Chapter 159

Hannah

“Noah!”

As Jake and I plummeted toward the churning water below, time seemed to slow to a standstill. The roar of the waterfall faded into the background, and all I could hear was the pounding of my own heart in my chest.

My hand instinctively went to my stomach, where my unborn child had only just taken root a couple of months ago, and for a moment, I was back on the floor of my steamy bathroom all over again.

This couldn’t be happening, I kept telling myself. My child and I were given a second chance at life, only for it to be snuffed out so soon by a man whose only motivation was money.

As we fell, I thought of all the things I would never get to experience—holding my baby for the first time, watching them grow, seeing their first steps… being a mother, finally, after all these years of trying.

Tears stung my eyes as I reached desperately toward the cliff’s edge, knowing it was futile. Nothing would catch us except for the jagged rocks below. I hoped it would be quick, at least.

But then, suddenly, a flash of silver caught my eye. A brilliant silver wolf—Noah—leaped into the moonlight, his powerful form silhouetted against the night sky. For a moment, all I saw was his silver fur catching the moonlight, his graceful legs stretched and his piercing yellow eyes fixed on me.

I thought that if I had to die, then I wouldn’t mind that scene being the last thing I ever saw.

Then, mid-air, he shifted back to his human form and dove toward us with outstretched arms.

Everything happened so fast. Noah dove down, reaching for my outstretched hands. He collided with me mid-air, his arm wrapping around my waist and pulling me free from Jake’s grip. Jake fell down into the misty waterfall spray, his wild eyes disappearing into the gray abyss.

For a moment, Noah just held me tight against his body, and it was all I could do to grip him so tightly that my fingers dug into his skin. Then, his other hand shot out, grasping at the rock face alongside the waterfall.

We slammed into the cliff, and I heard Noah grunt in pain. But his grip on me never faltered.

“Noah—”

“Hold on! I’ve got you,” he said through gritted teeth, his fingernails digging gouges into the mossy rock. “I won’t let you go.”

I buried my face in his chest, shaking with relief and residual fear. “Noah,” I repeated, unable to say anything else.

We hung there for what felt like an eternity, the spray from the waterfall soaking us as Noah clung to the rock. I could feel his muscles straining with the effort of holding both of us, but his grip never loosened—not on me, and not on the handhold he had found.

“Drake!” Noah shouted over the roar of the water. “We need a rope!”

Just moments later, I felt something brush against my arm. Drake had managed to lower a rope to us, although I didn’t know or care where he had found it. Grabbing the robe, Noah found a foothold to rest on while he secured it around my waist first.

“Hold on tight,” he instructed. “They’re going to pull you up.”

I shook my head, clinging to him. “Not without you.”

Noah’s eyes softened uncharacteristically. “I’ll be right behind you. I promise.”

Reluctantly, I let go, and felt myself being lifted. As soon as I reached the top, hands grabbed me, pulling me to safety. There were flashing lights in the forest and voices shouting, but I hardly noticed anything. Once I was secure, I turned immediately, watching anxiously as Noah was pulled up next.

Only once we were both on solid ground, soaked and sputtering, did I finally let out a whimper of relief. I crawled over to Noah, my mud-covered hands moving over his body, checking for injuries.

“Are you okay?” I asked, my voice hoarse from the guttural scream that had ripped from my throat during the fall. “You hit the rocks pretty hard.”

Noah sat up, wincing slightly. “I’m fine,” he muttered, reaching for me. His fingers trailed along my bare skin, and I couldn’t help but press my forehead against his. “You?”

“We’re okay,” I assured him. I hardly had time to notice that when I said ‘we’, I didn’t just mean the two of us; I meant the baby, too. Noah didn’t notice, either.

Finally, I came to my senses and saw that the EMTs were rushing to us with medical bags in hand, along with multiple police officers and a wailing siren. Blinking against the harsh lights, I felt a hand on me and looked up to see Drake, covered in blood, crouching beside me.

“Drake—”

“Hannah!” I heard familiar voices call out, cutting me off. I turned to see Viona, Amber, and Emma running toward us, their faces streaked with tears and their eyes wild. They engulfed me in a group hug, all talking at once.

“We were so worried—”

“Are you okay?”

“What happened?”

I hugged them back, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sudden rush of activity. “I-I’m okay,” I said, my voice muffled against someone’s shoulder. “Thanks to them.”

As they pulled back, I nodded toward Drake and Noah. Noah was already being led away by a paramedic; meanwhile, Drake was looking at the dead bodies scattered around the cliffside, a stony expression on his face.

Before I could say anything else, one of the paramedics rushed up to me and placed a foil blanket around me, checking my eyes and body for injuries. Thankfully, aside from a cut and a bit of blood on my leg from when Noah and I crashed against the side of the cliff, I was unharmed. Physically, at least.

The next twenty minutes were a blur of tests and questions. Noah was lost in the crowd of police officers and paramedics, although I could hear him speaking, so I knew he was alright.

“You’ll have to spend the night in hospital,” the EMT said as she checked my eyes for the millionth time. “Just to be safe.”

I nodded and watched as she left. My eyes wandered over to Drake again, who was still standing off on his own. Rising on shaky feet despite my friends’ protests, I limped over to him.

“Thank you,” I said, throwing my arms around him and hugging him tightly. “For everything.”

He hugged me back with an iron grip for a moment, huffing deeply into my shoulder, before he pulled back slightly. “I’m glad we found you,” he murmured in a hoarse voice.

“How did you guys do it?” I asked as we pulled apart.

Drake’s eyes flicked to Noah, who was still being checked over by the paramedics. “It was Noah,” he admitted. “As soon as he got your text, he knew something was wrong. He was the one who figured out where you might be and insisted we come looking for you immediately.”

I looked over at Noah, surprised. Despite everything that had happened between us, he had come for me without hesitation. As I watched him wince while a paramedic cleaned a cut on his arm, I felt myself soften.

But then, my eyes landed on Zoe—who was standing by herself, in a sparkling red dress, by one of the police cars.

There was an undeniable flicker of something… off when our eyes met. What was she doing here, dressed like that? And why…

“Luna?” The sound of a voice ripped me out of my reverie, and I turned to see a police officer approaching. “We need to ask you some questions about what happened.”

I nodded, taking one last glance toward Zoe to find that she had walked away. “Of course.”

As I recounted the events of the night to the officer, my mind kept wandering back to Noah. The way he had leaped after me without hesitation, risking his own life to save mine. The fear in his eyes. The gentle way he had held me as we dangled from the cliff.

When I finished giving my statement, I looked around for Noah again. He was being led to the ambulance, his arm wrapped in fresh white gauze and bound in a sling.

“Hannah?” Viona touched my arm. “Are you sure you’re okay? You look a little dazed.”

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. “I’m fine. Just... exhausted.”

Amber hugged me again. “We were so scared when we got that text. I can’t believe Jake was behind all of this.”

“I still can’t believe it myself,” I admitted. “It all happened so fast.”

Viona, standing off to the side, glanced down at my belly with a questioning look in her eyes. I nodded almost imperceptibly over Amber’s shoulder, a silent promise that it wasn’t just me who was okay—the baby was okay, too.

“Noah really came through, didn’t he?” Emma asked.

“Yeah,” I replied, my eyes drifting back to the ambulance where Noah was now sitting. “He did.”