrive, Adrian showed me his room with the serious demeanor of

covered with a dinosaur comforter that had clearly

careful block letters, along with what appeared to be various prehistoric creatures

crayon. 1

favorite,” Adrian said, pointing to a drawing that featured two stick figures standing under a large yellow circle. “That’s

the sun. I

a thoughtful son,” I

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

maybe someday we’ll find him, but I

would you

the casual philosophy of childhood. “Because if he