Chapter 32

Hannah

I couldn’t help but bark out a laugh at Noah’s ridiculous request.

“Call off the divorce?” I echoed, shaking my head slowly as my amusement faded into disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”

Noah’s jaw clenched, his gaze hardening. “I am completely serious, Hannah. This divorce could jeopardize everything for Nightcrest—our chances of hosting the Lunar Festival, our alliances with other packs, our reputation… our entire standing as a pack.”

I shot to my feet at his words—my silk robe swirling around my ankles as I whirled to face him fully. “Are you honestly telling me the only reason you want to stop this is for political gain?” I demanded.

Noah flinched almost imperceptibly at my venom, but his tone was measured as he responded. “It’s our pack, Hannah. It’s our duty to consider what’s good for Nightcrest.”

“And pray, tell me, how staying in a miserable sham of a marriage would be good for Nightcrest?” I strode forward, jabbing my finger into his chest. “Besides, you could just marry Zoe once I’m gone; it won’t be your reputation that will suffer, thanks to you and your star-crossed lover.”

Before I could blink, Noah’s hand whipped out to clamp around my wrist—not hard enough to hurt, but enough to pin me in place as his tall form crowded over me. I sucked in a sharp breath as he pressed me back against the wall, the hard planes of his body caging me in on all sides.

“Watch your tongue,” he growled in that same low, dangerous timbre that used to light my chest on fire—only this time, there was no stirring of desire to be found in my heart. Just seething anger and bitter resignation.

“Or what?” I shot back, jutting my chin out at him. “You’ll keep going on as you have been? Bedding me once a month like a little doll to keep on the shelf, sleeping in your office, treating me like a stranger whose only purpose is to provide you with an heir?”

Something dark and feral flickered across Noah’s expression then—there and gone once again in a heartbeat. When he spoke, it was through gritted teeth, each word measured and precise. “If it’s more sex that you want, I’ll take you to bed every night and have you screaming my name until dawn.”

White-hot rage lanced through me in an instant, replacing any hint of desire that was left in my body.

How dare he? How dare he reduce my needs to nothing more than extra sex?

With a snarl of outrage, I shoved Noah off of me hard enough to make him stumble back a step. Then, with an exaggerated roll of my shoulders, I let the robe slip off of me completely—pooling in a puddle of crimson silk at my feet.

I stood there, my chin held high and my spine straight, every inch of my nudity on full display.

“Is this what you want?” I spat, gesturing toward my naked body with bitter disdain. “Because you should know by now, Noah, more sex isn’t anywhere near enough for me. Not anymore.”

Noah swallowed hard, his green eyes wide and darker than ever as he drank in the sight of me. He opened his mouth to retort, but then snapped it shut again and quickly looked away.

“Get dressed, Hannah.”

“No.” I strode forward, my hands curled up into white fists at my wise. “If you truly want me to stay, Noah, you’re going to have to do a hell of a lot better than sticking your cock in me every now and then.”

I took another step, so close now that I was forcing him to backpedal until his calves hit the edge of the mattress. Then, with one harsh shove, I sent him sprawling back onto the sheets—leaving me towering over him in all my furious, naked glory.

“For starters, you’ll need to make me come over and over again until I’m so breathless I’m on the verge of passing out,” I said, my voice low and biting. “And you’ll need to stick around after to hold me, adore me, treat me like the wife you claim to want instead of the vapid little bedwarmer you so clearly see me as.”

Noah’s jaw went slack as I pressed my left hand into his chest, the other working at his belt. His hands curled up into fists around the sheets, just like mine had so many countless times. I could see his obvious arousal tenting the fabric of his trousers, straining for friction and release.

“But I want so much more than that,” I murmured as I tugged his belt out of the clasp, then began unbuttoning his trousers. “I want dates. Weekly dates. I want respect. I want to be showered not only with gifts, but with love and affection and everything that a wife deserves.”

Once his belt was free, I worked my hand into my pants and grasped his hot, rigid length in my palm—giving him a few languid, teasing strokes that had him bucking up into my touch with a strangled groan.

“And I don’t just want to be your wife,” I continued. “I want to be your Luna, in every sense of the word. There should be no doubt, not in anyone’s mind, that I’m wholly yours and you’re wholly mine.”

For a moment, I allowed myself to stroke up and down the warmth of his cock, my fingers tight around his skin. I allowed myself to relish in the sound of his strained groans, in the sight of his clenched jaw.

But then, I released him—leaving him panting, flushed, teetering on the razor’s edge with no relief in sight.

“But you and I both know you’d never do any of those things, would you?” I hissed, striding over to my robe and slipping it back over my shoulders. “You would never cherish me like I deserve to be. You would just rut into me with your eyes closed, thinking of someone else…”

My eyes met my own reflection in the mirror. My face was redder than I had anticipated, and it was only then that I noticed the tears misting over my eyes. Behind me, I could see Noah fixing his belt, avoiding my gaze.

But it was the diamond necklace around my throat that my eyes flew to in the end. Just seeing them there made me sick, made me feel as though they were constricting me, their sharp edges cutting into my skin

Blinking the tears away, I turned on my heel and yanked the necklace off, breaking the clasp without a care. Then, I hurled the glittering diamonds squarely at Noah’s heaving chest—relishing the dull thud as they struck home.

“You can take your pretty little trinkets and shove them, Noah,” I spat, suddenly weary to the bone as the anger left my body in a hot, breathless rush. “I’m done pretending this was ever about more than just politics for you.”

Noah’s fingers curled around the necklace, his eyes finally meeting mine with shock and anger. I simply lifted my chin, steeling my resolve against the tiny sensation of doubt and heartache that insisted on creeping in.

“Now get out,” I hissed. “Before I forget myself and do something we’ll both regret.”

For a moment, Noah looked as though he might refuse—like he might open his mouth and try to convince me otherwise. But then, slowly, he pushed himself to his feet and strode toward the door without a word.

He left without looking back.

Only once he was gone did I let out the breath I had been holding. I sank down onto the edge of the bed, clutching my robe closed with shaking hands.

It would all be over soon, I told myself. Soon, I would finally be free—free to put this pack and its heartbreaks behind me for good, and return to my own pack as the rightful Alpha.