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

Ophelia wants to be there

you

this explanation. “Are we

of adventures do you usually have?” I asked,

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

get dressed and maybe watch cartoons if there’s time before

at the clock on his nightstand and realized we had exactly forty-seven minutes to accomplish

him to his

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57 Chapter 57

it is,” I said, standing up with more confidence than I felt. “But we need to get moving if we’re going to make it

time.”

kind of instant energy that only children seemed capable of summoning. “I

at stirring.”

had thoughtfully left out a box of pancake mix and a note with basic instructions, but she’d apparently overestimated my domestic capabilities. The note cheerfully suggested “just add water and

his friend at school who could allegedly burp the alphabet, about the new teacher who wore “sparkly” earrings, and about a book Sera

to him about dragons who lived in

results. “Mommy

scraping pancake fragments off the pan with growing

so wrong so quickly?

reaching for the spatula with the fearless

for the bubbles on top, and then you flip

someone whose hands were barely large enough to grip the handle properly, he demonstrated the proper

to do that?” I

he said proudly. “She says everyone should know

produce a stack of reasonably edible pancakes, which

ones.” Victory, apparently, came in small

preschool was a bright, cheerful building that buzzed with the controlled chaos of dozens of small children arriving for their day. I watched other parents navigating the drop-off routine

out

to his classroom, his small hand warm in mine. “Will you pick me up

said, surprised by how much I hoped his answer

picture I’m going to draw

give you superhero muscles.”

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

hug that was brief but