Chosen as the Cursed Alpha's Seventh Bride

Emilia’s POV

Abigail spotted me, and her mouth curved into a slow, knowing smile. "Oh. I didn’t think you’d have the nerve to show your face, Emilia. I figured a scandal that swallowed all of Silverlake City might actually dent that shame of yours."

I stepped into the elevator and gave her a bland smile. "It’s just gossip. Some outlets need the clicks to keep the lights on, don’t they? Besides, my husband handled it. That’s enough for me."

Abigail arched a brow and let out a cold little laugh. "Right. The great Alpha Sebastian, so blindly in love he’d take on the whole world for you. Must feel wonderful, having a man throw away his good sense over you."

I tilted my head and looked her over. "Are you jealous?"

"Jealous?" She smiled, sugar-sweet. "Of you? Why would I be jealous of a woman who can’t even give her Alpha an heir?"

The words landed like a slap.

I went still. She knew. How in Goddess’s name did she know?

My face must have given me away, because her smile widened. She stepped fully into the elevator, tapped the button for the parking garage, and the doors slid shut behind her.

The elevator began to drop. So did my stomach.

"How do you know about that?" My voice came out lower than I meant it to.

Abigail pulled a compact from her bag and checked her lipstick, taking her time. "The car accident, a while back. I wasn’t badly hurt, but Damien fussed like I was dying and dragged me to the hospital anyway. Funny thing, running into you there. And funnier still, what I saw and knew."

The bottom fell out of everything.

Of all the secrets I’d hidden, all the walls I’d built brick by careful brick, this was the one I’d buried the deepest. And now it sat in the hands of the last woman on earth I could trust with it.

"Sebastian doesn’t know yet, does he?" she said softly.

My jaw clenched hard enough to ache.

"Oh." She laughed, delighted. "So mates don’t share everything after all. How dishonest of you."

"This is between Sebastian and me," I said. "It has nothing to do with you."

"Doesn’t it?" Abigail folded her arms, leaning against the mirrored wall. "You’re fated mates, so devoted, so unshakable. But tell me, Emilia, do you really think he’d still hold press conferences and hurl water bottles for a Luna who can’t carry his pups?"

The blood drained from my face.

"Let me spell it out for you," she went on, savoring every word. "To the Silver Moon Pack, and especially to Alpha Titus, nothing matters more than the strength and stability of the bloodline. He killed my parents, and he’ll tell you it was out of love for Mila. But wasn’t it just as much about his reputation? An affair with my mother threatened his standing, his marriage, and to Titus, that meant it threatened the pack."

I met her eyes and held them. "Titus isn’t that kind of man."

She smiled, unbothered. "No? Then explain my parents’ deaths to me. Step outside your cozy little marriage for one second and look at what happened to my family as a stranger would. Do Mila and Titus still look like good people to you?"

Eve stirred, restless, sensing the crack forming in me. "Emilia, don’t let her get in your head. Every story has two sides, misunderstandings, consequences we can’t see from here. Titus and Mila would never do that to us."

I curled my fingers into my palm and said nothing. I didn’t know what to say.

The elevator settled with a jolt. B1. The parking level.

The doors parted, and Abigail stepped out. She stopped in the gap, one hand holding the door, and glanced back at me.

"A barren Luna is a burden no pack can stomach, Emilia. So wait for it. The day they cast you aside and forget you ever existed. Whatever happened to me all those years ago?" Her smile sharpened. "It’s coming for you too."

The doors slid closed on her face.

The elevator lurched upward, and I slid down the mirrored wall until I hit the floor. That old, familiar weight crushed down on my chest. My breath came in shallow bursts. The walls pressed inward, closer, closer, until there was no air left.

"Emilia." Eve’s voice echoed through my mind. "Don’t believe a word of it. Stay with me. Be strong."

I nodded, or tried to. I pressed my palms flat against the cold floor and pushed myself up, dragging in one breath after another, reaching for the panel to pick a floor.

Then the edges of my vision went dark, and the world dropped out from under me.

When I came to, Sebastian was sitting beside the bed, his hand wrapped around mine. The moment my eyes fluttered open he leaned in.

"Hey. How do you feel?"

"I’m fine," I murmured.

"The doctor said stress." His thumb brushed over my knuckles. "You passed out in the elevator. I wondered if it was the claustrophobia acting up again."

I tightened my grip on his hand. "I’m okay now. Really. I’m fine."

He exhaled, but the tension didn’t leave his jaw. "This is on me. I let those rumors run wild too long and it landed on you."

"No." I said it fast, before he could sink any deeper into it. "You held that press conference for me. You did all of it for me. I’m grateful, Sebastian. Truly."

He bent and pressed his lips to my cheek, warm and unhurried. "You’re my Luna. Of course I did. Now rest. And stop letting that head of yours spin worst-case stories."

I nodded, obedient, and gave him a small smile. "Go on, get back to work. I’ll have Mila send someone to drive me home to the packhouse."

He lingered a moment longer, murmured a few last instructions, then rose and left the room.

And I lay there, hand still warm where his had been, my heart dragged back down into the dark by every word Abigail had spoken.