Chapter 251

Hannah

Noah’s hand was warm on the small of my back as he steered us toward our table, which was intimately positioned in the corner of the restaurant. A small candle flickered in the center of the little round table, the scent of wine and steak wafting into my nose as we took our seats.

“I hope this place is to your liking,” Noah said, pulling my chair out for me. “If it’s not, we can—”

“It’s fine, Noah.” I shot him a nervous smile as I set the roses aside. “Really. It’s lovely.”

Noah looked honestly relieved at that.

The waiter approached with a knowing smile, clearly recognizing us. “Good evening, Alpha Hannah, Alpha Noah. It’s an honor to serve you tonight.”

Noah nodded graciously. “Thank you. We’ll start with a bottle of your finest red, please,” he said, not even glancing at the wine list.

I raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing on my lips as the waiter hurried away. “Splurging tonight, are we?” I teased.

He grinned, and the sight of it almost made me fall backwards in my chair. “Only the best for you, Hannah. Besides, we have a lot to celebrate, don’t we?”

We did, I supposed—as strange as that felt. I subtly pinched my leg beneath the table, wondering if this was all just a dream.

As we scanned the menu, Noah suddenly looked up at me with a glint in his eye. “Do you remember that Italian place we went to back during our first summer together?”

I froze, my heart stopping in my chest. A memory from years ago flitted through my mind—the two of us taking our allowances and spending it all on pasta and bread at a little bistro in town. We’d tried convincing the waiter we were of age to drink wine, but he had refused.

“You… You remember that?” I whispered.

“I remember everything now, Hannah,” he said quietly. “Like how you ordered the spaghetti but kept stealing bites of my lasagna when you thought I wasn’t looking.”

Tears pricked at my eyes, and I blinked rapidly to hold them back, averting my gaze back to my menu. After so long of Noah not remembering our past, hearing him talk about it now felt surreal, like a dream I was afraid to wake up from.

Blissfully, the wine arrived before I had to say anything else. The waiter poured us each a glass and left the bottle. Noah clinked his glass with mine, and I was grateful for the soothing effect of the alcohol as I began to sip.

But as we drank and placed our orders, I could feel Noah’s eyes on me. I set my glass down, swallowing hard.

“Tell me more,” I found myself saying—maybe because of the alcohol. “I want to hear more memories from your perspective.”

Noah stiffened, clearly taken by surprise. He swirled the wine in his glass, thinking, then said, “I remember watching the stars with you.” He paused, glancing down at the white tablecloth, and his voice dropped. “I remember looking over at you and knowing, at that exact moment, that you were my mate.”

My breath caught at that word: mate.

I clutched the stem of my wine glass. “How… How is it possible that I never realized?” I murmured. “How—”

“Scott said that they cut our bond that night that I thought…” His voice sounded strained, and his words trailed off, clearly unable to finish.

“You know what?” I shook my head, forcing a smile. “Let’s not dwell on it.” Despite myself, I reached out, touching Noah’s hand. His eyebrows shot up, green eyes glinting in the candlelight. “Let’s just focus on tonight.”

Noah, once again, looked relieved.

Soon, our food came—a glistening roast quail for me and a plate of decadent risotto for Noah—and the alcohol began to kick in. Before I knew it, we were both laughing and reminiscing over old memories.

And soon, maybe thanks to the alcohol or the food or the laughter, I stopped feeling the urge to cry every time Noah would bring up a memory that he had once forgotten. Instead, I just felt like laughing. Laughing a lot.

As the night wore on and the wine bottle emptied, we finally paid for our meal and stumbled out of the restaurant, pleasantly tipsy and still laughing. The cool night air hit my flushed face, a stark contrast to the warmth of the restaurant.

Noah steadied me as I wobbled on my heels, his arm wrapping itself securely around my waist. “Careful there, Alpha,” he teased, his breath warm against my ear as he guided me down the street.

“Careful yourself.” I smirked and tugged him toward me, causing him to stumble into me, just moments before he was about to walk headfirst into a stop sign.

His breath caught as he lurched into me, nearly slamming me into the brick wall behind me. His hand came up above my head, dark hair falling into his eyes. Instinctively, my fingers of one hand curled around the lapel of his jacket, my other hand clutching the nearly-crushed roses to my chest.

“See?” I breathed, my voice shaking.

