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

sight of his mother

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Adrian’s voice was so small it barely qualified as a whisper.

like a physical blow. How did you explain to a five-year-old that his mother might never wake up? That she’d sacrificed herself to save strangers while her

buddy,” I managed, my voice thick with emotion. “The doctors are

up.”

closer to the bed, his small hands reaching out tentatively toward

my day at school, she’ll

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

to properly process

you can talk to her, sweetheart,” Ophelia said softly, her voice only slightly

hear everything you say.”

said, settling himself next to Sera with the careful reverence of

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

good as yours.

small hands gently stroke Sera’s hair, the gesture so tender it nearly shattered what was left of my composure. He continued chattering about his day-his friends at school, a book

the unshakeable faith that his mother was

voice dropped to an excited whisper. “Mrs. Peterson said we might

them all about how my daddy is the

person

don’t you and Aunt Ophelia go get

Mommy”

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

and I’m not here?”

telling you first, I promised, though the words tasted like ash in my mouth. “I need to talk to her about

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

that I’m being good for Aunt

“I will, buddy.”

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

bed, gathering Sera’s limp

you hear him?” I whispered against her hair, breathing in the fading scent of

the strongest person in the world. And he’s right. You are. So why won’t

to us?”

a haze of medical consultations,

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

sterile room with his bright chatter and

be

beginning to accept that this liminal