Chapter 352 Leighton Was Safe

Chapter 352: Chapter 352 Leighton Was Safe

Emilia’s POV

I drove straight from Hexworks to Uncle Chuck’s place, three bottles of Sebastian’s best liquor riding in the passenger seat.

I was still feeling the magic hum beneath my skin, and the whole drive home felt slightly unreal.

Chuck opened the door.

His eyes dropped to the bottles in my hands. "What have you done?"

"Nothing terrible. Yet." I held them out. "These are for you."

He stared at the liquor, then at me. "For me?"

"Unless you know another handsome, charming uncle who lives here."

Chuck took the bottles from me, his eyebrows climbing as he read the labels. "Emilia, this is expensive stuff."

"I thought you deserved a thank-you gift."

He stepped aside. "Come in before the neighbors see me accepting bribes on my doorstep."

I walked inside and glanced around the familiar living room. "You say bribes. I say gratitude."

"Gratitude for what?"

I looked at him. "And don’t tell me you’ve forgotten. I promised I’d bring you something good if I ever found what I was looking for."

Chuck’s face changed. "You found them?"

I nodded. "I found them."

He set the bottles down on the nearest table. "The witches?"

"The Hollowthorn witches. The hidden town. All of it."

Chuck’s jaw dropped. "Emilia, people have spent lifetimes looking. Where? Where is it? Give me the directions."

I told him everything I could remember about the route: the fog, the trees, the road that seemed to vanish behind us. I also told him about Margarita.

I gave him every detail I could remember, though I suspected the place would hide itself again the moment any of us tried to return without an invitation.

Chuck turned toward the hallway and called, "Mindy! Mindy, pack a bag. We’re going."

Aunt Mindy appeared with a dishtowel still in her hand. She blinked at both of us.

I raised a brow. "You’re really going to drag Aunt Mindy all the way out there?"

"Of course I am." Chuck started toward the stairs, then stopped and looked back at me. "It’s our history, sweetheart. Your mother’s history. Mine too. I’d like to see it before I’m too old and stiff to make the trip. A man should know where he comes from."

I nodded. I understood that pull better than most. "Of course. I get it."

He picked up one of the bottles and examined the label again. "Still can’t believe you brought me this."

"Enjoy it while you can. Sebastian has already noticed that his collection is mysteriously shrinking."

"Does he know you took these?"

"Not exactly."

Chuck gave me a look.

"What? He’ll survive. He’s an Alpha. They heal fast."

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, but it faded when he glanced toward the stairs.

"There’s something else," he said.

I looked at him. "What?"

He hesitated. "That business you asked me about. Leighton. The one in a coma at the hospital."

My stomach tightened.

Chuck sighed. "It’s true. Richie wasn’t lying to you."

"When?" I asked. "When did he go in? Which hospital?"

"Almost a month ago. A month and a few days." Chuck frowned at the sharpness in my voice.

A month.

My mind raced backward, counting. Was it the night he let me go? Did he collapse right after?

Chuck saw the worry on my face, and his expression softened again. "He’s a good boy, Leighton. Always was. The two of you grew up practically side by side. If Richie hadn’t tried to force you into a bond with him, you two might’ve stayed friends. Easy as anything."

I nodded.

"You’re worrying yourself sick, and I haven’t even finished," Chuck said, reaching out to squeeze my shoulder. "I’ve kept an eye on things. Leighton came around. He woke up, Emilia. He’s out of the hospital and back home."

The breath I’d been holding rushed out of me.

Thank the Moon Goddess.

Leighton was safe. That sweet, simple, open-hearted boy was safe. He was too good for this world to take.

Chuck gave my shoulder one last squeeze, then turned toward the stairs again.

"I’d better help Mindy pack before she fills the entire car with things we don’t need."

"She’ll bring six sweaters, three pairs of boots, and enough snacks to survive a winter."

"That’s why I said I’d better help."

I laughed softly.

I said goodbye to Uncle Chuck on the porch. He’d already decided to bundle Aunt Mindy into the car and drive to Haven’s Reach, whatever it took. I wished them luck and meant it.

Back at the pack house, I found Sebastian home, which felt like a small miracle, and filled him in. The contract. Vesper. The sixty-forty split and the binding I’d slipped between the lines.

He listened, and his face grew darker with every word.

"I don’t trust that woman as far as I could throw her," he said flatly. "Vesper Crane has an angle. She always has an angle. What’s to stop her from twisting this and hurting you the moment it suits her?"

"Relax, my suspicious love." I crossed to where he sat on the edge of the bed and tipped his chin up with one finger. "The ritual happens on Silver Moon territory. My first shift happened right here, remember? The soil knows me."

I smiled.

"If anyone should be lying awake and worrying tonight, it’s Vesper and her little flock of witches. They’re walking straight into an Alpha’s territory. Not me."

I watched the tension leave his shoulders. He caught my wrist and kissed the inside of it.

But exhaustion was already pulling him under. Three weeks of eighteen-hour days had worn him down, and no amount of stubbornness could keep his eyes open now.

He slumped back against the pillows. Just before sleep took him, he grumbled into the dark, half-awake and barely coherent.

"Going to drag that lazy Beta back by his collar... Fynn owes me his whole life... Neither of us gets a single minute for a little bedtime activity..."

I laughed under my breath, leaned over, and kissed his temple.

"Go wash up and sleep, Sebastian," I whispered.

He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.