Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

Chapter 71

Seraphina’s POV 1

The silence in Damien’s office stretched between us like a taut wire, heavy with unspoken secrets and questions that I wasn’t sure I

wanted answered. He stood with his back to me, staring out at the harbor through the floor-to-ceiling windows, his shoulders rigid with

tension.

“Damien,” I said softly, my voice barely above a whisper, “you’re scaring me. What’s this about?”

He turned slowly, and the expression on his face made my breath catch. There was pain there, and something that looked almost like

hope, but also a terrible intensity that made my wolf Ayla whimper in my mind.

“I need you to think back, Sera,” he said, his voice rough and strained. “Five years ago. The night before your eighteenth birthday.”

My heart stopped. Literally stopped beating for what felt like an eternity before it resumed with painful, erratic thuds against my ribs. “What… what did you say?”

“The Moonlight Grand Hotel,” he continued, his silver-blue eyes never leaving my face. “There was a masquerade ball, and you were wearing a green dress that matched your eyes.”

The blood drained from my face so quickly that I had to grip the back of the chair in front of me to keep from swaying. “How do you… how could you possibly know that?”

Damien took a step closer, his movements careful and deliberate, like he was approaching a wounded animal that might bolt at any moment. “Because I was there, Sera. I was the man you spent that night with.”

“No.” The word came out as barely a whisper, denial automatic and desperate. “No, that’s not possible. You don’t understand-I would

have known. I would have recognized you when I first saw you in this office.”

“Would you?” he asked gently, his voice filled with a kind of aching tenderness that made my chest tight. “We both wore masks that

faces clearly. And five

suppress came flooding back. The mysterious man with the silver-blue eyes. The way he’d made me feel safe and desired

my chair, his hands hovering just inches from mine as if he wanted to touch

son,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “Our son, Sera. He carries my bloodline. He’s not just some random child you’re raising-he’s a Nightshadow. He’s the heir to

“But how… I don’t understand. If you knew, if you suspected, why didn’t

“Because I’m an idiot,” he said bitterly. “Because I let desperation and hope

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Anna showed up with my pendant, claiming to be the woman from that night, I wanted so

confusion, swiping at my tears with the back of my hand.

surprised. Then his expression shifted to something that was

know about it,” he said softly. “You were asleep when I left. I had to go-there

my immediate attention. But I didn’t want to wake you, and

after what we’d shared.

pocket and pulled out something that caught the light from the windows-a golden pendant in the shape of a

hanging from

on your nightstand,” he continued, his thumb tracing over the pendant’s surface. “It was my way

us meant something to me. That you meant something to me. I hoped… I hoped you would keep it, and

would try to

stared at the pendant. “I never saw it,” I whispered, my voice breaking

never saw it. I woke up alone, and you were gone, and there was nothing left behind. I

or your

unbearable. “Anna,” he said quietly, the name like a curse on his lips. “She

have found it when

tears coming harder now, “I thought… I thought you just didn’t care. I thought it

you, and I was just some

my face in his hands, his thumbs gently wiping away