Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

82 Chapter 82

82 Chapter 82

Damien’s POV 1

I returned to my vigil by Sera’s bedside, settling into the chair that had become my second home. Her hand

lay motionless on the white hospital blanket, and I reached out to cover it with mine, desperately searching

for some sign that she was still fighting to come back to me.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered into the silence, the words scraping my throat raw. “God, Sera, I’m so fucking sorry.

This is all my fault.”

The confession spilled out of me like poison from a wound. Every fear, every regret, every moment of self-

loathing I’d been carrying for the past week.

“I never gave you a chance to just be happy, did I?” I traced my thumb over her knuckles, memorizing the feel

of her skin. “From the moment you walked into my office, there was always some crisis, some danger, some

fucking emergency that put you at risk.”

My voice broke on the last word, and I had to stop talking before the emotion completely overwhelmed me.

But the silence was worse than my rambling confessions, so I forced myself to continue.

“You wanted to prove you were worthy of being Luna,” I said, laughing bitterly. “As if there was ever any

question. You’ve been more Luna than I deserved since the day you told me off over the phone.”

The memory of that first conversation brought a ghost of a smile to my face. Sera, righteously indignant and

completely unimpressed by my alpha authority, had been exactly what I’d needed even when I was too stupid.

to realize it.

“You should have told me to go to hell,” I continued, lifting her hand to press it against my cheek. “Should

have taken Adrian and run as far away from me as possible. You’d both be safer, Happier.”

A soft knock at the door interrupted my self-recrimination. I looked up to see Lucas entering with someone I

hadn’t expected-Ophelia, her usually bright demeanor subdued by worry, and a small figure I recognized as

Adrian.

My son looked impossibly young in the sterile hospital environment, his silver-blue eyes wide with confusion

as he took in the sight of

AC

YJA

<

82 Chapter 82

barely qualified

to a five-year-old that his mother might never wake up? That she’d sacrificed herself to save strangers while

thick with emotion. “The doctors are trying to help

up.”

I talk to her?” Adrian moved closer to the bed, his small hands reaching

about my day

hospital bed. She’d been crying, I realized. Probably more than I had, since

process what

her, sweetheart,” Ophelia said softly, her voice only

hear everything you say.”

with the careful reverence of a child

if he didn’t fully understand it. “I

but they weren’t as good as yours.

tender it nearly shattered what was left of my composure. He continued chattering about his day-his friends at school, a

the unshakeable faith that

guess what?” Adrian’s voice dropped to an excited whisper. “Mrs. Peterson said

trip to the zoo next month! I’m gonna tell them all about how my daddy is the

person in the

“why don’t you and Aunt Ophelia go get some dinner from the cafeteria? I’ll stay

Mommy”

his small

and I’m not here?”

tasted like ash in my

15-62

2/4

<

82 Chapter 82

for a moment, then nodded solemnly. “Okay. But tell her I love

that I’m being

“I will, buddy.”

left, the room fell back into its familiar, oppressive silence. I moved to take Adrian’s

Sera’s limp form into

breathing in

And he’s right. You are. So why

to us?”

a haze of medical consultations, administrative

grinding fear that each breath might be her

sterile room with his bright chatter and innocent faith

would be okay.

as I was beginning to accept that