Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

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144 Chapter 144

Damien’s POV 1

I was already reaching for my car keys before Ophelia could respond.

“Whoa.” She caught my arm, her grip surprisingly strong. “Slow down, Damien. We need to think this through.”

“Think what through?” I shook her off, my heart racing with the first real hope I’d felt in three weeks. “If Sera’s there, I need to get to her

now.”

“And what if she’s not? What if we’re wrong?” Ophelia’s voice was gentle but firm. “You’ve been holding it together by a thread. I won’t watch you fall apart if this is another dead end.”

Her words hit me like cold water. She was right. I’d been surviving on pure willpower and desperation. If this didn’t pan out…

“But what if she is there?” I asked quietly. “What if she’s been there this whole time, and I’ve been searching in all the wrong places?”

Ophelia studied my face for a long moment. “Then we go get her. Together. But we do this smart, okay?”

I nodded, though every instinct screamed at me to get in the car and drive until I found her.

“Do you even know where Caleb lives?”

“I can find out.”

An hour later, I stood in my driveway, keys in hand, watching Ophelia throw an overnight bag into her car. The sun was already setting, painting the sky orange and pink. We’d lost daylight, but I couldn’t wait until morning. Not when I might be hours away from holding

Sera again.

The front door opened, and Adrian appeared on the porch in his pajamas, his dark hair sticking up at impossible angles.

“Daddy?” His voice was small, uncertain. “Where are you going?”

My heart clenched. “I have to go somewhere for work, buddy.”

“At nighttime?”

I knelt down to his level, looking into those silver–blue eyes that were so much like mine. “Sometimes grown–up work happens at weird

times.”

children sometimes

been so careful, so sure I was hiding the

gave them credit for.

makes you think

said quietly. “And you’re sad. Like. Even

tears. When I opened them again, Adrian

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expression.

“I’m

“Can I come?”

here with Ms. Sarah and take

to help find her too.” His bottom lip wobbled

pulled him into my arms, holding him tight against my chest. “I know you do. I

“Is she lost?”

go away for a little while,” I said carefully. “But I’m going to find her and bring her

the border took four hours. Four hours of tense silence, broken only by

steering wheel so tight my knuckles

rural territory. Towns gave way

people went

left at the next intersection,” Ophelia said, squinting at her phone in the

a narrow two–lane road that seemed to wind

about ten miles to the town

to hide from a world that had become too painful to

said softly. “What are you going to say to her? If she’s

asking myself the same question for the past four hours. What did you say to the woman

she

don’t know,” I admitted. “I’ll figure it out when I

appeared around a bend in the roadsmall, quiet, exactly what I’d expected. A

a neon “Open” sign flickering in the window, and in the distance, the glow of what looked like

Auto Repair. The sign was old but well–maintained, and there were

ribs. This was it. Either Sera was here, or I was

ready for

“No.”

got out of

and welcoming. Warm light spilled

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