Chapter 0337

Hannah

I circled the living room, my bare feet silent on the plush carpet—a welcome silence, as my restless pacing would otherwise have driven the entire house mad. The sound of furniture being moved and drawers emptied continued to echo from upstairs, causing me to flinch. Guards stood at every entrance to the mansion, their eyes following my every move as if I might be attacked at any moment. Noah had sent the guards. I hadn’t argued when the first one arrived on the doorstep, dressed in a bulletproof vest.

The Luna of Nightcrest was in danger. So was its heir. There was no telling what people would do once that audio clip made it beyond that obscure forum. No telling how angry people would become if they thought their Alpha had been cheated on.

My phone sat on the coffee table, face down. I didn’t dare look at it, afraid of what new horrors might await in my notifications. So I continued to pace.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Scott’s heavy footsteps came down the stairs. I turned to see his ruffled head of red hair entering the living room, a familiar stuffed unicorn in his hands. My heart sank as I recognized it—the one Zoe had given me at the carnival. Without a word, Scott tossed it onto the coffee table. The unicorn had been ripped open, revealing a tangle of wires and a small camera nestled inside its fluffy innards.

“Oh, Goddess,” I whispered, my hand flying to my mouth. “Zoe… she planted a hidden camera?”

Scott, breathless, merely shrugged and sank into the nearest armchair. But how had she done it, I wondered? Drake had been with her that night at the carnival. Surely he would have noticed something suspicious.

With shaking hands, I grabbed my phone—blissfully free of notifications—and dialed Drake’s number. He answered on the second ring.

“Hannah? What’s wrong?” I hadn’t heard his voice in some time. He had been back in his own pack lately, handling his own matters. But I hardly had time to think about that.

“Drake,” I said, my voice trembling, “what do you know about the unicorn Zoe bought me at the carnival?”

There was a pause. “The unicorn? What about it?”

I explained what we had found, my words tumbling out in a rush. Drake listened in silence, then let out a long breath.

“Hannah, I swear I had no idea,” he said. “Zoe bought that unicorn from a regular vendor. I even used my credit card to pay for it. Here, I’ll send you a picture of the receipt.”

A few minutes later, my phone pinged with a new message. The receipt looked legitimate, from a real carnival vendor.

“I… I believe you,” I said, my mind reeling.

Before Drake could answer, the front door burst open. Noah strode in, his hair a mess and his suit disheveled. Despite the situation, I couldn’t help but notice how roguishly handsome he looked, his tie loosened and his top button undone.

His green eyes landed on the torn unicorn, and a single word escaped his lips: “Fuck.”

That night, we called Zoe to the house. She arrived looking confused and a little frightened, her eyes darting between Noah and me as we showed her the unicorn. I wanted to throttle that slender throat of hers, but instead I busied myself with clutching the windowsill as I stared stonily out at the front lawn.

“Zoe,” Noah said, his voice carefully controlled, “we need you to explain this.”

Zoe’s eyes widened as she took in the exposed wires and camera. “What… what is that?”

“This was found in Ha—our—bedroom,” Noah quickly recovered. “You gave this to Hannah. Are you… watching us?”

“Wh… What?” Zoe whimpered.

Noah explained the forum post to her, the audio file containing a private moment between us. When he was finished, a moment passed, then two. I finally dared to look over at them and found that Zoe’s face was pale, her eyes wide as saucers as she stared down at the unicorn. Her hands wrung in her lap, trembling.

Finally, she shook her head vehemently, tears forming in her eyes. “I didn’t do that! I swear, Hannah, I had no idea.” She rose, crossing the room to face me. “I bought that unicorn from a regular vendor, just like I told you. How could I have planted a camera without anyone finding out?”

Suddenly, she reached out, grasping my hands in hers. I flinched at the contact, but didn’t pull away.

“Please, Hannah,” she begged, “you have to believe me. I would never… I’m so happy for you and Noah. So happy. I would never try to claim that the baby isn’t his, or anything like that.”