Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

Damien’s POV

The quarterly reports blurred together on my computer screen. Numbers that should have meant something, Profit margins. Projected

growth. Territory expansion.

None of it fucking mattered.

I rubbed my eyes, the ache behind them pulsing in time with my heartbeat. Three months. Three months since Sera had walked out that

door, and I still couldn’t concentrate for more than five minutes without my mind drifting to her.

*Where is she? Is she safe? Is she eating enough?*

I slammed the laptop shut harder than necessary. The sound echoed through my empty office like a gunshot.

“Alpha?”

I looked up to find Lucas standing in my doorway, concern etched across his face. When had he knocked? How long had he been

standing there?

“What?” The word came out sharper than I intended.

“Board meeting in ten minutes.” Lucas stepped inside, closing the door behind him. “You forgot, didn’t you?”

Had I? I glanced at my calendar. Tuesday, 2 PM. Quarterly review with the pack’s business council.

“I didn’t forget,” I lied.

Lucas’s expression said he knew better, but he was kind enough not to call me on it. Instead, he settled into the chair across from my

desk with that easy confidence that used to irritate me. Now it was just… familiar. Comforting, even.

“You look like shit,” he said bluntly.

“Thanks for the pep talk.”

on his knees. “When’s the last time you

jaw clenched.

you always scream when

My five–year–old son was listening to

but even

city. “Because from where I’m standing, you’re barely functioning. You’re running

stretched between us like a

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172 Chapter 172

falling apart,” I said

before dawn. You leave after midnight. You barely eat. You don’t shift anymore. When’s the last time

couldn’t remember.

pack needs me

their Alpha to not work himself to

doing my best,”

he shook his head slowly, disappointment radiating from every line

when you’re ready to stop being an asshole,” he said,

with a soft click that felt louder

slam.

sat there in the silence, staring at the closed door, feeling something crack deeper inside my

of voices and presentations I didn’t care about. I nodded at the right times.

budgets and

while feeling like I

early, ignoring Emma’s surprised expression as I walked past

moment to think about Sera.

here, beside me, complaining about traffic or

The unfairness of it made my chest burn with rage and helplessness in

the same as

pasta that Adrian picked at and Lily smeared across her high chair–I put both kids to bed. Stories for Adrian. A bottle for Lily. The usual routine that felt anything but usual without Sera.

at the moon rising over the trees.

the glass, closing my eyes. Somewhere out there, she was living her life without us.

choice. Probably sleeping better than I