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.”

alone in the tiny apartment with a four-year-old who was clearly trying

he’d been through. Adrian sat on the edge of the couch, swinging his little legs and stealing glances at me like he wasn’t

what to make of having a

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

with cautious hope. “Could we

hard could mac

later, I stood in Sera’s tiny kitchen surrounded by what could only be described as a

overcooking the pasta until

sauce that had the consistency

Damien?” Adrian’s 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

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

frantically at the smoke detector that was

plan.”

window in the small kitchen, and turned to face Adrian with what I hoped was an

do you say we

first genuinely happy sound I’d heard from him all

and leaving it more disheveled than before. “I’m

I am at making

me his room with the serious

was a twin size covered with a dinosaur comforter that had clearly seen better days.

“MOMMY” and “ME” in careful block letters, along with

crayon. 1

to a drawing that featured two stick

I made

lucky to have such a thoughtful son,” I said

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

find him,

would you think

philosophy of childhood. “Because if he