Chapter 171

Hannah

After a long night of dancing, mingling, and constantly swapping champagne out for sparkling juice, the gala was finally drawing to a close—and so was my month-long eating disorder campaign. In just a few short minutes, the grandeur would come to an end, the decorations would be taken down, and it would be time to move onto the next thing.

But not yet. First, I needed to give a closing speech and announce the donation amount.

My heart raced as I stepped onto the stage. The spotlight felt warm on my skin, and I could feel hundreds of eyes on me. My wolf stirred restlessly, sensing my frayed nerves, but I quelled the sensation and cleared my throat with a pleasant smile on my face.

“Good evening, everyone,” I began, my voice echoing through the microphone. “I want to thank you all for coming tonight and supporting our cause.”

As I spoke about the importance of eating disorder awareness and treatment, I could feel Noah standing beside me, his green eyes fixed on me. The intensity of his gaze made my skin tingle. His proposition still lingered at the edges of my mind, constantly prodding me.

Two more months with him…

It was advantageous, and reasonable. But it was also risky, not to mention… confusing.

“This campaign has been about more than just raising money,” I continued, pulling my attention back to the speech before my voice could falter. “It has been about changing lives, about giving hope to those who struggle every day with their relationship with food and their bodies.”

I paused, looking out over the sea of faces. I recognized many as high profile men and women from the various packs, but they weren’t all who were in attendance; the kids from the mental facility were there, too, dressed in rented gowns and tuxedos.

And the boy, Tom, the one in the wheelchair, stood at the front. Not sat. Stood. No wheelchair in sight, aside from a thin cane to lean his weak muscles on if needed. He had put on weight since I had last seen him, and the sight made me smile.

Inviting them had been at the top of my list, against Leonard’s wishes, of course. “They’ll sully the event,” he had said. “They’re low class. They won’t know how to act.”

I didn’t care how they acted—because tonight was for them.

“And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for,” I said, taking the envelope from the attendant. “The total donations for tonight’s gala…”

I opened the envelope, my fingers shaking. As I read the number, my eyes widened. “We’ve raised... $75,000! That’s $25,000 over our goal!”

The room erupted into raucous applause without a moment’s hesitation. Without thinking, I turned and threw myself at Noah, whose eyes were just as wide as mine.

Our lips met.

A hush fell over the room as we kissed deeply. I felt Noah stiffen beneath my lips, and for a moment, I thought I had made a terrible mistake. My heart pounded, my palms grew itchy with embarrassment.

But then, to my surprise, he returned the kiss with fervor. His arms wrapped around me, dipping me low. The crowd erupted in cheers and wolf whistles.

When Noah set me back on my feet, I was breathless. Even if the kiss had just been for show and nothing else, there was no ignoring the way that my wolf was practically purring with contentment and the way that my knees felt weak in the most delicious way.

As I scanned the crowd, my eyes met Zoe’s. Her face was stony, her lips pressed into a thin line. But it was Leonard’s expression that truly caught my attention—his face was twisted with anger, his eyes narrowed at Noah and me.

Something about his glare sent a chill down my spine.

…

“You’ll come down with me,” Jake hissed in my ear, the scent of his rotting flesh cloying against my ear, my skin, my nostrils. Putrid water dripped onto my flesh as he grabbed my wrist, dragging me down, down… “Down, under the water… With me…”

The water, first a fine mist, turned thick and heavy in my lungs. Not water, but black sludge. And the silver wolf spread across the light of the moon had missed his mark, crashing onto the jagged rocks below.

I jolted upright, clutching at my throat as a scream died in my throat. The nightmare had felt so real—Jake’s rotting corpse, the scent of damp earth. Silver fur dotted with red blood across the violent tips of jagged rocks.

My heart pounded in my chest, and I was drenched in a cold sweat. The moonlight filtering through the curtains cast an eerie glow across the room, and that was when I saw him: Jake. Real. Dripping water on my carpet.

And in my current state, only one thought came to mind:

I need to get out.

Without thinking or realizing that I was just imagining things, I bolted from my bed and ran to Noah’s room next door. I pounded on the wood, not caring how the sound reverberated through the empty house. “Noah! Noah, please!”

The door flew open a moment later, and Noah stood there, his eyes glowing amber and his glistening white fangs dropped. With a low grow, he pulled me into one arm, his other raised to fight an invisible attacker.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

I sobbed into his chest, my words muffled against his skin. “Jake... he came back... in my dream... He was trying to take me again…”

It was only then that I realized that the figure I had seen was just a lingering hallucination from my nightmare, but it didn’t make the terror any less real.

Noah’s body relaxed, but he didn’t let go. Instead, his arm tightened around me, one hand stroking my hair.

“It was just a nightmare. You’re safe, Hannah. I’ve got you.”

As my tears subsided, embarrassment crept in. I pulled back slightly, wiping my eyes. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”

“Don’t,” Noah said, his thumb coming up to wipe away a stray tear. “Don’t apologize. You have nothing to be sorry about.”

I swallowed, nodding and stepping back. Wordlessly, he led me downstairs to the kitchen, his hand warm on the small of my back the entire way. The house was quiet, our footsteps echoing softly in the hallway.

“Let’s get you some warm milk. It’ll help you sleep.”

As Noah busied himself at the stove, I sat at the kitchen island, watching him. So tender, so… loving. So unlike him. Maybe, while I had been having nightmares, he had been dreaming about happy moments. That was the only explanation I could find for his sudden kindness.

“Noah,” I said quietly, breaking the silence, “about your proposition earlier…”

He turned, one eyebrow raised. “It’s late, Hannah. You don’t have to talk about it now.”

I shrugged, clenching my jaw. The gala had ended hours ago, the notes of the opera and the string quartet long since having faded in my mind, but his question—and his promise—had lingered. Even in the wake of Jake’s dripping corpse.

“I’ll accept,” I said, cautiously meeting his gaze in the dimly lit kitchen. “I’ll accept.”

Noah blinked at me for a moment, clearly surprised. “Are you sure?”

I nodded. “What’s another two months?” I asked. My hand moved to touch my belly, where his child was taking root, but I managed to push away the urge to reveal it now. “And after tonight…”

The memory of our kiss at the gala returned. His lips, so warm and soft against mine. The way he had dipped me low, and now, his tousled hair as he warmed milk for me on the stove.

Something had changed tonight. I wasn’t sure what, or how, or when, but something had changed. Maybe I was just scared again, like that night at the hospital. Clawing at any sense of familiarity, nostalgia, yearning.

Without a word, he brought the mug of warm milk over, and as he handed it to me, our fingers brushed. Neither of us let go of the mug, our eyes locked. The air between us seemed to crackle with electricity.

“If you’re certain,” he said quietly, tentatively. “I promise to uphold my end of the bargain—about ending things amicably.”

Ending things. The thought made me shudder, and my fingers instinctively tightened around his.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his.

Noah responded immediately, his free hand coming up to cup my cheek. The kiss was soft, tender, filled with unspoken emotions—but it was also harsh, necessary, intense. Clearly, he yearned just as much as I did. Was he scared, just like I was? No; impossible. But he yearned.

When we pulled apart, both slightly breathless, I whispered in a trembling voice, “I don’t want to sleep alone tonight.”

For a moment, Noah hesitated, his eyes searching mine. Then, without a word, he scooped me up into his arms, carrying me toward the stairs.

We left the milk untouched on the counter.