Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother - Chapter 196

Chapter 196: Chapter 196
Damien’s POV

I shoved through the crowd like a man possessed.

Bodies pressed against me from all sides. Drunk. High on violence. Too fucking slow to move.

“Get out of my way!” The words came out as a growl. My Alpha command bleeding through even though these humans wouldn’t understand it.

Some instinct made them scatter anyway.

Good. Smart. Because I wasn’t stopping for anyone.

I hit the stage at a run. Vaulted over the ropes. My feet hit the blood-slicked canvas and nearly slipped.

Her blood. That was her blood on the canvas.

My vision went red.

The crowd noise shifted. Confusion. Shock. Outrage.

“Hey! You can’t—”

“Security! Someone get security!”

“Who the fuck is that guy?”

I didn’t hear the rest. Didn’t care. Every cell in my body was screaming one thing.

*Find her. Find our mate. NOW.*

The exit she’d gone through was to my left. A narrow door marked “AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY” in faded red letters.

I grabbed the handle. Locked.

The metal crumpled in my grip like tissue paper. The entire lock mechanism tore free from the doorframe. The door swung open with a screech of tortured hinges.

The hallway beyond was dim. Narrow. Claustrophobic. The kind of place my mate had been living in for three fucking years.

The smell hit me immediately. Blood. Sweat. Fear. Desperation. The stench of violence and broken dreams.

My chest cracked open. Every emotion I’d been holding back for three years came flooding through at once.

Relief. Rage. Joy. Terror. Love so fierce it physically hurt.

My wolf surged. Clawing at my insides. Demanding to break free.

*Let me out! Our mate needs us!*

“Not yet,” I growled out loud. “Not yet.”

*She’s hurt! I can smell her blood! Let me OUT!*

“I said not yet!”

My hands were shaking. When had they started shaking?

The hallway stretched ahead of me. Doors on both sides. Locker rooms. Storage. Supply closets. Who the fuck knew.

I started opening them. One after another. Slamming them open hard enough to crack the frames.

Empty. Empty. Cleaning supplies. Empty.

Each empty room made the panic worse. Made my wolf more frantic.

*Where is she? WHERE IS SHE?*

“SERA!” My voice echoed down the corridor. Harsh. Desperate. “SERA!”

No answer. Just the distant roar of the crowd and the pounding of my own heart threatening to burst from my chest.

The rage hit me like a freight train. Hot. Blinding. All-consuming.

I punched the wall. My fist went through the drywall like it was cardboard. Then through the support beam behind it. Wood splintered. Dust exploded.

I punched it again. And again.

“Fuck!” The word tore from my throat. “FUCK!”

My knuckles were bleeding now. Good. I welcomed the pain. Deserved it.

“I should have known!” The words exploded out of me. “I should have found her! I should have—”

The scent hit me. Stronger now. So much copper.

Her blood. That was her blood I was smelling.

I took off running. Down the hallway. Following that scent like a lifeline.

Another door. I grabbed the handle. Twisted so hard the metal bent.

Locked.

I kicked it. The door flew off its hinges. Crashed into the opposite wall.

Not empty.

Two figures inside. One on the floor. One kneeling beside her.

Everything in me went nuclear.

Time slowed down. Everything crystal clear and hyper-focused.

The man kneeling was older. Weathered face. Strong hands. Those hands were on her shoulders. On my mate’s shoulders.

Touching her.

Touching what was MINE.

Red flooded my vision. My wolf exploded to the surface. My claws extended fully. My canines descended.

The shift was trying to take me. Right here. Right now.

I fought it back. Barely.

“Get away from her.” The words came out distorted. Half-growl. Barely human.

The man’s head whipped up. His eyes went wide.

“Who the fuck—”

I was across the room before he finished the question. Moving faster than any human could track. My hand locked around his throat. Lifted him clean off the ground.

His feet kicked uselessly in the air.

“I said.” My grip tightened. Claws piercing skin. Drawing blood. “Get. Away. From. Her.”

His hands clawed at my wrist. His face going red. Then purple.

Good. Die. Die for touching her. Die for being here while she suffered. Die for—

“Can’t—breathe—” he choked out.

“I am her manager!” He grabbed my arm. Tried to pull me back. Might as well have tried to move a mountain.

The words filtered through slowly. Too slowly. Like they had to travel through miles of rage and pain to reach my brain.

I looked down at the man dangling from my grip. His face was nearly purple now. Eyes bulging. Veins standing out on his forehead. Blood trickling from where my claws had pierced his neck.

I released him. He dropped to the floor like a sack of rocks. Gasping. Clutching his throat. Blood seeping between his fingers.

“You’re—insane—” he wheezed.

Maybe I was. Probably I was.

I didn’t care. Couldn’t care.

Because I was looking at her.

Sera.

My Sera.

Unconscious on the floor. Blood everywhere. Her face so swollen I could barely recognize her.

But it was her.

Those lips I’d kissed a thousand times. That nose I’d traced with my fingers. That jawline I’d memorized in the dark.

All of it buried under bruises and blood but still hers.

Still mine.

My knees hit the floor beside her. The impact sent shockwaves through my legs. I didn’t feel it.

All I could see was her.

Her face was destroyed. Black eyes—both of them. The swelling so bad they were nearly shut. Split lip. Cut above her eyebrow still oozing blood. Nose definitely broken. The angle all wrong.

But that wasn’t the worst of it.

The worst was the bruises. Dozens of them. Everywhere. Her ribs—God, her ribs were purple and black. Her arms covered in defensive marks. Her stomach showing the outline of where fists had landed.

Recent bruises on top of old ones. Some fading to yellow. Some fresh and angry red.

How long had this been happening?

My hands hovered over her body. Afraid to touch. Afraid I’d cause more pain. But desperate to hold her. To prove she was real.

She was so light. Too light. When had she gotten this thin?

Her head lolled against my shoulder. Blood smeared across my shirt.

“I’ve got you now,” I whispered into her hair.