Page 100 of Freeing My Alpha

Within 15 minutes, I shovel my food into my mouth and join Noah in bed. He stirs in his sleep, just for me—pulling me to his chest and draping himself over me until we’re intermeshed.

Neither of us have spoken much since we left the Pack Safety meeting. We don’t need to. I can feel how much he's still processing today, but I can also see it on his face. Even in his sleep, there’s a faint, agonized strain to his eyelids.

I trace his bare back with long, sweeping motions, mesmerized by the way my gentle touch loosens his every muscle. As his breaths slow back into sleep, I hold his head to my heart, hoping he can feel how much I love him.

I love sleeping cuddled up with him. Instead of getting old, it just gets better every single day. He feels like home.

23

After the second-to-last day of school, I’m cuddled up with Noah for a much-needed movie night.

But Noah can’t stop staring at me instead of the screen.

I giggle. “What is it, cutie?”

He drops his head with a smile, only able to peek at me in short bursts. “Nothing. I just love you. And you look adorable drowning in my shirt.”

I laugh, tugging the base of his giant black T-shirt lower over my thighs as a makeshift dress. Noah’s smile is so bright that I can’t help but nuzzle his cheek, kissing it over and over again until his lips get jealous and steal the last one.

Laughter sputters from me. “Hey!”

Noah chuckles, cuddling me closer. “Sweet Omega, it made me so happy to see you light up when the Elders talked about Takahiro the other day. And I know I told you I’d tell you more about him. I’m sorry I haven’t been in a place to do that yet.”

My stomach flips. “Please, don’t worry about that. It’s a hard subject for both of us.

“I know, but—” He sighs. His thoughts whirl a snowstorm of emotions through our bond. “Maybe, if it h-helps you to talk about it, it’ll help me too.”

I smile, amazed by how much he’s been opening up since the pack showed him it was safe to show his emotions. “Okay, I’d love that.”

Noah straightens with a rising smile. He shuffles on the couch cushions until he’s facing me. “Is there anything about his involvement in the pack that you’re more curious about? I can do my best to answer.”

My heart aches with both love and pain, but I can’t stop smiling. “There’s a lot, actually. I guess one of my main questions is how well you even knew my dad?”

Noah hums, tracing my arm with his warm fingertips. “Our dads had been best friends forever, as you know, so I knew him for as long as I can remember. Takahiro felt like my uncle.”

My heart lifts. “Yeah? That's how Ritchie felt to me too. I’d get not one but two dad hugs when I’d come home from school on a day Ritchie was over.”

Noah’s hand freezes, a slow smile breaking across his face. “That makes me so fucking happy.”

I giggle. “They were good dads, weren't they?”

“They were, and they were good pack-dads too. They prepared almost their whole lives to do what Yas and I were thrown into. Mediating, problem-solving, refugee support—” Noah’s smile fades. “I really regret not being able to give them a break. They were involved in pack work since they were teens, and I’m not sure they ever had much of a life outside of it. Takahiro was the natural choice for top Beta when my grandmother died.”

I sit up. “I still can’t believe she led the pack back then. Weren’t the Alphas twice as hard on her?”

“Yep. But she didn’t give a fuck.”

I laugh. “God, I love her. She sounds like you.”

Noah chuckles, dropping his stare. “That’s a high compliment. My mom loves to pretend I’m the first Alpha to break traditions, but my grandma nipped countless gender roles in the bud. We’ve never been the same pack since.”

Neither of us can stop smiling. Noah lightly tugs on my hand until I come closer, and I gladly sit in his lap.

He cuddles into me, wrapping his arms around my waist and nose into my collarbone.

“I’m probably the way I am because of her in more ways than that though.”

My heart spikes along with Noah’s rising emotions, unsure where they’re coming from. “How so?”

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