Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

82 Chapter 82

82 Chapter 82

Damien’s POV 1

| returned to my vigil by Sera’s bedside, settling into the chair that had becmy second home. Her hand

lay motionless on the white hospital blanket, and | reached out to cover it with mine, desperately searching

for ssign that she was still fighting to cback to me.

“I'm sorry,” | 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 oflike 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 1?” | traced my thumb over her knuckles, memorizing the feel

of her skin. “From the moment you walked into my office, there was always scrisis, sdanger, some

fucking emergency that put you at risk.”

My voice broke on the last word, and | had to stop talking before the emotion completely overwhelmed me.

But the silence was worse than my rambling confessions, so | forced myself to continue.

“You wanted to prove you were worthy of being Luna,” | said, laughing bitterly. “As if there was ever any

question. You've been more Luna than | deserved since the day you toldoff 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 | was too stupid.

to realize it.

“You should have toldto go to hell,” | continued, lifting her hand to press it against my cheek. “Should

have taken Adrian and run as far away fromas possible. You'd both be safer, Happier.”

A soft knock at the door interrupted my self-recrimination. | looked up to see Lucas entering with someone |

hadn’t expected-Ophelia, her usually bright demeanor subdued by worry, and a small figure | recognized as

Adrian.

My son looked impossibly young in the sterile hospital environment, his silver-blue eyes wide with confusion

and fear as he took in the sight of his mother surrounded by beeping machines.

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82 Chapter 82

“Daddy?” Adrian’s voice was so small it barely qualified as a whisper. “Is Mommy sick?”

The question hitlike 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 own family stood by helplessly?

“She's... sleeping, buddy,” | managed, my voice thick with emotion. “The doctors are trying to help her wake.

up.”

“Can | talk to her?” Adrian moved closer to the bed, his small hands reaching out tentatively toward Sera’s

still form. “Maybe if | tell her about my day at school, she'll want to wake up.”

Ophelia’s eyes were bright with unshed tears as she watched Adrian climb carefully onto the edge of the hospital

bed. She'd been crying, | realized. Probably more than | had, since I'd been too numb with shock and

rage to properly process what was happening.

“Of course you can talk to her, sweetheart,” Ophelia said softly, her voice only slightly unsteady. “Mommy can

hear everything you say.”

“Hi, Mommy,” Adrian said, settling himself next to Sera with the careful reverence of a child who sensed the

gravity of the situation even if he didn’t fully understand it. “I missed you today. Aunt Ophelia made me

pancakes, but they weren't as good as yours. She forgot to make them into dinosaur shapes.”

| watched my son’s 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 they'd read, a

word. gthey'd played-with the unshakeable faith that his mother was listening to every

“And guess what?” Adrian’s voice dropped to an excited whisper. “Mrs. Peterson said we might get to go on a

field trip to the zoo next month! I’m gonna tell them all about how my daddy is the Alpha King and my

mommy is the strongest person in the whole world.”

“Adrian,” | said quietly, “why don’t you and Aunt Ophelia go get sdinner from the cafeteria? I'll stay with

Mommy”

“But | want to stay here,” Adrian protested, his small jaw setting with stubbornness. “What if she wakes up

and I'm not here?”

“She won't wake up withouttelling you first, | promised, though the words tasted like ash in my mouth. “I

need to talk to her about grown-up things.”

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82 Chapter 82

Adrian considered this for a moment, then nodded solemnly. “Okay. But tell her | love her really, really much.

And that I'm being good for Aunt Ophelia.”

“I will, buddy.”

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

edge of the bed, gathering Sera’s limp form into my arms with infinite care.

“Did you hear him?” | whispered against her hair, breathing in the fading scent of her shampoo. “Your son

thinks you're the strongest person in the world. And he’s right. You are. So why won't you fight your way back

to us?”

Days blended together in a haze of medical consultations, administrative duties handled from Sera’s bedside,

and the constant, grinding fear that each breath might be her last conscious one.

Adrian visited every day after school, filling the sterile room with his bright chatter and innocent faith that

everything would be okay.

It was on the tenth day, just as | was beginning to accept that this liminal state might be our new normal, that

everything changed.

| was dozing in the bedside chair, when a commotion in the hallway joltedawake. Voices were raised in

urgent discussion, and | could hear the rapid footsteps of someone hurrying toward Sera’s room.

The door burst open to admit Doctor, followed by an elderly man | didn’t recognize. The stranger was ancient

even by wolf standards, his white hair thin and wispy, his gnarled hands shaking slightly with age or

excitement.

“Alpha,” the doctor said, his usual composure cracked by obvious agitation. “This is Dr. Whitmore. He's a

specialist in... unusual conditions.”

| was on my feet instantly, every protective instinct on high alert.

He placed his weathered hands on Sera’s forehead, closing his eyes in concentration. For a long moment, the

room was silent except for the eternal beeping of the monitors.

Then his eyes snapped open, and he turned to look atwith an expression of wonderment mixed with

something that looked almost like fear.

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82 Chapter 82

“Alpha,” he said slowly, “there’s something you need to know about your mate’s condition.”

“What?” The word cout as a growl, my patience stretched beyond its breaking point.

Dr. Whitmore’s hands moved to hover over Sera’s abdomen, and when he spoke again, his voice was filled

with a kind of awed reverence that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“She’s not just unconscious,” he said quietly. “She’s protecting something. There are two distinct life

signatures present in her body.”

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