Alpha King’s Wolfless Mate by Scarlett Higgins

Chapter 105

**Nora POV

Blake was busy in meetings with Alphas from around the kingdom today. He was going to be occupied at least until dinner, and probably long after. There wasn’t really any way I could help in any of that, and Dave was feeling under the weather, so I was running the store until Christian was done with training.

Going back to our daily routines in light of everything that was going on seemed wrong, but it was the only thing we could do. Blake and Maisi e were hard at work on a plan to protect the pack from Graham’s warriors.

There was nothing more I could do at the moment other than wait. Besides, we didn’t want to cause a panic in the pack. After the chaos of the last several years, Blake was worried that any sudden change in our behavior could trigger rumors

that might frighten people.

I sighed and pushed my empty lunch container to the edge of the counter. It was a slow day at the store, which was pretty rare. Slow stretches happened every day, but I had been here since the store opened this morning, and I’d only had 4 customers so far.

It was a perfect storm, honestly. The slow, boring day and all of the fears rolling around in my head were making it impossible to keep my negative thoughts from taking over.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more I could be doing to protect my pack from the threat that was prowling at our borders. Being without my wolf severely limited how useful I could be in a fight.

I sighed. It felt like there was a piece of me missing. I didn’t think it was just Clara, either. I had no way of knowing what else it could

be, so I was helpless to change it.

It was probably just my anxiety about everything making me feel this way. I tried my best to push the thoughts aside, but they were persistent.

Christian was supposed to be back from training soon. I felt bad about him working so hard at his training, then coming to the shop and working several more hours. He really was pushing himself beyond his limits.

At least he was on break from school, and he was doing well in training. Blake and Maisi e always praised his performance in training. Christian had even been assigned to Maisie’s training group, which spoke volumes about his strategic thinking. He had a lot of promise in so many fields, I only hoped that he didn’t burn himself out. Or worse…

The bell above the door chimed and I called out a distracted

greeting. At least a customer would offer me something else to focus on for a few minutes.

Maisi e came around the corner with a wide smile on her face. She came directly to the counter, looking around the store as she walked. The place was empty, but pristinely clean. I had nothing else to do today besides straighten the shelves and clean.

“Slow day?” she asked in an amusedtone. She leaned against the counter and put one hand on her hip.

“The slowest yet,”I grumbled.“What are you smiling about?”

She shrugged.“We had a good day of training. If I had realized I was going to enjoy working with the recruits so much, I would have asked Blake to let me take over a long time ago. I’m feeling a lot of pr ide in them. They’re progressing faster than I had imagined.”

I smiled at her words. That was the

best news I’d heard in a long time. If the recruits really were stepping up, then we might just have a chance against Lanecreek.

“That doesn’t surprise me, sinceyou have Christian in your group,”I stated.

“He’s a great kid,”she agreed.

I cringed at her. Christian was 18, hardly a kid.“He’s not that much younger than me,”I pointed out.

Maisi e looked thoughtful for a moment.“He’s just got that little brother energy about him, you know?”

Now, I laughed out loud.“He really does!”

That was the perfect way to describe how I felt about him. He was helpful, respectful, and generous but that didn’t stop him from giving me a hard time. I knew it was all out of love, though.

Christian obviously cared a lot

about his pack, too. He looked up to Blake. When Blake was around, I would catch the look of admiration on Christian’s face when he thought nob*dy was paying attention.

“So, what have you been doing topass the time?”Maisi e asked. “Besides cleaning, because thisplace looks great.”

I sighed and shook my head.“Just overthinking.”

“That’s almost never helpful.What’s been weighing on you?”

There was real concern in Maisie’s voice. I instinctively wanted to try to brush it off and to tell her not to worry about it, but I hesitated. If there was anyone that I could trust with this it was her. Maisi e had shown herself to be a surprisingly considerate person and I believed that she truly cared about me.

“Honestly,”I said softly.“I can’t stopthinking about my past. I know that we’ve talked about this before and

you told me it doesn’t matter, but…”

“But you’re worried that there’ssomething missing?” she replied.

I nodded.“I don’t know anything about myself. It feels so… I don’t know, lonely? I feel like I don’t really know who I am. How am I supposed to be a leader if I don’t understand myself?.”

“Have you talked to Blake aboutthis?”she asked.

The bell chimed and Christian came into the store. He walked directly toward the office, but stopped short when he saw the serious look on our faces and instead, headed toward the counter.

“Is everything alright?”he asked.

“Yes,” I answered with a sigh.

“So, did you ask Blake?”Maisierepeated.

“I did. He said that I could use thelibrary and his records to try to figure out who my family was, but I

haven’t really looked yet.”

“Why not?”Christian asked,knowing excatly what we were discussing. I’d mentioned my interest in my past to him once or twice before.

I shrugged.“I don’t know where to start. And, if I’m being honest, I’m just not that studious. I doubt that I would figure anything out.”

“Well, lucky you, I’m very studious,”Christian chimed in.“I can help you. If it’s okay with King Blake, I mean.”

“That’s a great idea,”Maisi e smiled.“It would take a lifetime for oneperson to dig through those records, but with a little help, I’m sure that you could find some answers.”

I bit my lower l*p. I wasn’t sure I was ready, but it was incredibly kind of them to offer. It warmed my heart to know that I had friends that were willing to sacrifice their valuable time to help me, even

when they had so many other responsibilities to consider.

I felt tears welling up in my eyes. “Thank you,”I said shakily.“Itreally means a lot to me.”

“Hey, don’t get all sappy,” Maisieresponded with a flitter of her hand.“It makes me uncomfortable.”

Christian laughed.“So, is that why you dismissed us early when Jacob started crying during training after nailing that maneuver for the first time?”

“Yes,”she deadpanned.“I don’tblame the guy for being proud, it’s a hard maneuver, but the tears…”She gave an exaggerated shudder.“I just don’t know what to say to people when they’re crying.”

“No one is perfect,”I answered witha smirk. Maisi e was good at just about everything. Not being good in emotional situations was a comparatively minor shortcoming.

“So, what do you know about your

family?” Maisi e asked.“Any little bit of information could be useful.”

“I don’t know much,” I said.“I wasfound in the forest neutral zone outside of Moonery. I was in an old hunting cabin and I was by myself. There wasn’t anything identifying about my clothes of any sign of where I had come from.”

I sighed again. It really seemed so hopeless when I thought about how little we had to go on.

“So, we’ll start with your location,”Maisi e stated.“It only makes sense for you to be from one of the packs surrounding that forest.”

“It’s a good starting point,”Christian noted.“So, what are waiting for? Let’s go.”

“What about the shop?”I asked.

“We’ll just close for the day,”heshrugged.“It’s dead in here anyway.”

I smiled and nodded excitedly. The

idea of finding some answers about my past filled me with a mix of anxiety and excitement. I couldn’t wait to get started. Even if there was a chance that what I found out could be a painful truth.