Noah was silent, although the ragged breath that escaped his lips as he stared down at me, smelling sweetly of wine, spoke volumes. But he quickly composed himself, straightening and plucking a loose petal from one of the roses.

“So, I… had one more thing planned,” he finally said, gesturing toward the river that wound its way through the city. “A walk.”

I nodded, smoothing down my dress and hoping that he couldn’t see the crimson flush on my cheeks beneath the dim light of the streetlamps as we began making our way down the sidewalk again.

But as we neared the waterfront, something caught my eye—a brightly lit shop with people inside, all holding paint brushes and canvases. Laughter and music drifted through the open door, glasses of wine and cider sitting on paint-stained tables.

“Ooh, look! A paint and sip!” I exclaimed, already heading toward the front door in my drunken excitement.

“Hannah, wait—” Noah called, half-laughing, but I was already pushing the door open.

The artist leading the class looked up as I stumbled inside with Noah on my heels, her eyes widening in recognition. “Alpha Hannah? Alpha Noah? What a surprise! Would you like to join us for our paint and sip class?”

“Yes!”

Before Noah could protest, the instructor was already beaming and handing us two paint-stained aprons while the rest of the class looked on.

Noah’s face was beet red as he whispered, “Hannah, I’ve never painted before… I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

I grinned, wrapping my arms around his waist to fasten the apron behind his back. “Better late than never,” I said, my fingers lingering perhaps a moment too long. I could feel the heat radiating off his skin even through his jacket, his arms floating up slightly in shock as I tied the ribbons. “Besides, I’ll help you.”

Noah didn’t protest further. Although, I think he may have simply lost his ability to speak as I slowly untangled myself from him and smoothed down the front of his apron.

With that, we took our seats, elbows bumping as we reached for paints and brushes. Noah’s tongue poked out in concentration as he tried to follow the instructor’s directions, both of us growing drunker and more vivacious as the night went on. I could feel the other attendees’ eyes on us, could hear their murmurs.

“They really are the true star-crossed lovers…”

“To think that that Zoe actually tried to keep them apart…”

“How sweet!”

My face heated. I knew that my entrance at the wedding had made headlines, but I hadn’t dared to look at the news. The true star-crossed lovers… It felt surreal. Unreal.

Suddenly, my reverie was broken by the sensation of a thumb gently wiping my cheek. I jerked my head up to find Noah leaning close to me, a smudge of blue paint now on the tip of his finger.

Our eyes met, and for a moment, the rest of the room faded away. “Noah—”

“You had a little…”

The spell was instantly broken by the instructor announcing it was time to reveal our masterpieces. We both quickly jerked back, faces matching shades of maroon.

Noah’s painting was... Well, it was certainly colorful, although it bore little resemblance to the landscape we were supposed to be creating. Mine wasn’t much better, though, and when I revealed it to Noah…

He threw his head back and laughed. Wholly, deeply, and loudly enough for the entire class to fall silent.

As we left the shop a little while later, our paintings dry and wrapped carefully, Noah handed me his. “For Melody’s nursery.”

My heart swelled. Without thinking, I handed him my own painting in return. Noah’s face flushed as he took it, studying it intently as if it were a priceless work of art. “Maybe... maybe I could hang it in a nursery at my place,” he suddenly murmured. “For when you and Melody come back.”

I felt my cheeks heat up at the implication. “Noah, I don’t…”

He quickly backpedaled, his free hand rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “It was just a thought. I know it’s too soon. I didn’t mean to presume…”

“It’s okay.” I shook my head, managing a small smile. “How about that walk?”

We made our way down to the river, the cool night air sobering us slightly. The water lapped gently at the shore, the moon’s reflection dancing on its surface. We sat on a bench, just watching the water in silence.

“I had a nice time tonight,” Noah finally said. “Really, Hannah.”

I looked up at him, my mouth working uselessly for a moment before I managed, “Me too.”

Viona’s words flitted through my mind in that moment. “He deserves to know… You deserve to be free of this secret…”

I had to tell him. I couldn’t wait any longer.

“Noah, there’s something I need to tell you,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. “It’s about something that happened a year ago. Something big.”

“Is everything alright?”

I closed my eyes for a moment, gathering my courage. When I opened them again, I met his gaze directly, willing him to understand, to accept what I was about to say.

“Noah, I… I died and came back to life one year ago.”

Noah’s eyes widened, his mouth falling open in shock.

“What?” he breathed.