Seraphina’s POV
I woke the next morning feeling like soone had taken a sledgehamr to my skull. The pounding in my head was so intense that even the soft morning light filtering through my bedroom curtains felt like stabbing needles behind my eyes.
"Oh God," I groaned softly, pressing the heels of my palms against my temples.
When I tried to sit up, the world tilted dangerously to the left, and I had to grip the edge of my mattress to keep from tumbling off completely. Every small movent sent fresh waves of nausea rolling through my stomach.
My clothes had been changed soti during the night instead of the ruined erald dress, I was wearing my softest cotton pajamas.
"Mommy!" Adrian’s voice made wince, but his little arms wrapping around my neck. "You’re awake! I was worried about you!"
Ophelia stood at the foot of my bed, her arms crossed. She looked like she’d been awake all night, her dark hair escaping from yesterday’s ponytail and her clothes wrinkled from sleeping on the couch.
"Hey, sweetheart," I managed to croak, pulling Adrian closer and breathing in his familiar scent of strawberry shampoo and sothing purely him. "I’m so sorry I was late last night. Mommy had so unexpected work things to handle."
"It’s okay," Adrian said solemnly, his small hands patting my cheeks with the gentle care of soone far older than his four years. "I was good for Aunt Ophelia. We had mac and cheese for dinner, and I brushed my teeth all by myself."
"That’s my good boy," I said, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Did anything exciting happen while I was gone?"
Adrian’s expression grew thoughtful, and he glanced toward Ophelia before looking back at . "A strange man brought you ho last night. He was really, really tall, like a giant! But don’t worry, Mommy, I protected you. I stood right between you and him so he couldn’t hurt you."
mories of the previous evening ca flooding back in vivid, mortifying detail. The dinner party. Valerie’s public humiliation. Michael’s attempted assault. And then... Damien. Oh God, Damien.
Heat flooded my cheeks as I rembered the intensity of our encounter in his car.
"The strange man didn’t hurt , baby," I assured Adrian, though my voice ca out slightly strained. "He was actually helping Mommy get ho safely."
Adrian giggled, the sound chasing away so of the tension in my chest. "Can I have pancakes for breakfast? The kind with the little chocolate chips?"
"Of course, sweetheart. Why don’t you go get dressed for school while I talk to Aunt Ophelia for a minute?"
The mont Adrian’s footsteps disappeared down the hallway, Ophelia pounced.
"Okay," she said, settling onto the edge of my bed with the determined expression of soone prepared to extract every detail. "Start from the beginning. Who was that man?"
I buried my face in my hands, groaning. "Ophelia, I don’t think I’m ready for this conversation."
"Too bad. You disappeared for an entire evening, ca ho unconscious in the arms of a man who looked like he’d stepped out of a cologne advertisent, and now you’re blushing like a teenager who just got caught making out behind the bleachers." She leaned forward, her voice gentling slightly. "Sera, I was terrified. When you didn’t answer your phone, when midnight ca and went with no word... I thought sothing terrible had happened."
The genuine worry in her voice made guilt twist in my stomach. "I’m sorry. I should have called."
"Forget the apology. Just tell what happened."
So I did. Haltingly, with frequent pauses to hide my burning cheeks behind my hands, I told her everything.
By the ti I finished, Ophelia was staring at with wide eyes and an expression of complete shock.
"Holy shit," she breathed. "Sera, you... you slept with your boss. Your Alpha boss. On your second day of work."
Before I could respond, Adrian’s voice drifted from the kitchen. "Mommy! I’m ready for pancakes!"
"Duty calls," I said, grateful for the interruption. "I need to get him to school and get to work before I lose my job on top of everything else."
"This conversation isn’t over," Ophelia warned as I climbed out of bed on unsteady legs. "Tonight, we’re talking about everything."
---
An hour later, I stood outside Nightshadow Industries trying to gather the courage to go inside.
My stomach was a mass of nerves as I rode the elevator to the executive floor. Would people stare? Whisper?
But when I stepped off the elevator, sothing unexpected happened. Instead of the hostile stares and whispered gossip I’d been bracing for, I was t with... nothing.
Business as usual. People nodded politely as they passed, offered their standard morning greetings, and went about their work with the sa professional focus as always.
When I reached my desk, I found a steaming cup of coffee waiting for , along with a small plate of pastries. A note in Claire’s elegant handwriting was tucked beneath the saucer: *Rough nights require soft mornings. Take care of yourself today. -C*
The simple kindness made my throat tight with unexpected emotion.
I settled into my chair and tried to focus on my computer screen, reviewing emails and preparing for the day ahead. But every few minutes, my eyes would drift toward Damien’s office door, wondering what I would say when I inevitably had to face him.
At exactly nine-thirty, the door to his office opened, and he erged looking like he’d stepped off the cover of a business magazine. His navy suit was perfectly tailored, his dark hair styled with casual precision, and his blue eyes were as penetrating as ever.
"Good morning, Miss Knight," he said, his voice carrying its usual professional tone. "I’ll need the Henderson contracts reviewed by noon, and please reschedule my two o’clock with the pack council. Sothing urgent has co up."
"Of course, Mr. Nightshadow," I replied, proud of how steady my voice sounded. "I’ll take care of it imdiately."
He’s pretending nothing happened. "Maybe that’s for the best," I murmured under my breath.
But even as I said it, I couldn’t ignore the way my body responded to his proximity, the way my pulse quickened every ti he spoke, the way my skin seed to rember the heat of his hands.
The day passed in a blur of focused productivity. By five o’clock, most of the office had emptied out for the evening. I was just finishing up the last of my daily reports when I heard the soft click of Damien’s office door closing.
I looked up to find the outer office empty except for the two of us. Damien was standing by his door, his jacket off and his tie loosened, looking more relaxed than I’d seen him all day. But there was sothing in his expression that made my pulse quicken.
"Seraphina," he said quietly, my na sounding different in his voice now that we were alone. "Could I speak with you privately for a mont?"
My heart started hamring against my ribs, but I nodded and followed him into his office. I took a deep breath, gathering my courage. Before he could speak, I plunged ahead with the words I’d been rehearsing all day.
"About last night," I began, my voice sounding steadier than I felt. "I owe you an apology. I shouldn’t have lost my temper at the restaurant, shouldn’t have walked away like that." I paused, eting his penetrating blue gaze.
"For the record, I was telling the truth. Gabriel and I never... Adrian isn’t his son. But I understand why Valerie’s words might have made you doubt ."
I took another breath, forcing myself to continue. "And thank you. For coming after , for rescuing from that situation. I don’t want to think about what might have happened if you hadn’t arrived when you did."
The words hung between us in the quiet office, and I felt heat rising in my cheeks as mories of what had followed his rescue flooded back in vivid detail.
I started to turn away, to escape back to the safety of my desk and the pretense that nothing had changed between us.
That’s when his hand shot out and wrapped around my wrist, his fingers warm and strong against my skin.
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