Chapter 273

Noah

After their vacation, Nightcrest seemed smaller somehow. The house suddenly felt too quiet, too still, after the weekend that Noah had spent with his mate.

Noah had become accustomed to the house being this quiet. With Hannah living in her house in Silvermoon and no Beta around, it was usually only Noah here. He had even reduced the staff down to the bare minimum, finding it difficult to trust anyone in his home after what Scott and Zoe had done.

So, aside from the odd housekeeper or gardener that Noah kept on staff, he was alone.

And normally, he didn’t mind it. But after Hannah had agreed to combine their packs, to take their relationship to the next step, he couldn’t help but feel empty in the meantime.

He wanted her here. Now. But she had her own things to wrap up before she moved back in, and so for now, Noah remained alone.

Suddenly, Noah’s phone began to buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out, expecting a call from Hannah, but his stomach dropped when he saw the unexpected name on the caller ID.

His father.

Noah’s relationship with his father, Marcus, had always been a tightrope walk—strained, distant, and cold.

Marcus wasn’t necessarily a bad father, but he wasn’t a particularly kind one. Not allowing Noah to see his own mother in the hospital before her death had been the final nail in the coffin for Noah, who gave up on trying to have a relationship with Marcus after that.

And ever since Marcus had abdicated and Noah had taken over as Alpha, he rarely heard from his father except for when his father wished to scold him for something or another.

Noah knew where this was about before he even answered the phone: the wedding.

No doubt Marcus had some qualms about the whole ordeal with Zoe, even though it had happened months ago.

For a moment, Noah almost considered not picking up. But he knew it wouldn’t help any if he didn’t, so he took a deep breath and answered.

“Dad.”

“Noah,” his father said without preamble. “I take it you’re not busy.”

Noah’s jaw clenched on instinct at that initial jab—a thinly veiled attempt at making Noah seem lazy and idle. But Noah simply replied, “I assume this isn’t just a casual check-in.”

“No, it’s not,” his father replied with a wry, humorless chuckle. “I’ve been meaning to call you, but I’ve been out of the country on business for the past year—in the tropics. I have heard about the debacle with Zoe, though.”

The tropics? Noah thought, furrowing his brow. He wasn’t aware that his father had business in the tropics, let alone the type that could keep him there for a full year. But he decided not to mention it, figuring he wouldn’t get an answer anyway.

“I assumed so,” Noah said coldly. He stepped into his office and shut the door behind himself, even though there was no one around to hear his conversation. “And I guess you have some qualms with it.”

Marcus scoffed. “That would be putting it lightly.” He paused for a beat too long for comfort, and Noah felt like reaching through the phone to throttle his own father. “I just watched the news footage of that day. It was humiliating.”

“Humiliating for Zoe, yes—”

“No. Humiliating for you. And for Hannah, who I hear you are back together with.” Noah could practically feel his father rolling his eyes. “Aren’t you ashamed?”

“Ashamed?”

“Well, you are back with her—the woman who humiliated you right along with Zoe.”

Noah’s fingers tightened around the phone. “You’re just trying to get a rise out of me, and you know it.”

“Am I?” Marcus’s voice hardened, that familiar tone of cold disapproval. “Because the way I see it, Hannah took your balls along with the divorce and now you’re crawling back to her.”

Noah forced himself to breathe, keeping his temper in check. “She’s my mate, and she suffered at Zoe’s hand. We’re making things right. Both of us.”

A beat of silence, and Noah could almost feel his father recalculating. This conversation wasn’t going as expected, and that was the point.

“I assume you think this is a good idea,” Marcus said slowly. “After everything that happened, you’re just going to—”

“Yes,” Noah interrupted, his voice firm. “I do think this is a good idea. And I’m not interested in rehashing the past. What matters now is that Hannah and I are together. We’ve been through more than you realize, and she’s part of my life. That’s not going to change.”

His father was quiet again, but Noah knew Marcus was just weighing his options, trying to find a foothold.

“I see,” Marcus finally said. “And as for that child—”

“Her name is Melody,” Noah cut him off.

“A girl,” Marcus finally said. “Hm. I wasn’t aware of that. I kept hearing whispers of an heir, so I assumed it was a boy.”

“She is our heir,” Noah said. “The heir to Silvercrest. She possesses the Alpha gene.”

The silence that followed was longer this time, heavier. Noah knew that Marcus was practically vibrating with fury on the other end of the phone—not just at the idea of a female heir, but also at that name.

Silvercrest.

“We are combining the packs,” Noah continued, sensing his father’s distaste. “It’s already been approved by the Alpha Council. Hannah and I are running the combined pack together as dual Alphas.”

Another scoff came through the phone.

“Dual Alphas. Now, that is a new one.”

Noah sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He wasn’t about to try to explain himself to his father, try to justify his reasons for doing this.

“Well…” His father snorted as if amused by the entire conversation. “I’ll be back in the country for a few weeks. Perhaps we can chat in person. Will you be free for dinner this weekend?”

“Dinner?” Now, Noah was the one who scoffed. “Look, Dad, if you’re just looking to berate—”

“Believe it or not, I would like to meet my grandchild,” Marcus interrupted. “I’ll be there Friday night at six. With a bottle of wine, of course.”

And with that, his father hung up without so much as a ‘goodbye’.

Noah slammed the phone down on his desk, exhaling slowly to calm himself. Well, that had gone just about as well as he’d expected.

Dinner with his father.

Noah bit his cheek, considering. He could ignore his father, turn him away, pretend not to be home on Friday night.

But he knew he wouldn’t do any of that.

Maybe he wanted to look his father in the eye, show him how far he’d come since being a teenager who had to sneak into his mother’s hospital room just to say goodbye.

Or maybe…

The tropics.

Something wasn’t adding up here. Noah wasn’t sure how, or why—it was just a gut feeling.

At that moment, Noah thought back on a memory that he’d long buried: the moments he had said goodbye to her one last time. The… warning she had given him.

The warning about Marcus.

Whatever it was, he wanted to see his father in person. He just hoped that Hannah would be willing to join him in that effort.

“Hannah,” he typed out, sending a quick text, “sorry for the late notice, but it looks like my father is coming for dinner this weekend. I hope you’ll join me… and bring Melody.”

A pause, three bubbles, and then: “Oh, great…”