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

in the sight of his mother surrounded by

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82 Chapter 82

Adrian’s voice was so small it barely

physical blow. How did you explain to a five-year-old that his mother might never wake up? That she’d

thick with emotion. “The doctors are trying to help

up.”

moved closer to the bed, his

I tell her about my day

climb carefully onto the edge of the hospital bed. She’d been crying, I realized.

to properly process what was

can talk to her, sweetheart,” Ophelia said softly,

hear everything you say.”

next to Sera with the careful reverence of a child who sensed

even if he didn’t fully understand it. “I missed you today.

weren’t as good as yours. She forgot to make them

hair, the gesture so tender it nearly shattered what was left of my composure.

game they’d played-with the unshakeable faith that his mother was listening to

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

tell them all about how my daddy

the strongest person

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

Mommy”

stay here,” Adrian protested, his small jaw setting with stubbornness. “What

and I’m not here?”

the words tasted like ash in

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82 Chapter 82

this for a moment, then nodded solemnly. “Okay.

that I’m being good

“I will, buddy.”

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

limp form into my arms with infinite

hair, breathing in the fading scent of her

world. And he’s right. You are. So

to us?”

together in a haze of medical consultations,

each breath might be her

school, filling the sterile room with his

would be

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