Alpha's Regret After Her Rebirth by Aurora Starling

Chapter 0360

Hannah

By the time Noah pulled away from that kiss, I was left breathless and blushing. My face felt hot, surely beet red from the unexpected display of affection.

This wasn’t just for show or for the cameras. This was real.

“You look beautiful,” he breathed, his fingers first brushing across the gauzy pink fabric of my dress and then coming up to touch the flowers circling my head. I like this.”

My face heated a little more. “It’s not too much?” I was the only one who was dressed so extravagantly; everyone else was more muted in various cocktail dresses and suits.

Noah shook his head quickly. “Never too much. You look like a princess.”

With that, he slid his arm around my waist and guided me into the party. While guests, including Zoe and Drake, had been spilling out into the foyer, the main party was in the dining room.

I clapped my fingers over my lips as we stepped through the double doors. The dining room looked even more lovely than that morning, colorful streamers and balloons and banners covering every surface.

The long dining table was laden with all kinds of delicious–looking food and drinks, and the air practically smelled like sugar. Music played from the speakers, soft classical strains.

And at the center of the table was the cake I had requested–a deep, rich chocolate interior with a chocolate buttercream frosting, topped with a little statuette of a pregnant woman that looked an awful

lot like me.

“Well?” Noah asked, turning to me. “What do you think?”

“You’ve outdone yourself,” I breathed. “Truly. I love it.”

Noah smiled and reached for two flutes of champagne from a passing waiter. Some of the flutes were marked with little rings around the stems, indicating a non–alcoholic alternative–for me, of course. He handed it to me and clinked his glass against mine.

The bubbles tickled my nose as I brought it to my lips. He raised his glass and cleared his throat, causing the guests to quiet their murmuring and turn to us.

“A toast,” he announced, “to my beautiful Luna and the heir of Nightcrest.” (1

my cider, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the attention–especially with Zoe

hand against my lower back was a welcome comfort, and

“Hannah!”

Drake approaching. It had been a while since we had last seen each other,

make it,” I

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Chapter 0360

+25 BONUS

my waist. But when I pulled back, I saw him extend

tense, but I could sense a genuine attempt at warmth. Tentative, perhaps, but it

his pockets. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’m happy to be here for my

word I

bit at the sound. Perhaps he and Drake had their hang–ups and shared history, but that was what we were all becoming

over at where Zoe stood, swirling her champagne around in her glass. She was turned to the side, pretending to be looking at something

myself, I felt a wave of

just like Noah and Drake, had our own shared pasts, our own hang–ups. But I was trying to be Jess vindictive lately, genuinely

myself as

lump in my

waving her over. “Come

across her face before she approached, her smile not quite reaching her eyes. “That sounds fun,”

down one boy name and one girl name you’d like to suggest,” I explained, holding out a jar for her to drop them into. “We’ll draw them out later

them in the jar. “I hope it’s a girl,” she said with

words. Most people would say that to an Alpha and Luna when they wanted to imply that they hoped the baby wouldn’t be an heir–one of those small political slights that sounded sweet but were

about to let that

enough for others to hear, my voice firm but not unkind,

a flicker of something–perhaps disappointment?-in her eyes. “Oh, I almost forgot,” she replied smoothly

her a pleasant smile of my

far from my side. During dinner, his hand rested on my leg under the table. The warmth of his palm seeped through the fabric of my dress,

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