Alpha King’s Wolfless Mate by Scarlett Higgins

Chapter 120

**Nora POV

As time passed, I became more worried about Margot, but there was nothing I could do. We only had a few days left before the ball. If we didn’t see her there, we would know that she was caught. If that was the case…

It was too hard to think about what might be happening to her right now. I knew all too well the torture that a suspected spy endured.

When I was accused of being a spy and causing the death of Jeremy’s Beta, the things they did to me were unthinkable. The Alpha of Moonery was nowhere near as ruthless as Graham or his uncle.

If Margot was caught, she was in big trouble. If she was still alive, she probably wished that she wasn’t.

Thinking about it made me want to cry. I didn’t know Margot very well,

and I had never been particularly fond of her—my jealousy over the way she looked at Blake had kept me from really giving her a chance.

I think that we might have become friends, under different circumstances. After all, she was a decent enough person to risk her own life when she saw the opportunity to help her pack.

What she had told us was going to save lives. Even if the information wasn’t much, it was enough to confirm for us that there was danger coming and we were able to prepare our defenses. Without her warning, we wouldn’t have been ready. We would have been sitting ducks.

My coffee had gone cold in my hands.

I was trying my best to act like everything was normal this morning, but after Margot failed to show up for our meeting, it was impossible.

It was a cool, clear morning and the garden was peaceful. None of it helped to calm my mind.

“Your Majesty,”a soft voice called.

I looked up to find a young staff member standing on the path. He had an envelope in his hand.

“Yes?”I asked.

“A letter for you,”he said.“It has aseal from Moonery.”

“Thank you.”

I stood and took the envelope from him. I could tell by the neat, looping handwriting on the front that it was from Cressa.

He nodded, then turned and headed back toward the castle. I returned to my seat in the shade and broke the seal on the envelope.

I had continued my correspondence with Cressa. It was good to have someone to talk to about the pressures of being the Luna. She was the only role model I

had. I had always respected Cressa.

She was patient and caring and always put the good of the pack before herself. I had often seen her stay up late into the night fretting over the packs pups. If there was anyone that I could go to for advice on how to become a better Luna, I believed that it was her.

I didn’t want to fail at this. I couldn’t.

The last time I had written to Cressa, I had expressed my fears that I still wasn’t doing enough for the pack.

My work in the general store had helped me to get to know the pack and the pack seemed to have accepted me now. I was also working with many of the community organizations to improve life for our struggling members.

But I still felt like I was failing to live up to my responsibilities. So,I had reached out for advice.

I was glad that she had written back. I needed something, anything, to distract my mind today. Even if it only gave me a few minutes reprieve.

I sat back and read the letter. It wasn’t what I had anticipated her advice would be.

I thought that Cressa would tell me to spend more time with the pups or to focus on a different area of need. But instead, she wrote:

‘Nora, your heart has always beenin the right place. I know that you worry that the kingdom won’t accept you as the Queen Luna because of your unknown lineage, but I believe that these fears are only in your mind.’

I smiled at the paper. She was probably right. No one else had even raised the question of my family. That mystery did seem to bother me more than anyone else, but I couldn’t help but think that was only because so few people

knew that I was an orphan.

If the word got around, it could be a problem. There would be people that question my loyalty—it had happened in Moonery and it could happen here. Her letter continued:

‘I believe that the problems you arefacing have a deceptively simple solution. I know that you were never a particularly religious girl, but I hope that your feelings have changed a little as you’ve grown. The best advice I can offer you is this: pray to the god dess for guidance. Only she can tell you if the path you are on is the one that you are meant to walk.

I felt myself go pale. That was the last thing on earth I wanted to do. I had been avoiding the god dess for so long now, and avoiding the ritual that might restore my wolf. I was too scared that the path I was on now was not the one she intended for me.

I didn’t want to give up this life. I

didn’t want to lose Blake.

But Cressa was right.

The only way I could know if I was doing the right thing was to trust in the guidance of the goddess. If I wasn’t meant to be the Luna Queen, then I needed to know.

Given the gravity of the situation we were in, we needed every advantage that we could get. I should go to a priestess and seek her help. There was no good reason for me not to do it. The fate of the pack could be at stake, and if the dreams I was experiencing were any indication, the goddess was trying to tell me something.

I couldn’t hope to understand the dreams on my own. I needed help from someone with the experience and training to tell me what they meant.

Hiding my head in the sand wasn’t doing me any good. I had been trying that all along and all it had done was prolong the inevitable.

But I was still afraid.

If there was some dark truth about who I really was, I was afraid to learn it.

Would it change the way the pack looked at me? Would it change the way I viewed myself? Would it change the way Blake felt about me?

There was no way to know, and the not knowing was horrible.

I brought my attention back to the letter.

‘I know that you’re afraid that youhave somehow gained something you don’t deserve, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. You have suffered to get where you are. You have been through more than most people can even imagine, and you have remained a caring and considerate woman. That alone proves your worth. I hope that in time, you’ll begin to accept that.’

I lowered the letter and looked into the clear sky. I trusted Cressa’s

judgment. If she honestly believed in me, then it was silly for me to keep questioning myself. But it was so hard to believe her words.

Had I always been this way? Had I always had such a low opinion of myself?

No.

So when did this start? It was after my 18th birthday, when I lost Clara. My heart twisted painfully at the thought. Was this all because I had lost my wolf? There was no doubt that losing Clara had shaken my confidence, but was it really this bad?

I had convinced myself that I was okay without her, even though I missed her terribly, but maybe that wasn’t true.

Maybe I was fooling myself all of this time.

I wasn’t okay without Clara and I never had been. I was being stupid. With the danger that was facing my

pack, we couldn’t afford to take any chances. We had to be as strong as possible so that we could meet the threat from Lanecreek head on.

I wouldn’t allow myself to be a weak link. There was only one thing that I could do.

I had to get my wolf back.