Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

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57 Chapter 57

57 Chapter 57

Damien’s POV 1

The sound of my phone buzzing on the nightstand jolted me awake at exactly 5:47 AM. For a heart-stopping moment, panic flooded my system as I reached for it, expecting some emergency from the northern territories where Sera was conducting her heritage search.

Instead, I found a text from Ophelia.

*Emergency at the hospital. My mom had a stroke. Can you handle Adrian today? I’m so sorry – I know this is last minute but I can’t

reach anyone else and I have to get to Portland immediately.*

I scrubbed my hands over my face, trying to shake off the lingering drowsiness. Of course I could handle Adrian for a day. How hard

could it be?

*Of course. Take care of your mom. Adrian will be fine.*

Her response came immediately: *Thank you SO much. I’ll leave the spare key under the flower pot by the door. He knows the routine.*

Twenty minutes later, I stood outside Sera’s modest apartment building, still slightly disoriented by the early hour and the suburban

quiet. The key was exactly where she’d said it would be, hidden beneath a ceramic pot containing.

I let myself in as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake Adrian before necessary.

“Mr. Damien?” A small voice drifted from the direction of bedroom. “Is that you?”

“Yeah, buddy, it’s me, I called softly, following the sound of his voice down a short hallway. “Aunt Ophelia had to go help her mom, so I’m

going to hang out with you today.”

Adrian’s bedroom door was cracked open. He was sitting up in bed, his dark curls sticking up at impossible angles and his blue eyes still

heavy with sleep. He wore Spider-Man pajamas that were slightly too big for his small frame, the sleeves covering his hands completely.

“Is her mom going to be okay?”

“I think so,” I said honestly, settling on the edge of his bed carefully. The mattress dipped under my weight, and he scooted closer

realize he was doing it. “But Aunt Ophelia wants to be there

if you got

nodded solemnly, apparently satisfied with this explanation. “Are we going

asked, genuinely curious about how

and adopting the tone of someone preparing to deliver a comprehensive lecture, “first we have breakfast.

and maybe watch cartoons if there’s

clock on his nightstand and realized we had exactly forty-seven minutes

to his preschool

10-35

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57 Chapter 57

than I felt. “But we need to get moving if we’re going to make it to school

time.”

of instant energy that only children seemed capable of summoning. “I can help! I’m really

at stirring.”

mix and a note with basic instructions, but she’d apparently overestimated my domestic capabilities. The

He told me about his friend at school who could allegedly

reading to him about dragons who

pancake with disastrous results. “Mommy says that’s how you get really

fragments off the pan with growing dismay. How had something

so wrong so quickly?

show you,” Adrian said, reaching for the spatula with the fearless confidence of

top, and then you flip it really fast. Like

handle properly, he demonstrated

to do that?” I asked,

said proudly. “She says everyone should know how to cook

to produce a stack of reasonably edible pancakes, which Adrian declared “almost

came in small and sticky

children arriving for their day. I watched other parents navigating

out of my

him to his classroom, his small hand warm in mine. “Will you

that’s what you want,” I said, surprised by how much I hoped his answer

picture I’m going to draw of you today.

give you superhero muscles.”

wonderful day, sweetie,” I said, crouching down to Adrian’s level. Without hesitation,

that was