Chapter 209

Hannah

I circled the living room, my bare feet silent on the plush carpet—and I was glad for it, too, because otherwise my relentless pacing would have driven the entire house mad by now.

The sound of furniture being moved and drawers being emptied continued to echo from upstairs, causing me to flinch. Guards stood at every entrance to the mansion, their eyes following my every move as if I might be attacked at any moment.

Noah had sent the guards. I hadn’t argued when the first one had arrived on the doorstep, dressed in a bulletproof vest.

The Luna of Nightcrest was in danger. So was its heir. There was no telling what people would do once that audio clip made it beyond that obscure forum. No telling how… angry people would become if they thought their Alpha had been cheated on.

My phone sat on the coffee table, face down. I didn’t dare look at it, afraid of what new horrors might be waiting in my notifications. So I continued to pace.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Scott’s heavy footsteps came down the stairs. I turned to see his ruffled head of red hair entering the living room, a familiar stuffed unicorn in his hands.

My heart sank as I recognized it—the one Zoe had given me at the carnival.

Without a word, Scott tossed it onto the coffee table. The unicorn had been ripped open, revealing a tangle of wires and a small camera nestled inside its fluffy innards.

“Oh, Goddess,” I whispered, my hand flying to my mouth. “Zoe... she planted a hidden camera?”

Scott, breathless, merely shrugged and sank into the nearest armchair.

But how had she done it, I wondered? Drake had been with her that night at the carnival. Surely he would have noticed something suspicious.

With shaking hands, I grabbed my phone—no notifications, blissfully—and dialed Drake’s number. He answered on the second ring.

“Hannah? What’s wrong?” I hadn’t heard his voice in some time. He had been back in his own pack lately, handling his own matters. But I hardly had time to think about that.

“Drake,” I said, my voice trembling, “what do you know about the unicorn Zoe bought me at the carnival?”

There was a pause. “The unicorn? What about it?”

I explained what we had found, my words tumbling out in a rush. Drake listened in silence, then let out a long breath.

“Hannah, I swear I had no idea,” he said. “Zoe bought that unicorn from a regular vendor. I even used my credit card to pay for it. Here, I’ll send you a picture of the receipt.”

A few minutes later, my phone pinged with a new message. The receipt looked legitimate, from a real carnival vendor.

“I... I believe you,” I said, my mind reeling.

Before Drake could answer, the front door burst open. Noah strode in, his hair a mess and his suit disheveled. Despite the situation, I couldn’t help but notice how roguishly handsome he looked, his tie loosened and his top button undone.

His green eyes landed on the torn unicorn, and a single word escaped his lips: “Fuck.”

…

That night, we called Zoe to the house. She arrived looking confused and a little frightened, her eyes darting between Noah and me as we showed her the unicorn. I wanted to throttle that slender throat of hers, but instead I busied myself with clutching the windowsill as I stared stonily out at the front lawn.

“Zoe,” Noah said, his voice carefully controlled, “we need you to explain this.”

Zoe’s eyes widened as she took in the exposed wires and camera. “What... what is that?”

“This was found in Ha—our—bedroom,” Noah quickly recovered. “You gave this to Hannah. Are you… watching us?”

“Wh… What?” Zoe whimpered.

Over the next few minutes, Noah explained the forum post to her, the audio file containing a private moment between us. When he was finished, a moment passed, then two. I finally dared to look over at them and found that Zoe’s face was pale, her eyes wide as saucers as she stared down at the unicorn. Her hands wrung in her lap, trembling.

Finally, she shook her head vehemently, tears forming in her eyes. “I didn’t do that! I swear, Hannah, I had no idea.” She rose, crossing the room to face me. “I bought that unicorn from a regular vendor, just like I told you. How could I have planted a camera without anyone finding out?”

Suddenly, she reached out, grasping my hands in hers. I flinched at the contact, but didn’t pull away.

