Alpha King’s Wolfless Mate by Scarlett Higgins

Chapter 122

**Nora POV

I could feel Blake beside me before I had even fully regained consciousness. I was in a haze, unsure of what happened or where I was, but I did recognize that the hand clasping my own was his.

I felt like I was swimming against a current as I struggled to wake up.

I opened my eyes to find Blake leaning over me with a worried look on his face. It was hard to keep my eyes open. I had to blink several times before I could focus on what I was seeing.

“How did I get home?” I askedsoftly.

I was in the rogue zone, performing the second chance ritual. Now, I was in our bed with Blake.

“The warrior I sent along carriedyou home after you passed out,” he explained.“Do you remember what

happened?”

“I don’t think it worked,”I saidsadly.

Clara wasn’t back. I would definitely be able to feel her if she was. Something felt different, though. The emptiness that I had felt ever since she was taken from me wasn’t there anymore. It didn’t feel like it was filled, it just vanished. It made no sense to me.

“No,”Blake replied with a sigh.“Idon’t think that it did.” He placed the back of his hand on my forehead and frowned.“How do you feel? You were feverish and talking in your sleep when you arrived.”

“Did I say anything embarrassing?”I asked.

Blake smirked at me.“Maybe, but only I heard, so don’t worry.”He moved his hand.“You had me worried.”

“I’m sorry.”

I sat up carefully. I felt fine now, so whatever was going on must have passed.

“Don’t apologize,”he ordered.“I’monly glad that you’re okay. What happened with the ritual?”

“I thought that I did it all correctly,”I noted.“I even got the advice of the head priestess.”

I shook my head. Maybe my focus hadn’t been strong enough or…

“What?”Blake asked.

“Maybe it’s just too late,”Iwhispered.“Maybe Clara is gone…”

Blake pulled me into his arms and I sank into the embrace. I couldn’t hold the tears back. I had waited too long to act out of fear, and now, my wolf was possibly gone forever.

***

The rest of the day was strange, to say the least. I felt like I was walking in a cloud, or maybe a dream was more like it. Without that gnawing

empty feeling inside of me, I felt so much lighter. It was like I was carrying a weight on my shoulders all of this time and I didn’t realize it.

I couldn’t understand what had happened to me or what the red wolf had tried to tell me. I should be an anxious mess about that, but I felt fine.

That’s not to say that I wasn’t worried about our situation. Things were far from ideal. I just felt like I could think clearly.

Now that I was able to think, I could see that my anxiety and self doubt ever since I lost my wolf were not natural.

The strength of the magic that Helen had used against me was beyond what anyone realized. It seemed that it was behind me now, though. What the god dess did was a mystery to me, but I was grateful that I felt better.

We still hadn’t heard anything from

Margot, and there was no more useful intelligence from our spies about Lanecreek. There was no way of knowing what we were going to be walking into when we went to the ball. In the end, the ritual had been a failure and wouldn’t help us to face this threat.

I still didn’t have my wolf. I was going to be all but useless in a fight.

But at least I could do my duties as the Luna.

Blake hadn’t wanted me to leave today, but I had insisted. There was too much to do for me to take the day off. I had gone to the high school first and arranged with the principal to plan an assembly for Thursday.

At the assembly, the students would be reminded of emergency procedures and provided with maps of the city that indicated where emergency shelters were located. They would also be provided with an emergency kit

that contained water, food, flash lights, batteries, blankets, and first aid supplies. These kits would help them to stay safe if they were forced to take cover in their homes.

Students would also be given forms to fill out with their guardians that went over their household procedure to follow in case the emergency call did ring out. I hoped that this would avoid a lot of chaos if things went wrong.

I had the same conversation with the principals of the middle school and the elementary school, as well as the nursery school. I prayed that none of it would be necessary, but I wasn’t willing to risk the safety of the pack’s pups.

After that, I went to each of our community shelters to check in with the location managers. This included the high school, the temple, the inn, and the gym. Any building with a large capacity and a working kitchen could be used, but those that included multiple

restroom facilities were ideal.

I went over procedures with each of them and took an inventory of their emergency supplies. With those lists and the number of students in each school in hand, I headed to Dave’s.

Christian was training with Maisie today, so I knew that Dave would be the only one there. I hoped that I would catch him between customers. It was about lpm and the store was normally calming down after the lunch rush by now.

When I walked in, I found Dave at the counter finishing up a transaction with a dark haired young man. He smiled brightly at me and motioned for me to wait.

I walked around the store, checking for any other customers. Luckily, there were none. Once this man left, I could talk to Dave without fear of anyone overhearing.

By the time I walked back to the counter, the young man was

heading out the door.

“What’s wrong?”Dave asked.“You’ve got a very serious look onyour face.”

“I have a big order for you and Ineed it as soon as possible.”I leaned against the counter and looked him in the eye.“And I need to ask you to please not ask me why.”

His eyes went wide at that. He glanced down at the papers in my hand, then nodded.“Of course, Luna.”

“Can I see your pen and an orderform?”

I sat the papers on the counter and started to arrange them. I would need a few minutes to get this all straight. I had the order forms for the shelters ready to go, but I needed to tally up the goods needed for the emergency kits to make sure there would be enough for all of the students and staff at the schools.

Dave opened a drawer beneath the till and pulled out a stack of order forms. He sat them in front of me and placed his pen on top of them.

“Are you alright?” he asked gently.“I won’t ask what’s going on, butyou look pale. Have you eaten today?”

I looked up at him and shook my head. I had eaten before going to attempt the ritual, but that was last night. I was so worried about getting this done that I hadn’t thought to stop and eat. In fact, I hadn’t had anything to drink either.

Dave walked to the front door and turned the thumb lock, then fl*pped the sign to closed.

“Take your time on those forms, I’llget you some coffee and heat up some food.”He walked back toward the break room, then paused. He looked over his shoulder at me. “You’re a great Luna, but you’re nogood to the pack if you work yourself into an early grave. You

need to take care of yourself, too.”

I looked down at the papers in front of me as he vanished through the doorway.

He was right. The pack needed me. I had to do a better job of taking care of myself so that I could give them my best. I had pushed myself too much physically today, but I had let my mental state deteriorate in the past months too.

I could have delegated some of these meetings today, but I was afraid of something being missed. We were in a dire situation and so few people knew.

I wanted to take care of my pack. And if asking for help was how I’d do it, then I’d make sure to take up the offer when it was presented.

Otherwise, it could be our downfall.