Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder-Chapter 1332 - 87 : Looming Moon

*Zara*

The daily routine settled as life in Drogomor returned to normal. Briella was doing well, but she needed constant care, and I wanted to make sure she didn’t slip into the danger zone ever again.

Shortly after the naming ceremony, my parents approached me with kind smiles on their faces. My mother took me into a hug that I returned warmly.

“Thanks so much for all the support, Mom and Dad,” I whispered.

I had a feeling I knew why they were meeting with me.

“You are very welcome, my daughter,” Mom said. “It’s time for us to return home, but we’ll be here again if you need us, okay?” 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

My father nodded in agreement, placing a hand on my shoulder and squeezing. He gave me a warm smile. “Please try to stay safe. And make sure to keep that stubborn Alpha in line,” he said with a wink.

I chuckled, beaming at him. “I will. Noah and I are doing well, I promise.”

It wasn’t a lie. We were. I could feel the happiness about that within me.

My father grinned. “Make sure he still does chores when not visiting us,” he said.

“I will. He has so many pack duties, but he helps out with our baby and around our home too.”

With that, I bid my parents farewell for now, feeling warmth at just how much they cared about me. I went to Briella, taking her into my arms and giving soft hums of happiness.

“Hi sweetie,” I whispered. “How are you?” I asked, knowing she couldn’t answer, of course.

She giggled at me and grabbed for my finger, holding it firmly when I offered it to her.

With her other hand, she grasped toward her pacifier, and I slipped it into her mouth. She gazed up at me with wide, curious eyes, ones full of love.

My heart was so warm seeing her doing well, and I spent the next few hours playing with her, time passing so quickly because of how joyous it was to spend time with her.

Eventually, I had a nanny help out and monitor her while I went to attend meetings with the ladies in leadership positions around Drogomor pack. This was important since I wanted to be the best Luna I could be.

I’d been learning a lot, especially from Estella, who knew how to be gentle but firm with pack matters. She corrected any clumsy mistakes or answers to problems I gave with grace.

I was so busy, though not in a bad way, and the time passed quickly.

I sat in Drogomor’s garden, gazing up at the waxing moon and realizing that it was almost full. I furrowed my brow in thought about that.

It was a shame that the full moon, which should have been of comfort to me, was actually a terror and threat to my relationship. I didn’t want Noah to lose his memories.

I jumped as the voice of someone sounded out next to me. Angelica, Noah’s half-sister, gave me a smile.

“Oops,” she said softly. “Sorry to startle you, Zara. I wanted to come see how you’ve been.”

“Oh,” I muttered. “I’ve been well, much better lately now that Briella is stable.”

“I am so happy to hear she’s doing well! We were all so worried, and now things are much better.”

“They are,” I said. “Thank the Goddess.”

“Speaking of which, we’ll be honoring the Moon Goddess at the next annual Moon Ball. I think that will be a good night to shower her with thanks for her aid through the tough times.”

“Oh, it’s being held at Drogomor now?”

“It is,” Angelica said, her voice tinged with excitement. “Maybe I will meet my mate this time.” She leaned over and elbowed me, causing me to give a soft chuckle. “Think you can help out with that?”

“Hm, well....”

“Oh, I jest. It’s alright,” she assured me, then she looked up at the moon again. “I’m far too busy to think about that anyway, though your miracle powers are amazing.”

“Yeah. I’m just glad things worked out with it so far. I never expected Noah to be... well—” I sighed, giving a happy smile. “Mine.”

“You both had a bumpy road, but here you are. I can’t wait to have you as Luna of the pack. How have the lessons been going?”

“They’ve been taking up all of my time when I’m not with the baby, and a lot of it is hard to grasp, but I’m determined to get it all down.”

“I’m sure you will,” Angelica said with a smile. “Well, I just stopped by to say hello. Let me know if you want help finding a dress for the Moon Ball.”

I smiled at her and dipped my head. “I will. Same to you. If... I’m not busy.”

She waved her hand. “No. Don’t worry about it! We talk more and even possibly bond a bit when you’re not as busy, future Luna. You deserve some rest right now.”

With that, she wandered off, leaving me to my thoughts. Like Issac and Estella, Angelica was warming up to me too. She hadn’t ever given me the cold shoulder like her parents, which was a relief... well, aside from when Noah was suspicious, but she was more concerned for her half-brother than anything.

She had brought up something that suddenly weighed heavily on my mind, though—the Moon Ball. We wouldn’t be able to miss that event, because honoring the Goddess was extremely important, and the pack would be all chatters—in a very bad way—if we did.

