Alpha King’s Wolfless Mate by Scarlett Higgins

Chapter 130

**Blake POV

The smoke from the burning garden covered all other scents and was the only reason I was able to keep my wits about me. If the scent of spilled blood reached me, it would push me into an uncontrollable rage.

I was already shaking from the sight of my warriors locked in combat for their lives. None of this had to happen. Every drop of blood spilled here was a result of Graham’s greed and lust for power. I would make him pay.

“Graham!”I screamed.

He looked toward me and the grin on his face widened. My nostrils flared as I inhaled sharply, struggling to control my rage.

He sauntered down the steps toward me. He was completely unphased by the violence around

us. He didn’t care that his own people were suffering alongside mine. It was clear that the thrill of knowing that this violence was being carried out for him, because he ordered it to be done, was all he needed.

I had seen this type of sadistic joy only once before, when our uncle had carried out his coup. It made me sick to know that I shared genetics with these monsters.

“Stop this now!”I ordered him.

He scoffe d and turned his nose up at me. I suppressed a growl and stepped to ward him.

“Look around you,”I said.“You’vebeen an Alpha for a couple of hours and look at what you’ve accomplished. Nothing but violence and bloodshed. The people of Lanecreek put their trust in you! They put their faith and hopes into you and believed that you would make their lives better, and this is what you’ve done to

them! Nothing will come of this but death and pain!”

Graham threw his head back and laughed. There was an edge of madness to the sound that turned my blood to ice.

“Why the hell should I stop?”hedemanded.“You’ve already lost. You were a fool to come back here. If you valued your life at all, you would have run away with your tail between your legs.”

I growled.

There was no point in wasting my breath trying to reason with him. It was clear that he wasn’t fazed by the carnage around us. His troops were nothing to him. He didn’t care if they survived this or not.

I had to stop him.

A heartless monster like him couldn’t gain control of the kingdom. The damage that he could do was staggering to consider. Who could say that our

kingdom would be enough to satisfy his ego? How long would it be before he started invading the surrounding kingdoms?

I had to stop him, even if it cost me my own life.

The smile fell away from Graham’s face as a deafening alarm blared to life. This close to the main speaker, the sound was painful.

I smiled. So that’s where Nora had gone. I had hoped that she was running to take cover in the panic room, but I knew that she would never turn her back on our pack when people were suffering.

It didn’t seem like the invaders had gotten very far into the city. Nora had activated the emergency alarm, so the entire pack now knew that they had to get to safety. In a matter of minutes, the streets of the entire city would be empty of bystanders, which meant that we could fight back without fear of innocent people getting dragged

into the fray.

“It doesn’t matter,” Graham started.“You’re just delaying the inevitable.”He stepped to the bottom of the stairs and spread his arms out to encompass all of the fighting around us.“You can’t stop me!”

“We’ll see about that,”I snarled.

There was no way in hell that I was going to allow someone like Graham to grab any more power than he had already been able to scrape together. He never should have been allowed this far.

I had a feeling that Alpha Phill*p knew that. Maybe that’s why Graham had to murder his own father to come to power.

“It stops here,” I said.“I’m going tomake sure that you never hurt anyone again!”

Graham laughed that mad, unhinged laugh of his again. He really thought that I wasn’t capable of fighting him. He was wrong.

Whatever impression he had gotten about me from our uncle was far from accurate.

“What exactly did your Beta say toconvince you that this was a good idea?”I asked.“Surely, you didn’t think of this plan all by yourself.”I smirked at him. The smile vanished from his face in an instant and he fixed me with a glare.“You may have grown up on the battlefield, but you don’t have the brains for something on this scale.”

“What the hell would you knowabout it?” Graham demanded. He stalked toward me and jammed his finger into my chest.“You’ve had everything handed to you since the day you were born. You haven’t had to work for a thing. What the hell would you know about the work that goes into accomplishing something on this scale?”

I scoffed.“Ah,”I said knowingly. “So, he gave you that line of shit.”

Graham’s hand fell to his side and

he looked at me expectantly. He was curious, hopefully enough that I could distract him a little longer. With him occupied and not giving orders, the troops weren’t going to stray from the castle. The people had more time to take shelter.

“Uncle lived here at the castle whileI was growing up,”I started.“I’ve known him my entire life. Did he tell you that?”

I could tell by the look on his face that he hadn’t. He looked surprised, but he was trying to hide it.

“In fact, I used to look up to him.The way he told it, he was always the least favored son. My father was the oldest and was raised to become king, your father was the baby and was favored by their mother. She came from a warrior pack and trained him from a young age. He was always a talented fighter. But uncle… Well, he was left to the care of the servants. Neither of our grandparents had any time to spare for him.”

“That’s about what he told me,”Graham said.“What’s your point?”

“Did he also tell you that he feltconnected to you because he saw the way that your father neglected you? Did he tell you that it’s the outcasts in our family that have the real power? Did he tell you that, with his guidance, you would reach heights of greatness that our father’s could only dream of?”

His eyes went wide and he stared at me.“How could you know that?”

“He told me the same, after myfather died. When he convinced me to appoint him as my acting Beta, after my true Beta died suddenly.”

Graham inhaled sharply. He shook his head and took a step backwards. “You’re lying,” he replied softly.“Your spies told you that.Somehow, someone overheard and…”

I shook my head.“He played you, Graham.”I motioned around us at

the blood soaked dirt.“This isn’t his plan. This is a way to keep us both distracted while he carries out his true schemes. Don’t play into his hands. Stop this while you still can.”

Graham laughed, but this time it was different. The confidence was gone. He was trying to sound unaffected, but it was clear he wasn’t sure anymore.

“I’ll stop nothing, cousin,”he spat.“You aren’t worthy of your crown,and I’m going to make sure that you lose it.”

He turned his back on me and walked back toward the stairs.

If I were a less honorable man, I would attack him now. It was an insult to turn his back to me like this, but it was far from the first insult he had given me. I wasn’t fazed by it.

“Have it your way,” I answered.“Itwill be war then.”

A war from which neither of us

would emerge unscathed. One of us was going to lose it all. The other, would be haunted by this day for the rest of our lives. I knew that in my bones.

Graham joined Kelly at the top of the stairs and turned to face me.

He held up his hands and screamed,“Kill them all!”