Alpha King’s Wolfless Mate by Scarlett Higgins

Chapter 101

**Blake POV

I was late for a meeting with Maisie. I was, instead, called into a meeting with the spymaster unexpectedly. He had information for me that he insisted couldn’t wait and requested to meet with me in the council chambers.

When I arrived, the spymaster—a tall, slim man with black eyes and tawny skin—was standing stiffly near the door.

“Your Majesty,”he said with a bow.

“It’s good to see you well,”Ianswered.“Now, what is it you need to tell me?”

“I have succeeded in makingcontact with Margo t Belleny. I sent a representative from the college to Lanecreek to discuss opening admissions to students. Their Alpha had been excited by the idea and allowed the college recruiter to

hold an opening meeting in the town square.”

“That’s clever,”I commented.“Iassume Margot attended.”

“As expected,”he confirmed.“Therecruiter gave packets of admissions paperwork to several interested people, including Margot. Her packet contained a few extra sheets, buried in the middle of the other forms. These sheets gave her instructions on how to address letters to the college so that they would be redirected to the castle.”

“That will allow us to write to eachother without raising any red flags,”I thought aloud.

“Exactly,” he confirmed. He pulled aletter from his jacket pocket and held it out to me.“She wasted no time in writing.”

I opened the envelope and read the short letter quickly.

She seemed to believe that

preparation in Lanecreek had sped up and was worried that Graham may be planning to make a move sooner than we thought. I cursed under my breath. I had worried that this would happen. If he was increasing the speed of his preparations, was it because he was suspicious that we had an insider informant?

“Arrange a meeting with hertonight,”I ordered.

“Yes, Your Majesty,”he said.“I’ll bein touch with the details.”

“Good,”I replied.“I’m late foranother meeting. I’ll be in the castle until I hear from you.”

He bowed his head again, then waited for me to leave the room before following after.

I tried not to dwell on the dire implications of Margot’s letter. We were running out of time and we’d barely started to prepare. It was time to get serious about this.

I had to talk to Maisie. I needed an update on the new training regiment and we needed to discuss how we could improve border security.

I walked directly to my office with my mind racing. When I entered my office, Nora hurried toward me. I had forgotten that she asked to sit in on this meeting.

“Is everything alright?”she askedanxiously. She looked so concerned. I had no idea how long she’d been waiting for me.

I pulled her into my arms and k*ssed the top of her head. “Everything is fine,”I assured her.“There’s no reason to get workedup just yet.”

She leaned against me and sighed. “You were supposed to be hereforty minutes ago. It’s not like you to be late,”she muttered.

“I should have sent word that I wasdelayed, but I didn’t think my meeting would go so long,”I

admitted.“I’ll notify you next time so you don’t worry.”

“You’d better,”she huffed. Shepulled out of my embrace and looked up at me.“What kept you, anyway?”

“The spymaster had a letter fromMargot,”I explained.“I’ll be meeting with her later tonight. She believes that she has information we need to discuss.”

“Did she give an idea of the natureof the information?” Maisi e asked.

Her tone was all business. I knew that she was suspicious of this entire arrangement. She thought it was off that Margot had suddenly reached out with the information that we hadn’t been able to find through any of our other resources.

She told me that she thought Margot’s visit for the Lunar Festival was meant to get us comfortable around her and make her seem like an innocent bystander. I didn’t blame her. I was putting a lot of

faith into a stranger without much information to back it up. I just had the feeling that Margot was telling the truth.

“Do you have to go?”Nora asked.

I could tell that she was biting the inside of her cheek, which she only did when she was restraining herself from saying something.

“I can’t ignore the warning-”

“No,”she cut in.“I know that, but Imean, does it have to be you?”

“Who else would it be?”I asked inconfusion.

The only people that knew the extent of what was happening were in this room. I couldn’t delegate this meeting to anyone else.

“Me,”she said simply.

“You?”I asked in shock.“Why?”

The idea of sending Nora into potentially dangerous enemy territory made me feel sick. I

wanted to reject the idea outright, but the look on her face told me she was ready to fight about this.

“I want to help,”she said, holdingup one finger. She held up a second and continued.“It’s less risky for me than if you were caught with her, and I would like to spend more time with Margot.”

She held up a third finger, then dropped her hand to her side and shrugged.

“I thought you weren’t a fan ofMargot,”I pointed out.

A guilty look stole over Nora’s face and she sighed.“I misjudged her… I thought that she was only interested in you romantically. I didn’t realize that she was risking herself to help us. Even though she doesn’t know about my suspicions, I still feel like I need to make it up to her in some way.”

“I don’t know,”I replied.

It seemed like an unnecessary risk.

But Nora did have a point. It would be less suspicious if she was caught with Margot. As the Luna, she has a role to play in the education of the pack. That extends to the college. If they were caught together, Nora could easily claim that she had come to discuss Margot’s application to the medical program.

“Blake, I want to do this. I reallythink it’s the smarter option,”she said calmly.

“It’s dangerous,”I argued.“I don’twant you to be out there alone.”

“I’ll go with her,” Maisi e offeredsuddenly.

I frowned. That was a reasonable compromise. I knew that I could trust Maisi e to protect her and anyone who caught them wouldn’t think anything of the Luna Queen traveling with a trusted warrior by her side. It would be weirder if she didn’t have someone with her acting as a guard.

Nora grinned.

“What’s that look about?”I asked.

“You’re going to say yes,” she said.

I raised my eyebrows at her.“Is that right?”

“I can tell by the look on your face,”she teased.

I let out an exaggerated sigh.“Fine,”I said.“You’re right. It makes more sense for you to go. But only on two conditions.”

Nora’s smile faltered.“What are the conditions?”she asked suspiciously.

“May doesn’t leave your side,”I saidfirmly. I turned my eyes to Maisie.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she assuredme.

“We’ll stick together,”Nora agreed.“I’m not going to take any risks. Iknow how serious this is.”

I crossed my arms and looked from Nora to Maisie. I hated this, but they were on to something. I trusted them, and I needed to be

willing to let go of control even if I didn’t like it.

“I’ll let you know when I have theinformation about the meet up,”I continued with a sigh. I saw the victorious look that Nora aimed at Maisi e and I shook my head.

I was glad that the two were becoming close, but I hadn’t expected them to start ganging up on me so quickly. I walked to my desk and sat down.

“Stop gloating,”I said.“We still havea lot of work to do.”

“Of course,” Nora nodded. She andMaisi e took their seats.

As anxious as Nora’s direct involvement in this made me, the pride I felt toward her as my Luna was only growing stronger. Her desire to protec and her willingness to work tirelessly for the best of the pack never ceased to amaze me.

I didn’t know what I would do if this went wrong and she got hurt.

“Just stay safe,”I added softly.