Chapter 41

Noah

Noah was annoyed. Extremely annoyed. No matter what he did, the alpha always managed to get in his way.

He’d had her in his grasp. She had let him kiss her. She would have let him do more, but Kaylee has opened her mouth. And of course Arthur had come running. And now? He’d done something even worse.

Even as a recluse, he had heard that the date of Almara and Arthur’s wedding had been confirmed. Three months. He only had three months. He had to up his game if he was going to steal her away.

He had just finished putting the finishing touches on the breakfast he made her when she knocked on the door. Smiling to himself, he waved off the maid so he could answer the door himself.

His smile grew cold when he noticed Arthur was with her. Ever since Kaylee had become her bodyguard, Arthur had stopped dropping her off. So why was he here now? To gloat?

“Hello, Sweetness. Lovely to see you, as always,” Noah said, completely ignoring Arthur. He kept his eyes on Almara, soaking her in. She was in her usual painting clothes. Gray sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt. She couldn’t have been more beautiful.

“Hi No -” she cut herself off, glancing sideways at Arthur, “Mr. Cunningham.”

Noah fought against rolling his eyes. She had to be kidding. Arthur didn’t even want her saying his name. Was he that insecure?

“Don’t let her work too hard,” Arthur growled, the warning in his voice clear. Noah barely glanced at him, not wanting to give him the time of day.

“What we do isn’t work. It’s our life. But I wouldn’t expect someone like you to understand,” Noah drawled, pulling Almara inside and slamming the door shut. Her skin was warm against his hand and he held back the urge to run it up and down her arm.

“You really shouldn’t antagonize him,” Almara berated him, but there wasn’t any real punch to her words.

Noah smirked. “I can’t help it, Sweetness. Not when he makes it so easy.”

Almara sighed, placing her stuff on the entryway table like she usually did. Her scent wafted up, the jasmine and moonlight so familiar to him now. But there was something else underneath.

Noah’s hand shot out, grabbing her by the wrist. Almara turned to him, eyes wide staring down at where he was gripping her. Noah dropped to his knees in front of her, head on the same level as her stomach.

Almara stiffened and tried to pull away, but Noah had gripped her waist. She wasn’t going anywhere.

Noah stuck his nose right against her stomach and breathed in as deeply as he could. He jerked back, falling unceremoniously on his bottom. He couldn’t believe it. Almara was pregnant.

“You’re with child?” he asked, voice hardly above a whisper. His mind was whirling, thoughts going at about a million miles per second. This definitely changed things.

Almara wrapped her arms around her middle protectively. “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Noah rose to his feet slowly. “Don’t lie to me, Sweetness. I can smell the baby.”

Tears appeared in her eyes. Her body began to tremble. Noah grimaced. He hadn’t meant to upset her.

He pulled her into his arms and she fell apart. She cried and cried, her tears drenching his shoulder, but he didn’t care. He was happy to hold her. It gave him time to think, too.

Almara was pregnant. Presumably with Arthur’s baby. Perhaps their relationship was more real than he thought it was. But sex didn’t always equal love. Lust, sure. But not love.

The real question was if Noah still wanted Almara. She was having another man’s child. For anyone else, that should have been game over. How could he compete with the father of her child?

But Almara wasn’t just anyone. She was a painter that inspired him. She was the first friend he’d had in a long time. She was sweet and caring. She was everything that he had ever wanted.

So what if he had to raise a wolf cub? Noah wasn’t against the idea of children. He’d often thought that it might be nice to have little miniature copies of himself running around. If Almara could get pregnant, there was no reason she could bear his children in the future.

Noah wrapped his arms around Almara tighter. He had made up his mind. Nothing was ever going to make him not want Almara. He was just going to have to try that much harder.

“Shh, shh. Everything will be okay,” Noah cooed, stroking her hair as she continued to sob. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I did it without thinking.”

Almara shook her head, her nose rubbing into his shirt. She had probably gotten snot everywhere, but he didn’t care, It was worth it.

“It’s not that. How did you even know? I’m taking a medicine that masks my scent,” Almara said through her tears. She was starting to calm down. Still, Noah held on. He wasn’t ready to let her go yet.

“I know your scent very well, Sweetness. I could easily detect the change. Now, tell me, why are you crying? A baby should be a happy thing, should it not?” Noah asked, pulling away just enough to see her face. He wiped the stray tears away and she leaned into his touch slightly.

The corners of Noah’s lips pulled up. No matter what Almara said or did, there was a part of her that wanted him. He just had to exploit it.

“It should be. But…” her voice trailed off and she ducked her head. He could practically taste the shame on his tongue.

“But what, Sweetness?” He gripped her chin with his thumb and forefinger, bringing her face up to his. “You can tell me anything.”

“I’m not ready,” she whispered and closed her eyes. She felt guilty for not being happy about this.

“You could always get it taken care of,” Noah said as gently as he could. It wasn’t common in their world to do such things, but it wasn’t unheard of. But she was already shaking her head.

“No, I can’t. I just can’t.”

“Okay. It was just a thought. But, Almara, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. If you need help, let me know. I’ll do everything in my power for you,” Noah told her, finally letting her go.

Almara nodded, rubbing at her eyes, making her face all red and splotchy. “I’m sorry about your shirt.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can always buy a new one. You’re far more important.”

Almara gave him a watery smile. “Thank you for listening to me. I didn’t have anyone else I could talk to about this. I definitely couldn’t bring it up with Arthur. He’s so happy.”

Noah smiled at her, but the wheels in his head were already turning. Their relationship didn’t seem normal. Why couldn’t Almara talk to her own fiance about what she was feeling? Unless…

Unless their whole relationship was a lie. He had done some research on the alpha as soon as he’d found out about him. He had a fated mate. That same mate had been in an interview bragging about their love. And then not even a week later, the alpha had announced his engagement to someone else.

It didn’t make sense. Nothing natural happened that fast. If the alpha had a secret, Noah was going to get to the bottom of it.