Alpha's Regret After Her Rebirth by Aurora Starling

“Just the two of us?” | asked, placing one hand on my hip and shooting him a disbelieving look. “Why? Is it just

going to be another networking event? Or perhaps Zoe will be there?”

Noah sighed and ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head in annoyance. “No, Hannah,” he replied tersely.

“It’s just...” He paused, gritting his teeth before shaking his head again, this tmore vigorously than the last

time. “You know what? Nevermind. Clearly you don’t have an interest in going, so...”

With that, he turned on his heel to leave. Despite myself, | felt a bit of panic bubble up inside of me; my hand

shot out of its own accord to catch his elbow, stopping him from walking away before he reached

the door.

“Wait,” | said, my voice catching slightly no matter how hard | tried to hide the tremor. “... | might be interested.”

Noah paused and shotan amused glance over his shoulder, a ghost of another one of those infuriating

smirks tugging at his lips. “Is that so?” he coped annoyingly, pulling his arm away from my grip and turning to

faceonce again. “Now you're interested now that the offer is off the table?”

| pressed my lips into a thin line. “Just tellthe details,” | said. “And if it’s going to be another trick to get me

to attend a networking event where you can publicly humiliatelike last time, I'd at least appreciate some

warning.”

For a few moments, Noah just stared atwith an incredulous expression on his face. Finally, he sighed and

threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

“It’s not like that, Hannah,” he insisted. “Can’t you have a little faith infor once?”

“How could I?” | retorted with a wry chuckle. “Last tyou said that you were going to takeout, it turned

out to be a complete self-serve on your part; and let's not forget how, that night, you admitted to not knowing

the date of our anniversary to a reporter.”

Noah blanched visibly at my words; clearly the memory still bothered him just as much as it bothered me.

“Alright, alright,” he said. “I know that last thing was s***ty, and I'm sorry. But | swear, it’s just a reservation at

Amici’s tonight for you and me. A private room, a bottle of wine...”

Amici’s... One of the most romantic spots in the city. A cozy, intimate little Italian bistro nestled in the heart of

downtown, overlooking the river. We hadn't been there in stime. In fact, | couldn't remember the last time

we had gone.

The prospect of going together now was tempting, that was for sure. But | still couldn’t shake the ideal that there

was more to it. “What for, though? | found myself asking. “Is today a special day for you or something?”

ten wrong forto

“No.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “Is want to treat you?”

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Narrowing my eyes, | searched his face for skind of lie-but unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, | found

none. Noah's face was as open as could be, his green eyes flickering across my features. He still had that usual

stony look in his eyes, but | knew he was telling the truth in spite of it.

Finally, I let out a slow breath through my teeth and felt my shoulders slump in defeat. “Alright.”

He quirked an eyebrow at me. “So you'll come?”

“Yes.” | felt my face redden beneath his gaze and | quickly looked away, “I'll go.”

Noah pulled the car up to the curb later that night, and | leaned forward to peer at the little bistro through the

windshield. The soft flickering of candles emanated from the large windows, couples seated at white cloth-

covered tables with bottles of wine between them. People walked on the sidewalk hand-in-hand, headed for the

small park down the street that overlooked the lanterns on the river.

It was so romantic. Too bad my husband wasn’t the romantic sort, at least not when it cto me.

“So, what made you pick Amici’s?” | asked, glancing over at Noah as he straightened his tie in the rearview

mirror.

He shrugged nonchalantly-an infuriating gesture given how intimate the little Italian bistro was known for being.

This wasn’t a date, of course, it couldn't be. So why, then, did he want to bringhere, of all places?

“I like their gnocchi,” was all he replied.

| pursed my lips at his blase attitude-The gnocchi, | thought to myself wryly, having a feeling that it was more

than just that-but said nothing more about it.

We stepped out of the car and headed inside, where the sound of soft violin music and the clinking of silverware

filled the air. No sooner had we stepped through the front door than a hostess dressed in an impeccable white

shirt and a black skirt had materialized in front of us, bowing her head respectfully.

“Alpha Noah, Luna Hannah. Right this way,” she said, gesturing for us to follow.

As the hostess followed us through the dimly lit dining room and down a hall toward rows of private rooms, |

couldn't help but chance a sidelong look over at Noah. His face betrayed nothing, but his freshly- laundered suit

and sh***d face told a different story. He looked... perfect tonight. Impeccably dressed, clean-s**¥*n, hair ge*+*d

toaT

Meanwhile, | wore a slim black dress that fell just above my ankles, a pair of strappy heels, and a velvet shawl to

cover my shoulders. Gripped in my hand was a small red clutch, a pop of color that matched the shade of my

lipstick. My own hair was perfectly curled and swept into an updo-I had gone all out tonight despite myself.

| wondered if Noah was having the sthoughts ofas | was having of him; did he think | looked nice?

Beautiful, even? If he did, he didn’t say it.

The hostess finally stopped in front of the door to one of the private rooms and stepped aside to allow us entry.

“Here you are,” she said, gesturing to the door. “Your server will be right with you.”

With that, the hostess scurried away, her heels clicking on the tiled floors. My gaze followed her for a

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Chapter 0154

moment before snapping back to Noah, who still hadn't entered the room-but now he was holding something in

his hands.

An extra necktie.

| furrowed my brow and gestured to it. “What's that for?”

Pausing for a moment, he held it out to me. “For your eyes.”

“My... eyes?” | blurted out.

He nodded. “I'd like for this to be a surprise, if you don’t mind.”