Chapter 0357

Before I could retort, his mouth trailed up and captured my lips in a sweet kiss. I melted into him, my hands tangling in his hair. When we parted, both slightly breathless, he crouched down, parting my robe to expose my swollen belly. He pressed a tender kiss to my skin, his hand caressing the curve. I sipped my coffee as I watched him.

“Good morning to you too, little one,” he whispered, his lips brushing against my belly. “Are you excited for your party today?”

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. How had we gone from cold, distant strangers to this? It seemed almost miraculous, too good to be true.

“Come on,” Noah said, standing and taking my hand. “Since apparently you can’t keep your nose out of the party preparations.”

He led me outside, where the gardens were awash in warm morning sunlight. It was going to be a hot one today, judging by the way the morning dew was already curling off the grass in little tendrils of steam.

“You know,” I said as we meandered through the pebbled pathway, coffee in hand, “with everything that’s been going on, I haven’t really thought about baby names.”

Noah glanced at me. “Surely you must have a few ideas.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. It feels like this week is the first week I’ve really had a chance to think about being a mom, and not just trying to figure out how to get through a divorce or what to do about my cousin taking over my pack.”

Noah stiffened, his hand tightening around mine. The image of those divorce papers burning in the fireplace was still fresh in both our minds. But he didn’t comment on it.

I turned to him. “I’m still worried about Silvermoon, for what it’s worth,” I admitted. “It’s my home pack, and I’d hate to see it fall to ruin under Alvin’s command…”

Noah’s expression turned serious. He was quiet for a moment, considering.

“I’ve been thinking about that, too,” he finally said, leading me to a nearby stone bench. We sat down, the white and green tendrils of a wisteria tree swaying overhead. “I think there might be a way for Nightcrest to absorb Silvermoon.”

I blinked, surprised. “Absorb it? But… they’re both such large territories. How would that even work?”

“It would be a massive undertaking, without a doubt,” he agreed. “Definitely not something I would have considered before on my own.”

He turned to me. “But with your recent strides as Luna, I think we could handle it together. Maybe you could talk to your family, see if they’d be open to the idea, and we can come up with a transition plan together.”

I chewed the inside of my cheek, considering. The idea was intriguing. It would allow me to protect Silvermoon without having to leave Noah and Nightcrest. It sounded like a lot of work, but it was the type of work I’d grown to love lately.

“I’ll think about it,” I said, resting a hand on my swollen belly.

Noah smiled, pulling me close and pressing a kiss to my temple. “For now, let’s focus on the party tonight. All I want to think about is how beautiful you’re going to look in that pretty pink dress you bought the other day.”

A blush crept up my cheeks. The dress in question was a soft, flowing number that hugged my baby bump perfectly. I’d fallen in love with it instantly when we’d spotted it in a boutique window earlier that week. The way Noah had looked at me when I tried it on… well, let’s just say we barely made it home before clothes started coming off.

Smiling at the memory, I rose and broke away from him, casting him a cheeky grin over my shoulder. “I’ll start getting ready, then.”