Chapter 268

Sensing the urgency in Noah’s voice, I leaned in closer.

“What is it?” I asked, trying to suppress the anticipation in my voice.

Noah’s grip on my hands tightened.

“I’m going to study financial law in the human world.”

I froze. My heart thumped hard against my ribs, so hard that I thought that it would tear right through my torso and fly across the room. I had to breathe slowly in and out to keep the room from spinning all around me.

“You’re…what?” I asked, unable to believe my ears.

“I’m going to go study financial law in the human world for a year.”

A couple minutes passed in complete silence as my brain tried to process what this meant for us…for me.

“Well?” Noah said. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“I…I don’t even know where to start,” I replied, aghast. “What about the practice that you’ve been trying to start up?”

Noah shook his head.

“It’s not going anywhere fast. If I want to get a leg up in this world without any contacts, then this specialized education is how I’m going to stand out. It will only help me when I come back and really open my own firm.”

“So, you’re just…giving up? Just like that? Before you even have a chance to really get started?”

“Not giving up. Just…postponing the official opening until I am further educated.”

“And you think that further education in the human world is going to help you set up a practice in the werewolf world?”

“Yes. It’s specialized education that very few in the werewolf world have, and that will give me an edge that even people with lots of contacts won’t have.”

Noah hesitated.

“Or I might start a practice in the human world. Be the first werewolf financial lawyer in the human world.”

I huffed.

“If you can get past the anti-werewolf prejudice over there.”

I cringed even as I said it. We both knew it to be true, but it was not something that we liked to talk about. Even with a werewolf hybrid for a princess, the human world had its prejudices, same as the werewolf world.

“This is just something that I know I need to do,” Noah said to break the silence. “I’ve been thinking on it for quite some time.”

I tore my hands out of Noah’s grasp and ran one of them through my hair.

“When were you going to tell me that you had made all these decisions? Were even going to include me in the decision-making process at all?”

Noah motioned with his hands for me to calm down. This only made me more infuriated.

“I’m telling you now,” he argued. “I didn’t want to upset you when you were going through so much already.”

I leapt to my feet and started to pace.

“But we’re engaged, Noah! Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

“Does it mean anything to you?”

I stopped my pacing briefly to stare at him, mouth agape.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Noah seemed about to answer, then he shook his head and turned away. I waited for him to respond, my hands on my hips and my foot tapping impatiently, but he did not speak again for several minutes. Finally, I sighed in exasperation and resumed my pacing.

“This doesn’t have to be such a big deal,” I said after a minute.

Noah arched his brow at me.

“Why is that?”

“I can go to the human world with you. Like you said, I’m not having as much success with the new branch of Ever After Weddings. I can just close it, and then we can pick up and leave together.”

I looked over my shoulder to see Noah smiling slightly, but it did not reach his eyes.

“I appreciate your tenacity,” he said, “but this is something that I must do alone.”

I growled in frustration.

“But why? Why do you need to leave alone?”

I stormed up to him and waved my engagement ring in his face.

“Don’t you even want to get married?”

Noah grabbed my arm and lowered it to my side. Then he stood up, one hand holding my arm and the other stroking my cheek.

“Crystal, you know that I would marry you in a heartbeat,” he said in hushed tones, “but we both know that I’m not the one that you want to be with.”

I blinked at him.

“I said yes to you, didn’t I?”

Noah chuckled and shook his head.

“What you said and what you feel are two entirely different things.” He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “You’re still in love with Andrew, and I cannot compete with him.”

“Noah—”

“I know, I know, I will find someone someday who loves me for me.” He smiled weakly. “That is why I need to let you go, so that we can both be with the person who truly loves us—and whom we truly love.”

“Please, just let me come,” I said, my voice soft.

Noah tilted his head at me.

“Are you scared?”

I shoved myself away from him and turned my back on him.

“No!” I exclaimed, my cheeks turning red. “I am not scared.”

“You are! You’re scared.”

Noah almost sounded amused, which made me blush deeper in fury. The muscles in my arms tensed, and I refused to face him again.

“I’m sorry, Crystal. It’s just…you’re the strongest woman I know, so I never thought that I would see the day that you would be afraid of something as menial as rejection.”

I pulled my shoulders up to my ears.

“Who said I was afraid of rejection? And being rejected by whom, exactly?”

“By Andrew, obviously. And you don’t need to tell me. I can see it written all over your body language.”

I felt Noah’s hand on my shoulder, and I relaxed against my will. He turned me around and pulled me in for a hug. I let him, but I did not return the gesture.

“It will be all right, Crystal,” he said, patting me on the back.

“What if he rejects me?”

I dug my face into his shoulder.

“He won’t. Even if he does, you rejected me, and I survived.”

I snorted and rolled my eyes.

“You rejected me this time.”

“And you survived. So, you’ll survive if Andrew rejects you, too.”

I chuckled, but it was dry and half-hearted.

Noah grabbed me by the shoulders and held me out at arm’s length, staring me straight in the eye.

“You’re going to be okay,” he said. “I promise.”

I smiled slightly.

“Thanks. You will be, too.”

Noah leaned forward and kissed me gently on the forehead.

“I wish you nothing but happiness,” he whispered. “Don’t be afraid to pursue the man that you’re truly in love with.”

Noah stepped away from me.

“I better start packing.”

He was about to leave the room when a thought crossed my mind.

“Noah, wait!” I cried out.

Noah stopped and looked over his shoulder at me.

“Here.” I removed my engagement ring and held it out to him. “Give it to some lucky girl someday.”

Noah took the ring and pocketed it with a brief smile.

“Thanks, but I think it will be a while before I can look at it without thinking of you.”