Chapter 249

His gentle words surprised me, and I felt my heart skip ever so slightly. “That would be nice,” I murmured.

The drive to the police station was tense and quiet. I drove, since Noah still had to wear his sling for one more day, my eyes fixed on the road. Noah stared out the window, not saying a word. I wondered what last night had been like for him before he found me, but I supposed I would find out soon.

At the police station, we were led to a small interview room to give our statements. The walls were a dull beige, and the fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, adding to a headache that had started right before we left the hospital.

After a short wait, the detective came in and introduced himself as Detective Johnson, a middle-aged man with kind eyes but also a no-nonsense demeanor.

“Luna Hannah,” he began, “can you tell me what happened yesterday?”

I took a deep breath, my fingers fidgeting with the hem of my shirt beneath the table. “I was at the vacation rental with my friends. We were having a girls’ trip to help Amber get over her breakup with Jake.”

“Jake, as in the man who abducted you?” the detective asked for clarification. I nodded.

“After dinner, everyone went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. So I went outside to use the hot tub by myself, and that’s when I saw the man from the restaurant pull up.” I shuddered at the thought, my hands fidgeting faster. “I immediately got up to go inside, but there was a man with a gun in the doorway. The man from the restaurant told me to come with him, but I fought them.”

“Them?” the detective asked. “How many were there?”

“I’m not sure,” I said, struggling to remember the ordeal. “There had to have been at least three or four men in the house, although the man from the restaurant was the only one I recognized at that point.”

As I continued recounting the events, I felt my leg begin to shake under the table. Without a word, Noah placed his hand on my knee, steadying me. His touch, although shocking at first, was comforting.

After that, I told the detective about the waterfall, about Jake’s plan to get a ransom and kill me, about Noah and Drake’s rescue. Noah also recounted his experience: seeing my text, driving to the rental, trying to find the trailhead that led to the waterfall… as well as having to kill multiple men just to get to me.

The thought of it made me shudder, and I found myself looking over at Noah as he spoke. His voice was so steady, his eyes so sharp, that it was clear the fighting was nothing more than a necessity to him; a cold reality when it came to saving his wife’s life.

And for that, I was thankful.

“Thank you, Luna Hannah and Alpha Noah,” the detective said once Noah was finished. “I think that’s all the information we need for now. We’ll be in touch if we have any more questions.”

As we left the police station, I felt so exhausted that it was like my limbs were made of rope. The sun was already setting, casting long shadows across the parking lot, and I just wanted to get home.

But as we reached the car, Noah turned to me, his expression serious. “After what happened,” he said firmly, “I don’t want you to leave my side for a while. Understood?”

I stared at him, surprised by the intensity in his voice. “Noah, I—”

“That’s an order,” he said, “not a request.”

The command in his voice caught me off guard. I felt my face heat up, turning beet red beneath his stern gaze.

“Okay,” I whispered, nodding. “I won’t leave your side.”

Noah almost seemed to let out the tiniest sigh of relief before he…