Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

179 Chapter 179

Seraphina’s POV T

“Mama!”

The world tilted sideways.

One second I was standing there, frozen in place, processing the impossible sight of this tiny girl running toward me. The next, she

crashed into my legs with enough force to make me stumble backward.

Small arms wrapped around my knees like iron bands. A face pressed against my thighs. “I-” My voice came out strangled. Wrong. “I

think you’ve got the wrong person, sweetheart.”

But she didn’t let go. Just held on tighter, her small body trembling with what might have been excitement or relief or something I

couldn’t name.

“Sera?” Caleb’s voice cut through my shock. “Do you know this kid?”

“No.” The word came out too fast. “No, I don’t know her.”

My heart was hammering so hard I could feel it in my throat. In my fingertips. In every cell of my body screaming that something was

very, very wrong with this situation.

All I could do was stare down at the top of this little girl’s head–dark hair in slightly messy pigtails, one ribbon starting to come loose.

*Just like I used to do Lily’s hair. Always one ribbon looser than the other because she’d fidget.*

“Hey,” I said softly, my voice shaking despite my best efforts. “Hey, sweetie. I think there’s been a mistake.”

The little girl pulled back just enough to look up at me, and-

Oh.

Her eyes.

They were like looking into the ocean at dawn–blue and green swirled together in a way that didn’t quite match mine but felt achingly

familiar. Lighter than my emerald green, but with that same depth. That same intensity.

“You have pretty eyes,” she said seriously, studying my face with the kind of concentration only small children possessed. “Like the forest.

says. ‘Mama has

up completely. “I… that’s

fingers barely brushing my hair where it fell over my

word was a knife between my ribs.

I had to stop and swallow hard. “I’m

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out in the most devastating pout I’d ever seen. “But

face felt frozen. “Your mama sounds beautiful. But honey, are you lost?

complicated passing across her small face. Sadness, maybe. Or confusion. Or something

so matter–of–fact it made my chest ache.

shaking worse now. I clasped them together in my

excited smile that showed her baby tooth. “He says she’s beautiful and kind

in the whole

says-” She leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a whisper like she was sharing a secret. “He says she’s the

stronger than him. And

I managed. My voice sounded like it was coming

reached up, small fingers trying to touch my face. “You look exactly like how Daddy

here! You found me!”

gently, holding them between mine. They were so small. So warm. So

met

my voice as gentle as I could. As calm. Even though inside I was screaming. “Sometimes

like copies. But

I’d just told her the worst news in

those chubby cheeks. Dripping

could stop it. “Oh, sweetheart, don’t cry.

small body without conscious thought. She buried her face in my shoulder, her

body shaking with sobs.

she hiccupped against my neck. “Everyone else has a mama. Why can’t

was tight with concern. “Maybe we should find

little girl’s shoulders. “He’s right. Your daddy must be so worried about you. Do you

where he is?”

the back of her hand, sniffling. “We were getting cupcakes. Will you

for Mama forever and

gentled my voice, trying to make the rejection hurt less. “Your daddy needs to

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have my own children.

have children?” Her eyes went