Chapter 61

Hannah

I found myself in a dark room—my room. No; my bathroom. I couldn’t see it, but I could recognize the smell, the feeling of the cool marble tiles under my hips, the hot steam rising into the air. Somewhere, the shower was running. But it didn’t matter. I was dying.

“I gave you another chance.”

I whipped around at the sound of the woman’s voice, but there was no one there; or at least, I didn’t think there was anyone there, but it was so dark I couldn’t see.

“Who are you?” I asked.

The woman paused before speaking again. “I gave you another chance, and you’re going to ruin it. If you don’t… Be careful…”

Her voice trailed off, the last of her words echoing off of walls that didn’t exist. I reached forward blindly, calling out to the woman whose voice I now recognized.

“Moon Goddess… Moon Goddess…”

“Hannah.”

I woke up with a jolt, the feeling of a firm hand on my shoulder ripping me out of my strange dream. Blinking rapidly, I quickly wiped away the thin trail of drool that had escaped the corner of my mouth while I was asleep at my desk. Goddess, how embarrassing.

“Hannah.” The deep rumble of Noah’s voice made me stiffen. I straightened up, pushing my hair back from my face as I turned to see him towering over my desk with his phone clutched in one hand and the other pressed into his hip.

“Noah? I thought you were working,” I said, trying to keep my tone neutral despite the way my heart had begun to race at his unannounced intrusion—especially upon him seeing me in my most vulnerable state, passed out on my desk after a night of work.

Rather than answering right away, his gaze dropped to the chaotic mess of papers and documents scattered across my desk. I followed his eyes, feeling a prickle of self-consciousness as I realized how disorganized and unkempt the whole setup must look.

My whole office was in a state of chaos, really; it was the one room in the mansion that was entirely mine, and I never permitted anyone to enter. Not my friends, not the servants, not even Noah.

Noah didn’t know this about me—or maybe he did—but I secretly loved collecting antiques. It was one of my hobbies before we got together, and although my collecting had dwindled, I still liked to go on the hunt for rare finds every so often.

My office was where I kept all of those things: old clocks, quirky little statuettes, yellowed books, interesting art.

It was the one place where I could be myself. And now Noah had marched in here without my permission.

Before I could say anything, Noah’s hand reached out, plucking up one of the pages covered in my chaotic handwriting. “What’s all this?” he asked gruffly.

I swallowed hard, my shoulders straightening a little. “Just... some plans I’ve been working on. For the Lunar Festival celebrations coming up.” I wet my lips nervously. “I was thinking we could do a sort of... community picnic, soon. To help drum up more support and involvement from the Alpha Council before they make their decision.”

Noah’s eyes scanned over the page, his expression unreadable. “Hm. A picnic,” he repeated flatly, glancing up at me. “In the middle of winter?”

“Yes,” I replied. “A big one, held out on the grounds near the gardens. With live music, dancing, locally-sourced food and entertainment vendors to really showcase our pack’s talents and abilities. We’ll have fire pits set up so it won’t be too cold.” I sat up a little taller.

“It could be a great way to make the Alpha Council see what we could do if we were chosen to host the festival,” I finished.

There was a heavy silence then, the weight of Noah’s cold stare making me shift uncomfortably in my seat. I searched his face, feeling my stomach twist with dread. He was going to call the whole idea stupid, I just knew it.

“It’s... actually not a bad idea,” he finally said.

I blinked, caught off guard. “What?”

“The picnic thing.” His broad shoulders lifted in an indifferent shrug. “Could be a good way to get people engaged and interested ahead of time, yeah.”

Relief washed over me, quickly followed by surprise—and then a flicker of indignation. Noah was never the type to accept my—or anyone’s—ideas so easily.

“But you should have told me sooner,” he added.

There it is.

“Like you would have listened,” I retorted, folding my arms across my chest. “You’ve never shown any interest in what I do as your Luna. Why start now?”

Noah sighed. “You only started acting like a Luna, like, yesterday. And even that’s a stretch.”

“So if I had done more sooner, you’re saying you would have listened to me?”

A muscle ticked in Noah’s chiseled jaw at that, but he didn’t argue—either because he knew I was right or it wasn’t worth arguing over.

After an awkward stretch of silence, I shook my head and sighed heavily. “Anyway... why did you come barging in here in the first place?” I asked wearily. “I doubt it was just to critique my party-planning skills.”

Noah’s expression darkened. Without a word, he tossed his phone onto my desk with the screen open to a camera roll folder. “Look at this,” he said, jerking his head toward his phone.

I stared at the phone for a moment, apprehension coiling low in my belly, before gingerly picking it up. As the first image on the screen registered, I felt my heart plummet into my stomach.

It was... me. With Drake. Wrapped around him on his motorcycle, our bodies intertwined in a way that was entirely too intimate for public viewing. The next few shots only drove the point home further—me reaching out to caress his shoulder, a soft smile on my face.

“What is this?” I whispered.

“I had to pay off an entire goddamn paparazzi agency to keep those from leaking,” Noah growled. “Six figures, Hannah. All to keep the Luna of my pack—and myself—from becoming a laughing stock because she can’t keep her hands off of another man.”

My cheeks burned with shame and anger, the phone falling from my trembling hands as I met Noah’s hard glare. “It’s not like that with Drake and I,” I said.

“Then what is it?” Noah demanded, leaning forward to brace his hands on my desk as he towered over me. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks an awful lot like you’re being reckless. Selfish. Putting this pack at risk with your idiotic displays of—”

“I don’t see how this is any worse than the things you’ve done with Zoe in public,” I snarled, rising from my chair. “Holding her while she cries. Matching outfits with her at a gala. Showing up to welcome-home parties for her…”

Noah clenched his jaw. “So is that what this is? Revenge? And how many times do I have to tell you, nothing ever happened between me and Zoe?”

“It’s not about revenge.” I sighed, turning my head so I didn’t have to look at him. “Drake and I are just friends. I’m sorry I wasn’t more careful, but… I’d never cheat. We’re still married.”

Noah stared at me for a long, heavy moment, his expression unreadable. Then, finally, he gave a curt nod. “Whatever.”

“Whatever?” I scoffed.

He shrugged. “Yeah. Whatever.” He paused then, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Let’s just host this picnic thing of yours this weekend,” he said gruffly. “Be there, bright and early to make sure it all goes according to your plans.”

With that, he straightened and turned on his heel, striding out of my office without another word.