Chapter 149

Aisha POV The courtyard was still buzzing from the evening’s celebrations, but my mind was elsewhere. I moved through the crowd like a thread slipping between fabric, smiling when someone met my eyes, nodding when they offered congratulations, but my thoughts were fixed on one thing, Noelle. Simon hadn’t told me much before he left, just that Charlie needed him. But I had caught enough from the tension in his voice, the spark in his wolf, to know that tonight was important. Important enough to pull him from our bed when I could still feel the heat of him on my skin. Important enough that my own curiosity wouldn’t leave me alone. I spotted Noelle’s familiar figure near the far edge of the courtyard, her white coat still hanging from one arm as though she had just stepped out of the hospital. Even in the warm glow of the lanterns, there was something pale about her, a weariness that clung to her like a second skin. She was laughing politely at something one of the healers said, but her e