Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

69 Chapter 69

69 Chapter 69

Damien’s POV 1

By the time we reached my estate, the night had settled into that deep, quiet darkness that comes in the hours before dawn. The house loomed before us, all stone and shadow, its windows dark except for the security lights that automatically illuminated our path.

“Thank you for the hospitality,” Caleb said, extending his hand with genuine warmth. “And for the ride. That was… illuminating”

“More than you know,” I replied, shaking his hand briefly. The anger I’d felt earlier had transformed into something else entirely—a

mixture of hope and dread that sat in my chest like a living thing.

“Guest room is second door on the left upstairs,” I told him. “There should be everything you need.”

Caleb nodded and disappeared into the house, his footsteps echoing briefly in the marble foyer before fading as he climbed the stairs. I

stood in the entrance hall for a long moment, staring up at the chandelier that cast prismatic shadows across the walls.

Everything Caleb had said kept circling through my mind like a relentless tide. The description of the woman from that night—emerald

eyes, dark hair, petite build, that underlying strength. It was Sera. Every detail matched perfectly.

I made my way to my study, knowing sleep would be impossible. The room felt hollow despite its rich furnishings, the leather-bound

books and expensive art doing nothing to quiet the storm in my head. I poured myself three fingers of whiskey and settled into my chair,

staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the city lights twinkling below.

*Sera.*

Her name echoed in my mind like a prayer, like a curse. How could I have been so blind? The mate bond I’d felt the moment I saw her in

my office, the way my wolf Alex had recognized her immediately it all made sense now. She wasn’t just my fated mate by some cosmic

coincidence. She was the woman from that night, the mother of my child, the missing piece of my soul that I’d been searching for across

five long, empty years.

And Adrian. God, Adrian with his silver-blue eyes that matched my own, his natural charisma that drew people to him like moths to

flame.

another. The whiskey burned, but it was nothing compared to the

had the pendant ended up in Anna’s hands? The timeline made

left in such a rush for

She’d been asleep when I left

intensity of what we’d shared.

in the same city, breathing the same air, and I’d been too blind to recognize what was right in front of me. Worse, I’d hired the woman who’d stolen our chance at finding

lie.

was bitter enough

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69 Chapter 69

information. My thumb hovered over the

child, that I’d been searching for her for years,

middle of the night when she was probably sleeping peacefully in her small apartment, Adrian curled up in his bed down the hall. She deserved better than a rambling

knew about Sera Knight. Her employment file, her address, her schooling records. Looking for any trace of the woman I’d held

records about five years ago when she’d

a Seraphina Knight from a small town called Whispering

cold quickly.

time exhaustion finally claimed me. I fell asleep

photograph and an empty whiskey glass at my

buzz of my phone dragged me from uneasy dreams. Lucas’s name

crick in my neck

have something,” I said

that slightly manic edge he got when he’d been up all night

“And yes, I have something, though I’m not sure how useful it’s going

in my chair, suddenly fully awake. “What did

news. The hotel’s digital storage system had a massive failure about three years ago. Most of the older footage

completely lost. What we managed to recover is… patchy

heart sank. “And

good news is that I’ve got a guy who specializes in data recovery—the kind of guy who can pull deleted files off a computer

struck by lightning. He managed to piece together a few minutes of footage from the hallway outside

room that night.”

it to me.

video file was small, barely two minutes of grainy, black-and-white footage. I

at

the first thirty seconds, just the familiar perspective of a security camera mounted high on the wall.