“Please, Hannah,” she begged, “you have to believe me. I would never... I’m so happy for you and Noah. So happy. I would never try to claim that the baby isn’t his, or anything like that.”

I stared at Zoe, swallowing hard. Her eyes were wide and pleading, tears shimmering in their depths.

I looked up at Noah, who remained silent, seemingly waiting for me to make the call.

My gaze flicked back to Zoe. Normally, I would have called her a liar. Perhaps I would have… reveled in the thought a few months ago. But now, looking at her whimper, and knowing that she and Noah never…

After a long moment, I took a deep breath. “I believe you,” I said softly.

Zoe let out a shuddering breath and sagged to the floor, thanking me over and over as she clutched at my skirt. I threw a warning glance at Noah, indicating that I had had enough of the blubbering. He stepped forward to help her back into her chair.

As Zoe collected herself, I turned to Noah. “If Zoe didn’t do this, then who? Did someone break into the house?”

Noah frowned, shaking his head. “Our security officers have checked the CCTV footage a thousand times over. There is no indication that someone got in at any point.”

Without a word, I picked up my skirt and stormed out of the living room. I found our bedroom in shambles, every linen and piece of furniture torn apart in search of the hidden cameras. Frowning, I walked over to where the unicorn had been sitting on my shelf and ran my fingers over it.

The dust pattern around it was undisturbed, as if it hadn’t been moved since I first placed it there.

Suddenly, a memory flashed in my mind. My eyes widened as I whispered, “WhiteRabbit.”

“What?”

I jumped, not having realized that both Noah and Zoe had followed me and were now standing in the doorway.

I shook my head, forcing a smile. “It’s nothing. Just... thinking out loud.”

…

“Tell me what you meant earlier.”

Noah’s hand stilled between my thighs, his green eyes burning fresh holes into the side of my head. Our bedroom had been returned to its original state, the heavy drapes blocking out all light—all flicker of the outside word. I had insisted on keeping them shut tonight, as if the hills themselves had eyes.

“What?”

Noah pushed his thumb against my clit, causing me to squirm. “Tell me about WhiteRabbit,” he said, his voice low and commanding. “Or I won’t make you finish.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

A soft growl ripped from his throat, and one finger plunged into me. I whimpered, writhing my hips against his palm, silently begging for him to pleasure me. But as quickly as he had pushed it in, he yanked his finger out and dug his nails into my inner thigh.

“Tell me.”

“WhiteRabbit was an online vendor,” I choked out, fresh heat blooming across my cheeks. “They... they sold me the diet pills I used to take.”

“And what does this ‘WhiteRabbit’ have to do with the unicorn?”

I hesitated, and his palm pressed against the hot mound between my thighs. I whimpered and said, “The diet pills were laced with contraceptives without my knowledge. I was looking into it when the vendor suddenly disappeared without a trace.”

Noah pulled away abruptly, sitting up on his knees. He was fully nude, his hair falling into his eyes as he stared down at me. “What?” he hissed.

I swallowed hard, unable to find the strength to tear my gaze away from his.

“A couple of months ago, I asked Scott to look into it, but he never found anything. And I thought… I don’t know. I just made the connection. They might not be the same person who rigged the unicorn.”

For a moment, Noah was silent, seething, his fingers curling around the sheets. Then, surprisingly low and controlled: “Why didn’t you tell me about this? You could have died from taking the diet pills alone, and to add contraceptives on top of it…”

I paled, the words “I did die” on the tip of my tongue. But I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Instead, I just clutched the blanket tighter.

Noah abruptly rose and hopped off the bed, grabbing his clothes. “I have to handle this,” he said. “Don’t wait up for me.”

I was too stunned, too frozen, to speak. I watched as he dressed, his muscles shifting in the dim light. Finally, he strode over to the door, but then stopped, his hand resting on the doorknob.

“Hannah, I…” He looked over his shoulder, those green eyes glimmering with something I couldn’t read.

He seemed about to say more, but then shook his head and simply walked out without another word.