Alpha King’s Wolfless Mate by Scarlett Higgins

Chapter 103

**Margot POV

Seeing Queen Nora first step into the clearing that I was supposed to meet King Blake in shook me more than I cared to admit. I was worried that something had gone wrong, or that she was upset that I was meeting with Blake and had come to tell me off.

I knew that I had done a terrible job of hiding my attraction to the king, but I would never dream of coming between him and his Luna. Still, I would understand if she told me never to contact him again.

If that happened, I had no idea what I would be able to do to stop Graham. I was powerless to do anything on my own.

Luckily, it seemed like Queen Nora was willing to hear me out.

Although her suspicious expression and tone made me so nervous that it was difficult to speak without my

voice wavering.

“You have to understand,” she said.“We don’t know what happened toyour pack under Alpha Phill*p. What are you afraid will happen if we don’t stop Graham from taking over?”

Nora had reached out and gently gripped my hand. I looked down at the contact and gently pulled away from her.

A cold shiver ripped through me at her words. They didn’t know? How could that be true? How could our little pack have suffered so much without the alpha king knowing what was happening. We were still part of his kingdom. Had Alpha Phill*p really hidden his crimes that well?

“If Graham takes over, the kingdomis doomed.”

I saw Nora’s eyes widen at my words. The warrior beside her, I think her name was Maisie, crossed her arms over her chest.

“Explain what that means,”sheordered.

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. I had tried so hard to forget about the hell that we had been through, but there was no shying away from it now. I had to tell them everything. They had to understand.

“We were always a small pack, so itwas common for other packs to infringe on our borders and take advantage of us. The only protection we really had was from the king. That didn’t stop the people from growing frustrated with our situation. We were constantly struggling to keep enough food in the village to make sure that everyone had enough to eat. There were winters when… when not everyone made it.”

I saw Queen Nora’s expression soften at my words. Her pity only made this harder for me to talk about. I looked down at my shoes.

“We were defenseless. It seemedlike our border guards and warriors were always outnumbered or overpowered. There were a number of men in the pack that thought our leadership was to blame for our situation, so when Phill*p arrived in Lanecreek, it was easy for him to plan his takeover.”

“I thought that he was seen as aliberator in Lanecreek?”Nora asked.

I scoffed.“That’s what he wanted to be known as,”I said bitterly.“Phill*p took over and closed the borders. He told everyone that it was temporary. He promised that the borders would reopen once he could put together a competent group of warriors to protect us.”

“But the borders didn’t reopen untilhis death,” Maisi e commented.“So he was lying in order to maintain control.”

“Exactly. He brought in rogues andstrangers to fill out the ranks. Because most of the warriors he

chose were outsiders, their only loyalty was to Phill*p. He ruled with an iron fist. Every resource in the village was optimized. It seemed like he really was going to improve our lives, even if it was done in a cruel and controlling way.”

“So what changed?”Maisi e asked.She still sounded skeptical, but I welcomed that over the pity I could see on Nora’s face.

“Everything he did was for his ownbenefit. He knew what crops to plant for our soil and put our farmers to work growing enough food to sustain his forces. He planted the fruit groves, too. It seemed like our little pack was becoming prosperous. But we were still starving. There were less deaths, but everyone was weak and desperate.”

“Which made them easy tocontrol,”Nora put together angrily. “That bastard!”

“He so ught out fights with packs

beyond our borders, but was careful never to engage with the kingdom. It was clear he feared the Alpha King. If anyone dared defy him, we might have come to the castle seeking help. But those that spoke against him vanished. Everyone was too afraid.”

“How long was he Alpha for?”Maisi e asked.

“He arrived before I was born, andwas Alpha until he died not long ago.”

“Okay,” Nora said slowly.“ButGraham says that he doesn’t want to be like his father. He’s doing things differently, isn’t he?”

“I thought so, until he named hisuncle as his Beta. Then things started to get…” I trailed off. I wasn’t sure how to explain the way things had changed. It was so subtle at first.

“That figures,”Nora nodded angrily.“He probably put this idea abouttaking the throne into Graham’s

head in the first place.”

“I don’t know,”I said.“All I know isthat Graham was soft spoken and presented these beautiful visions of the future to us. We all believed in him because we were so desperate for it to be true. He started a career program and within a few months, everyone in the pack had been assigned a job that aligned with their talents. He also set up a system with vouchers for each family that guaranteed them a certain amount of food every week. People started to get stronger and we were all content to follow Graham.”

“So, what changed?”Nora asked.

“Rumors started to spread abouthow Alpha Phill*p really died.”I wrapped my arms around my middle and sighed.“People were saying that Graham killed him. Then those people started to disappear. Fear took the place of hope, and we all tried to act like nothing had changed. No one

wanted to draw his attention.”

“But you were unlucky,”Noranoted.“Kelly wanted you to be her friend, so you ended up stuck tagging along with them and stroking their egos.”She scoffed. “But they’re arrogant, so theystopped watching their words around you.”

I nodded. Unlucky was the right term for it. Not a day went by that I wished they had chosen anyone else to help Kelly settle into the packhouse. Being trapped in the middle of this situation was miserable.

“I get it,” Nora said softly.“Iunderstand why you’re doing this. And I’m sure you understand why this is a difficult position for us to be in.”

I nodded.“There’s no way for you to know that I’m not luring you into a trap or feeding you false information to distract you from what’s really happening.”

It only made sense for them to suspect me. I was an inside member of Graham’s packhouse. If I were in her position, I wouldn’t trust me either.

“I’m choosing to trust you,” Norastated seriously.“Just don’t make me regret this decision.”

“I’m still not convinced,”Maisiesighed solemnly.“But I’ll do as the king and queen decide. Just keep in mind that I will be watching you.”

A shiver went through me at the obvious threat in her words.“I won’t let you down,”I said as confidently as I could.

Nora nodded once.“So, you think they plan to make their move at the inauguration ball?”

“Yes, but I can’t be certain.”

“We’ll let Blake know and startworking out a plan to stop them.”

“Thank you,”I replied in relief.“I’llkeep listening and try to get more

details if possible.”

“Fine, just be careful that you don’tget yourself caught,” Nora said with a frown.

She said it dismissively, but I could tell that she was genuinely worried. “I’ll do everything I can,”Ipromised.

“That’s all I ask,” Nora answered.“Keep your eye on the mail, we’ll bein touch. We’re going to need to meet again in a few days. Time isn’t on our side.”

“Yes,”I agreed.

The plans for the ball were nearly complete and Graham’s birthday wasn’t far off at all. If we were going to stop them from hurting more people, we would have to do it soon. I just hoped that it wasn’t already too late.