Chosen as the Cursed Alpha's Seventh Bride

Sebastian’s POV

I don’t know if it was that late-night talk of ours that pulled Emilia out of whatever had been weighing on her.

Lately she’d been eating like a normal person, no more of those quiet, grief-stricken looks slipping across her face.

But she was still taking those pills on schedule.

I’d have been happier if she’d stop working herself into the ground.

She seemed to have found some kind of value in it, landing the company a handful of big clients one after another. I came down from my floor to Marketing and found her hunched over a stack of files.

I knocked on the doorframe. "Clocking-out time came and went, sweetheart. Stop grinding away like you’re plotting to steal my CEO chair out from under me."

Emilia set the file down and grinned. "Careful, then. I just might get good enough to boot you off that chair."

I crossed the room and kissed her cheek. "In that case, I’ll have to throw a few roadblocks in your career. Rule number one, no overtime."

She kissed me back. "Yes, Boss. Your every command shall be obeyed. Clocking out now."

I scooped up her things like it was the most natural thing in the world and drove her home. She was out cold within minutes of settling into the passenger seat.

I kept the ride quiet. But just as we hit the winding stretch of road near Silver Moon territory, a figure bolted out in front of the car.

I slammed the brakes.

Emilia jerked awake. "What’s wrong?" she gasped. Then she looked through the windshield and her whole face changed. "Leighton..."

Before I could stop her, she shoved the door open and jumped out.

She rushed to the man frozen in my headlights. "Leighton, why are you here?"

Leighton looked haggard and gaunt. The second he saw her, he threw himself into her arms and broke into sobs.

"Emilia, Dad said you don’t want me anymore. Is it true? You really don’t want me anymore?"

She patted his back, her voice soft. "Don’t cry, don’t cry. I never abandoned you."

"Then why didn’t you come see me for so long... I missed you so much..."

I got out of the car. Some strange man had his arms wrapped around my mate, pouring his heart out. Ryder growled low in the back of my skull.

I stalked forward and pried them apart.

"Hey. Hey. What exactly is going on here?"

Leighton sniffled and blinked at Emilia, blank. "Who is he?"

Emilia, afraid to set him off apparently, lied through her teeth. "He’s... my brother."

Leighton looked confused. I looked murderous.

"Emilia, since when do you have a brother?" Leighton asked.

She forced a smile. "Oh, I’ve always had a brother. Not just a brother, a sister too."

"Oh! I know, I know. That ugly woman you took me to meet last time."

She nodded. Linda. Obviously.

"Say that again," I cut in, glaring at her. "Who am I, exactly?"

An hour ago she’d been kissing my cheek, and now I’d been demoted to brother? Ryder wanted to howl.

"Come here." She flashed Leighton a stiff smile, grabbed my sleeve, and hauled me into a dark corner. "That’s Leighton Lind," she whispered.

"So?" I raised a brow. Knowing his name didn’t obligate me to play sibling.

"He’s mentally challenged."

"So?"

"Meaning you can’t reason with him."

"You’ve got five minutes to send him off," I said. Slow or not, I wasn’t about to watch another man weep into her shoulder like they were long-lost lovers.

She rolled her eyes. "Send him off where, in the middle of the night?" She spun to walk back.

"Wait." I caught her arm. "So what’s your brilliant plan?"

"What do you think? We bring him home."

"What?" My eyes went wide. "You want to bring your ex-husband under my roof?"

"Ex-husband? We were engaged, never actually married. If I divorced you, married him, and still dragged you home, then you’d be the ex-husband."

My head spun. I planted my feet. "I’m telling you right now, I do not agree."

She sighed like I was exhausting her. "You don’t agree? Fine. I’ll take him to a hotel, then."

"That’s even worse!" My face went hot. "A man and a woman, alone, in a hotel?"

"He’s mentally challenged!"

"So? You’re telling me the mentally challenged don’t understand romance?"

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Since you shoot down every single thing I suggest, here’s how it goes. Leighton found me. I am not leaving him out here."

I knew that look. I knew her stubborn streak better than my own. I dragged in a breath and gave ground. "...Fine. Bring him in."

"Thank you, honey."

"One night," I warned. "Tomorrow morning he goes back wherever he crawled out of."

She’d already tuned me out. She stepped up to Leighton, voice gentle. "Come home with me, Leighton."

The three of us slipped into the living room. The rest of the house was asleep. "Are you hungry?" she asked him.

"Yeah." His stomach growled on cue.

"Sit tight. I’ll make you something in the kitchen."

"Okay." He dropped onto the sofa like a good boy. She tied on an apron and got to work.

I stood there, seething. She’d completely forgotten I existed, never mind whether I’d eaten. All she cared about was this fool.

I sat down across from him. "How did you find this place?"

Leighton eyed me warily and said nothing.

Ignoring me, on my own territory? I slapped the table. "I asked you a question. Can’t you talk?"

Emilia flew out of the kitchen. "What’s going on?"

Leighton’s face crumpled. He scrambled to her side. "Emilia, he’s so scary."