During the last full moon, Noah had completely avoided me due to those fragments of memories coming back, which helped us avoid the total memory loss issues.

This time, we couldn’t do such a thing. Briella was stable, so there would be no excuse to miss this annual ball. I wondered if we would be able to resist the pull we had on one another.

It was such a powerful surge of lust and love, something primal and visceral, that I wasn’t sure. I leaned down, picking one of the wildflowers and bringing it to my nose.

The scent flowed around me as I thought more deeply about the subject. Resisting the urges, as irresistible as they were, would be imperative for our relationship and our future in general.

My stomach clenched at the memory of waking up in the morning and his faraway look... when he’d remembered nothing at all—not the first time we kissed, not the first time we made love, not the first time we met.

I swallowed, shuddering at the dangers of the moon, and once more feeling heavy guilt at that.

The Goddess, and our faith, no doubt had a hand in Briella being okay, along with my safe return to Drogomor in general. My wolf balked at the idea of fearing the moon.

Yet, there I was, doing just that. If we gave in to our passionate desires, Noah would lose all memory of our intimacy the following day, all memory of... us.

I couldn’t handle that again. I hated feeling it over and over. It was sheer torture. I let out a breath, closing my eyes and exhaling sharply.

“No,” I whispered to myself, coming to a decision. “We need to preserve the memories. We can’t risk anything until we fix this problem for good.”

With that, I began telling myself over and over that I needed to resist the very profound soulmate bond we shared when the moon was at its peak.

I told myself that it would just be until we got rid of the memory problem, if... we ever got rid of it.

I tried to shake the dread away that we may need to do that forever. There had to be some sort of solution. I couldn’t lapse into hopelessness again.

There we were, starting our family, after all. We’d gone through so much, yet we had gotten through it. Our little girl got through it. I owed it to her and Noah not to let my emotions spiral again.

I walked back to our suite, mulling this all over in my head, knowing that it would be a form of torture to resist that magnetic pull and desire to make love to him during the celebrations.

We couldn’t take any risks, none at all. We’d need to totally resist it, and I hoped Noah would be on my side, as much as he loved making love to me.

I got inside our suite, heading right away to visit Briella and make sure she was doing alright. I walked up to the nanny and gave her a smile. “Thanks again. No problems?”

“Oh, none at all,” she said softly. “She is such a little angel. So much character, too—why, she’s so tiny, and yet she loves that rattle so much.”

I giggled and walked up to her crib, peering in. Briella’s wide eyes fixed on me, and I saw her smile. That lit up my mood a little and made my heart drip with happiness.

That steeled my resolve further. Our family needed to remain intact, and I was determined to make sure everything ended up alright. We could, I decided. Both Noah and I were strong.

“Hi sweetie,” I said softly, reaching in to offer my baby my finger.

Gripped firmly in one of her hands was that rattle, but the other was free. She cooed and wrapped her tiny hand around my thumb, causing even more warmth to surge through me.

Her grip was still so strong, just like her. That was such a good sign, too. It was obvious she was growing stronger by the day.

I gave her a kiss and left her be so that she could nap, as her eyes kept partially closing as she stared at me, but not before I held her close to my chest for a long hug first, of course.

Then I took a seat at the table, the smell of dinner drifting in from the kitchen from one of the Drogomor cooks. I decided to be comfortable tonight and eat in the living room.

Grabbing my plate of food, I settled into a loveseat and grabbed a book, anticipating the discussion with Noah when he came back.

It didn’t take long for him to arrive, and he came over to give me a tender kiss before settling in. “Hi, my love,” he said gently. He studied my expression, then looked around. “Comfy?”

“Very,” I confirmed.

“How’s my little girl?” he asked warmly.

“Doing so well. The nanny said she’s an angel.”

“I am not surprised. She takes after her mother.” He gave me a wink, and I chuckled.

“I think you’re just being flirtatious to me, because you know I can be stubborn, Noah.”

“Oh, I know you can. I’ve heard the stories and seen it myself in these new times we’ve had together.”

I frowned, knowing he didn’t remember our initial meetings quite yet. It was a good lead into what I wanted to speak about, though.

“Yeah... Noah, speaking of which, I wanted to talk about the Moon Ball. I’m concerned.”

He frowned, tilting his head. “Why is that?”

“Well, we’ll need to cope with the intoxicating effect of the full moon. It’s going to be very difficult, all things considered.”

“That is very true,” he grumbled, then put two and two together. “Meaning... my memories are in danger.”

“They are,” I agreed. “Noah... what should we do? How will we get through the event without giving in to our primal desires?”