Chapter 0408

“I intend to make up for it,” he whispered, his grip tightening ever so slightly on my hand. “For all of it.”

My heart fluttered at his touch, and I looked up to see those green eyes staring down at me, filled with the same intensity as when he had been holding our daughter. “Noah…”

“Let me take you on a date this weekend,” he said suddenly. “Just the two of us. I’ll take you to a nice restaurant, somewhere…” We can talk, really talk, without any distractions.”

The idea both thrilled and terrified me. We hadn’t had that in so long—maybe never. That chance to really talk, to date, to act like a real couple. And talking… I guess we needed that now more than ever. “I… I think that would be nice,” I said finally, offering him a small smile.

Noah’s face lit up brighter than the sunset, and for a moment, I was transported back to our early days together as teenagers. The urge to kiss him was overwhelming, but I held myself back, settling instead for leaning up on my tiptoes and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Even that small contact of lips against buttery warm skin sent a jolt through me, and clearly did the same for him, if the pinkish tinge on his cheeks was at all related and not just the sunset reflecting off his face.

“Drive safely,” I murmured, stepping back.

Noah nodded, his eyes lingering on me for a moment longer before he got into his car. I watched as he drove away, the taillights disappearing into the growing darkness.

Back inside, I went through the motions of my nightly routine—feeding Melody, putting her to bed, taking a shower. But my thoughts kept circling back to one thing: WhiteRabbit.

The hunch that Zoe had been behind the contraceptive pills had been nagging at me for weeks. Now, with everything that had come to light about her manipulations, it seemed more plausible than ever. But I needed to know for certain. I couldn’t sleep until I had answers.

Finally, unable to resist any longer, I pulled out my phone and sent a message to WhiteRabbit, hitting send before I could think better of it: “I know it was Zoe.”

The response came almost immediately, three bubbles and then: “Zoe who? The lady I saw on the news?” I frowned, my fingers hovering over the keyboard. This wasn’t the reaction I had expected. “Yes, the woman from the news,” I typed out somewhat angrily. “Noah’s ex. She was behind the pills, wasn’t she? She was your supplier?”

There was a long pause before WhiteRabbit replied: “I don’t know anything about a Zoe. Someone else was supplying the pills.”

My frown deepened. This didn’t make sense. If it wasn’t Zoe, then who? And why would they go to such lengths to keep me from having Noah’s child?

“Who, then?” I asked. “Who was supplying them?”

“I can’t discuss that over text,” came the reply. “If you want answers, we need to meet in person. We can discuss my price then, too…”

My heart rate picked up. Meeting WhiteRabbit in person was risky, but if it meant getting to the bottom of this mystery, it might be worth it. Still, I hesitated.

“What is your price? Tell me now.”

“Just a small favor. I assure you, it’s nothing you can’t handle, Alpha.”

I chewed my lip, weighing my options. The rational part of my brain was screaming at me to drop it, to leave well enough alone. But the Alpha in me, the part that needed to protect my daughter, my pack, wouldn’t let go. For all I knew, there was still someone out there who wanted to bring harm to my child. And I needed to ensure that they, like Scott and Zoe, were behind bars as soon as possible.

“Alright. I’ll meet you. When and where?”