Alpha King’s Wolfless Mate by Scarlett Higgins

Chapter 127

**Nora POV

I felt like I was watching a terrible play. Graham’s preparation for this inauguration seemed to be nothing more than dragging out the ritual and making it as dramatic as possible. If the stakes weren’t so high, it would be funny.

Blake’s uncle was standing behind the podium and speaking in a low, droning voice about Graham’s lineage. There was a lot to talk about. Their family was a very long line filled with Alphas and Lunas, many of who m were famous in the kingdom, which only made it more annoying that he was making the speech so boring.

Throughout the entire boring speech, Kelly stood stock still with a neutral expression on her face. She wasn’t grinning or posing at all. She didn’t even seem to care that so many people were looking at her. It sent a shiver down my spine.

Something was very wrong here. I knew that Blake could see it too.

I glanced around the room the best I could without making it obvious. I spotted Maisi e sitting on the bench across the aisle from us, but Christian wasn’t with her. Maybe he had seen his chance to sneak off and search for anything out of the ordinary.

“…which is why we are togethertoday,” Blake’s uncle said.“From this mo ment on, Graham Benett is the Alpha of Lanecreek.”

Graham turned to face the assembled crowd with a victorious smile on his face. A wave of half hearted applause spread through the room, but it faded quickly.

Graham took a few steps forward, until he was at the edge of the platform. He slowly looked around the room, letting his eyes lock with each alpha for a few seconds. When his eyes landed on Blake he smirked.

“I am the rightful Alpha ofLanecreek,”he started. He lifted one hand and motioned toward his uncle.“Together with my Beta…”He lifted his other hand and motioned towards Kelly.“And my Luna, I will bring Lanecreek out of the shadows and back into its rightful position in our kingdom!”

A hesitant, stilted round of applause went through the crowd. No one was quite sure if what he was saying was a good thing. Kelly walked forward to stand beside Graham and the string band began to play again.

“Thank you for coming to theceremony,”Kelly said happily. “Now, please follow the directionsof our attendants. They will escort you to the dining room where we will feast to celebrate this historic day.”

Her voice was upbeat and happy, but her eyes were empty. It was chilling. No one moved until the three of them had left the stage and

walked down the aisle toward the exit.

I turned to Blake.“What the hell was that?”

He shook his head.“I don’t know. That wasn’t like any Alpha inauguration I’ve ever seen.”

Everyone around us seemed similarly confused. People slowly stood and whispered amongst themselves uncertainly. They then started to make their way toward the door, but it seemed like no one was in a hurry to get to the food.

Maisi e walked toward us with a concerned look on her face.“That was bizarre,” she noted.“And it took far longer than it should have.”

“It does feel like they’re buyingtime for something, doesn’t it?”Blake asked quietly.“Where is Christian?”

Maisi e shook her head.“He saw an opening and snuck off to explore the town. Something about the

decorations on main street just didn’t sit right with him.”

Blake growled softly.“He’d better not get himself into any trouble.”

“We should get to this dinner,”Isaid.“Everyone else is heading to the door. It will look weird if we’re late.”

The three of us made our way toward the door the other guests were leaving through. People moved aside to allow Blake to go before them. He thanked each person we passed. When we reached the doorway, the staff stood aside.

“There are seats reserved for you tothe right of the Alpha,” one of the men said.

He was visibly nervous as he spoke. Placing Blake anywhere but the head of the table was an insult, and he knew it. Graham was positioning himself ahead of Blake. The staff member fully expected the king to lash out at him for the insult.

Blake’s eyes went stony, but he just walked past the man.

“It’s not your fault,”I said softly.“You aren’t in any trouble.”

I saw the relieved look on his face before I hurried after Blake.

We entered a long, packed dining room. Golden, jewel encrusted candle holders and decorative statues of the Moon Goddess were arranged down the center of the table. A red tablecloth scattered with rose petals covered the table.

There was only one thing that undercut the aesthetic, and that was the fact that there clearly wasn’t enough space in this room for all of the people crammed into it. The chairs were so close together that people’s shoulders were touching as they tried to move together to make everyone fit.

Blake marched straight to Graham, who was seated at the head of the table beside Kelly, and glared down at him.

Graham stood up with a self-important smir k on his face.

“Hello, cousin,”he said.

“Alpha King,”Blake corrected him.“The small amount of blood weshare doesn’t not entitle you to disrespect me.”

Graham’s smile became strained. “Is that right?”he asked.“Well, I’msorry that you feel that way. I had hoped that my suspicions about you weren’t valid, but it seems that I was right. You are a traitor.”

The entire dining room fell silent.

“Watch your mouth,” Blakegrowled. His fi st clenched at his side and it was clear that he was restraining himself.

Graham sneered.“I have proof,”he said.

Suddenly, a door at the back of the room burst open and their uncle emerged, pushing an injured Christian ahead of him.

I had to grab Maisie’s wrist to keep her from running at them. We couldn’t make any rash moves right now. No matter how much I wanted to rip Christian away from that psycho, we had to be careful.

Christian’s face was bloodied and there was discoloration around his eye that would quickly become a bruise. He was doing his best to keep the pain off of his face, but it was clear by his stooped posture that he was in a great deal of pain.

“How dare you?!”Blake roared.“Release him, now!”

“I don’t think I will,” Grahamreplied coldly.“Your little friend was caught trying to break into the packhouse. I would have assumed that he was acting without your knowledge, but he’s not the first of your spies I’ve caught snooping into my business.”

Gasps rose up from the assembled crowd. Whispers followed. I couldn’t hear what any of them

were saying over the sound of my own thundering heart.

They had caught Margot. This was a trap.

Maisi e took a step forward, but Blake held his hand out to stop her.

“There’s no talking your way out ofthis one,” Graham said loudly. “Showing up here was a mistake. Itshows exactly how arrogan t you are. Uncle was right about you, you don’t deserve to be the king! Guards!”

At his cry, a number of warriors rushed at the three of us. Blake and Maisi e fought them off for what felt like an eternity, but there were just too many of them. Christian was trying to break free, but he was clearly too injured already. The rage on Blake’s face when two of the guards grabbed me and twisted my arms behind me painfully was enough to make several of the guards hesitate.

Blake was able to break free for a

moment, but rather than running or trying to pull me free, he turned to the crowd of Alphas and Lunas.

“Protect your packs!”he cried out.“They’ll stop at nothing to usurppower for themselves. They can’t be trusted!”

Blake was grabbed and an arm wrapped around his n*eck, squeezing hard enough to cut off his air so that he couldn’t speak another word.

The four of us were dragged from the room over the shouted protests of the assembled alphas. We could hear the commotion picking up as those who had just watched their king assaulted cried out against Graham. It sounded like more fighting was starting up.

We were unable to break free. We were at the me rcy of Graham’s warriors. My entire b*dy felt cold as the reality of it started to set in. We had lost before we even had a chance to fight.