Chapter 0454

After their vacation, Nightcrest seemed smaller somehow. The house suddenly felt too quiet, too still, after the weekend Noah had spent with his mate. He had become accustomed to the house being this quiet. With Hannah living in her Silvermoon house and no Beta around, it was usually only Noah. He had even reduced the staff to the bare minimum, finding it difficult to trust anyone in his home after what Scott and Zoe had done.

So, aside from the occasional housekeeper or gardener, he was alone. And normally, he didn’t mind. But after Hannah had agreed to combine their packs, to take their relationship to the next step, he couldn’t help but feel empty in the meantime. He wanted her here. Now. But she had her own things to wrap up before moving back in, and so, for now, Noah remained alone.

Suddenly, Noah’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, expecting a call from Hannah, but his stomach dropped when he saw the unexpected name on the caller ID: his father.

Noah’s relationship with his father, Marcus, had always been a tightrope walk—strained, distant, and cold. Marcus wasn’t necessarily a bad father, but he wasn’t a particularly kind one. Not allowing Noah to see his mother in the hospital before her death had been the final nail in the coffin for Noah, who gave up on trying to have a relationship with Marcus after that. And ever since Marcus had abdicated and Noah had taken over as Alpha, he rarely heard from his father except to be scolded.

Noah knew what this was about before he even answered the phone: the wedding. No doubt Marcus had qualms about the ordeal with Zoe, even though it had happened months ago. For a moment, Noah almost considered not picking up. But he knew it wouldn’t help, so he took a deep breath and answered.

“Dad.”

“Noah,” his father said without preamble. “I take it you’re not busy.”

Noah’s jaw clenched instinctively at the thinly veiled attempt to make him seem lazy and idle. But he simply replied, “I assume this isn’t just a casual check-in.”

“No, it’s not,” his father replied with a wry, humorless chuckle. “I’ve been meaning to call you, but I’ve been out of the country on business for the past year—in the tropics. I have heard about the debacle with Zoe, though.”

The tropics? Noah thought, furrowing his brow. He wasn’t aware that his father had business in the tropics, let alone the type that could keep him there for a full year. But he decided not to mention it, figuring he wouldn’t get an answer anyway.

“I assumed so,” Noah said coldly. He stepped into his office and shut the door behind him, even though there was no one around to hear their conversation. “And I guess you have some qualms with it.”

Marcus scoffed. “That would be putting it lightly.” He paused too long for comfort, and Noah felt like reaching through the phone to throttle his father. “I just watched the news footage of that day. It was humiliating.”

“Humiliating for Zoe, yes—”

“No. Humiliating for you. And for Hannah, who I hear you are back together with.” Noah could practically feel his father rolling his eyes. “Aren’t you ashamed?”

“Ashamed?”

“Well, you are back with her—the woman who humiliated you right along with Zoe.”

Noah’s fingers tightened around the phone. “You’re just trying to get a rise out of me, and you know it.”

“Am I?” Marcus’s voice hardened, that familiar tone of cold disapproval. “Because the way I see it, Hannah took your balls along with the divorce, and now you’re crawling back to her.”

Chapter 0455