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

fear as he took in the sight of

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82 Chapter 82

Adrian’s voice was so small it barely

did you explain to a five-year-old that his mother might never wake up? That she’d sacrificed herself

thick with emotion.

up.”

the bed, his small hands reaching out

form. “Maybe if I tell her about my

as she watched Adrian climb carefully onto the edge of the hospital bed. She’d been crying, I realized. Probably more than I had, since I’d been too numb with shock

to properly process what was

Ophelia said softly,

hear everything you say.”

Adrian said, settling himself next to Sera with

he didn’t fully understand it. “I missed you today. Aunt Ophelia

but they weren’t as good as yours. She forgot to make

was left of my composure. He continued chattering about his day-his friends

unshakeable faith that his

to an excited whisper. “Mrs. Peterson said we might get to go on

zoo next month! I’m gonna tell them all about how my daddy is the Alpha King and

strongest person in

you and Aunt Ophelia go get some dinner from the cafeteria? I’ll stay

Mommy”

Adrian protested, his small jaw setting with stubbornness. “What if she

and I’m not here?”

up without me telling you first, I promised, though the words tasted like ash in my mouth. “I need

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82 Chapter 82

then nodded solemnly. “Okay. But tell her

I’m being good for

“I will, buddy.”

into its familiar, oppressive silence. I moved

bed, gathering Sera’s limp form into my arms with infinite

I whispered against her hair, breathing in the fading scent of her

the strongest person in the world. And he’s right. You

to us?”

together in a haze of medical consultations,

constant, grinding fear that each breath might be her last conscious

day after school, filling the sterile room with

would be okay.

on the tenth day, just as I was beginning to accept that this liminal state might be our