Damien’s POV
As we sat together in Sera’s tiny living room after Caleb’s departure, I found myself studying the cramped space with new eyes. The apartnt was clean and well-maintained, but painfully small.
But it wasn’t enough. Not for my mate, not for my son.
"Sera," I said quietly, my voice careful as I watched her help Adrian organize his dinosaur collection on the coffee table. "I want to ask you sothing, and I need you to know that whatever you decide is completely your choice."
She looked up at with those beautiful erald eyes. "What is it?"
I took a deep breath, suddenly nervous in a way I hadn’t been since I was a teenager. "I want you and Adrian to co live with . Both of you. Permanently."
The words hung in the air between us, heavy with possibility and promise. Sera’s hands stilled on the plastic triceratops she’d been holding, and I saw her throat work as she swallowed hard.
Adrian, who had been listening with the intense focus that children brought to conversations that might affect their lives, suddenly perked up.
"Does that an we’d live in a big house like in the movies?" he asked, his silver-blue eyes bright with curiosity. "Would I have my own room?"
"You’d have the biggest room in the house if you wanted it," I told him, my heart clenching at the simple joy in his voice. "You could have a playroom, and a library, and we could build a fort in the backyard if that’s what you wanted."
"A fort?" Adrian’s voice cracked with excitent. "A real fort?"
"Adrian," Sera said gently, though I could hear the emotion threading through her voice, "why don’t you go play in your room for a few minutes while Daddy and I talk about grown-up things?"
The word ’Daddy’ on her lips sent a jolt of pure happiness through my chest, but I tried to keep my expression neutral as Adrian scrambled down from the couch.
"Okay, Mommy," he said, pausing to look back at us both. "But I think we should live with Daddy. He has nice cars and he slls good."
With that pronouncent, he disappeared into his bedroom, leaving Sera and alone in the suddenly quiet living room.
She was quiet for a long mont, her gaze fixed on her hands as they twisted in her lap. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper. A single tear spilled down her cheek. “What if I’m not good enough? What if I can’t fit into your world? I’m just an oga from a small town, Damien. I don’t know anything about being the mate of an Alpha King."
The pain in her voice made Alex snarl in my mind, furious at anyone who had ever made her feel less than the extraordinary woman she was.
"You are not ’just’ anything," I said fiercely, my hands tightening on hers. "You are the strongest, most resilient woman I’ve ever known. You’ve raised our son to be kind and intelligent and brave. You’ve built a life from nothing, earned a business degree while working and caring for a child. And you have your new ability now. If that doesn’t qualify you to be a Luna, then nothing does."
She was crying in earnest now, tears streaming down her face as she struggled to process everything I was telling her.
"What about Ophelia?" she asked suddenly. "I can’t just abandon her. She’s been my only family for years."
"You’re not abandoning her," I assured her quickly. "She’ll always be part of our lives. In fact, I’d like to do sothing for her, if she’ll let ."
Before Sera could ask what I ant, Ophelia herself appeared from the kitchen where she’d been giving us privacy, a knowing smile on her face.
"Did soone ntion my na?" she asked, settling into the armchair across from us.
"Actually," I said, turning to face her, "I wanted to talk to you about sothing. I know how much you’ve done for Sera and Adrian over the years. I know you’ve been their family when they had no one else."
Ophelia’s expression grew cautious. "I love them. They don’t owe anything for that."
"I know," I said softly. "But I’d like to do sothing to show my appreciation anyway. I’d like to buy you a house. A real house, not an apartnt. Sowhere beautiful where you can have space and privacy and—"
"Absolutely not," Ophelia interrupted, her voice firm but not unkind. "I appreciate the gesture, Damien, I really do. But I don’t need charity."
"It’s not charity," I protested. "It’s gratitude. You’ve taken care of my mate and my son when I couldn’t. "
Ophelia’s expression softened slightly, but she shook her head. "This little apartnt suits just fine. It’s got character, it’s got mories, and it’s mine." She glanced at Sera with a gentle smile. "Besides, I like the idea of keeping this place exactly as it is. So that whenever Sera feels overwheld by mansion life, she can co back to her cozy little ho and rember where she ca from."
I looked at Sera, who was smiling through her tears at her best friend’s words.
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