Alpha King’s Wolfless Mate by Scarlett Higgins

Chapter 33

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thing was gang keptos I was back in my old room, 1 bad all my old belongings and

*e way of

edged to me anymore. I wanted to run off and disappear. I wanted to be on

Mike

*was widow key and with

Vad Theme of toxin on my bedroom door

/ was get to shops & closed my eyes and imagined myself back in my room at Blake’s castle. I’d www.wever in in

Yow/7was want

70s backed with boxes of various sizes. She had a few dress boxes, other smaller ooking Autely Notes for wo

WANT AN testing up and letting the covers fall awak

Yara by Alle codes and jewelry you’ll need for the wedding and coronation ceremony,” she explained.

Me saavadeboxes on the dewch as the end of my bed. They were piled so high, I could barely see the top of her head

on 2 godin convegger and tied with sparkling ribbons

We now lemah, the event planner has some things you need to sign off on for the wedding,” she said.

She cured and let the M

Sighing. I paced the covers back and checked the tags on the boxes. There were some labeled “wedding” and others labeled Tuwanation “Jerr y wanted the coronation to be part of our wedding ceremony. He wasn’t wasting any time in getting us mamed and etabliching we as I wa

Ievuldn’t help but think that was because be was worried I’d change my mind or if he thought Blake would interfere. I chen’t think Blake was coming for me. For some reason, that made my stomach sour.

Ti sand I would give him a chance but now be was blowing everything way out of proportion. He was taking things to the

1 lifted the box on some of the smaller jewelry boxes and shook my head. The jewelry was exquisite. They were finely cached, custom pieces

Any other woman would have gone gooey in the knees seeing such expensive and amazing jewelry. I couldn’t help but feel like Jenentry was using them as a bribe. He’d been planning this huge wedding to make a big public statement.

He said be wanted all of Moonery to know that I wasn’t a spy and that I was his mate and future Luna. It was a nice gesture but it just felt like he was going too big.

He said he wanted to make things up to me as his mate but it seemed more like he was trying to impress me and win me over by burying me nice things and spending a lot of unnecessary money on me.

1 closed the bid on the jewelry box and went to my closet, sifting through old clothes I hadn’t worn in months, clothes that I didn’t think suited me anymore.

Knock Knock Knock

Chew

Maret des roadest on the other side of nu door

we

Cheng down checked that I was fully covered in pajamas Tec Lam

Jeevan de bevel in this face was grave as he glanced from the unopened boxes to me

The been bearing some things from the match and welding planners, he said. The went over to the boxes and tapped the sop of ha finger on one of them.

Laded where I umed back to my closet and kept going through clothes I had no intention of wearing

ve been hearing that you be less than enthusiastic about the wedding and coronation What’s going on?” Jeremy came up behind me

He brushed his knuckles down the back of my n*eck

1 shuddered pleasantly. His touch wasn’t revolting to me, and a part of me still cared for him. I just didn’t love him anymore.

Jeremy was my oldest friend and I thought of him like that, the same way Dd telt before we turned eighteen and our mate bond woke u

You can talk to me,” he said

I shrugged and stepped away from him. “Im not sure this is what I want.”

“Why? You wanted it before Helen interfered. I did too,” he said.

“I know. I’m not the same person I was then.” I admitted, shrugging again.

“Nora, don’t do this,” Jeremy pleaded. He came up behind me again and grabbed my upper arms firmly

It wasn’t the kind of grip that was meant to hurt or restrain me. It was meant to support and comfort me.

“Can you say you’re the same person that you were before Helen happened? Have you really let yourself deal with what happened?” I asked softly.

I wanted to be sympathetic. Being manipulated had to be confusing for Jeremy. I wondered if his desire to rush getting married was because he was trying to pretend it never happened.

I couldn’t pretend that.

“I can’t lose you, Nora. We grew up together. You know me better than anyone and always have,” he said.

“Jeremy, I don’t want to lose you either, but does that mean we should be rushing into this?” I asked, motioning to the boxes. “We are meant to be. I want to give you the best of everything and bring you into a better life,” he assured me, squeezing my arms gently.

I didn’t know what to say. Bowing my head, I took a shaking breath. He was so sincere.

“Helen meddled and didn’t allow me to feel my real feelings. She manipulated the mate bond. It is unforgivable but it shouldn’t prevent us from having what is ours,” he said.

Gently, I disengaged from Jeremy’s grip and walked a few paces away. Jeremy was pulling out all the stops. He was saying all the right things, but they just didn’t feel the same to me anymore.

If he’d come after me in the Rogue Zone and said any of that, I would have fallen right into his arms. But he hadn’t come after me. He hadn’t wanted me until Helen had betrayed him.

“It wasn’t just Helen,” I reminded him.

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Chapter 33

“I know,” Jeremy whispered, his voice devastatingly said.

I turned around and looked at him. He looked so apologetic and it seemed like there were a lot of things he wanted to say but couldn’t.

“All my life, I only ever had you and Gavin. The two of you were the only ones I trusted, the only ones I had a good relationship with. I already lost Gavin. I don’t want to lose you too,” he implored.

“Jeremy, you have other people in your life. You have your father, the one who replaced Gavin as your Beta,” I pointed our

“That’s not the same,” he said, his voice raw and husky. “Gavin’s already gone. If you’re gone, too, I’ll be alone. You’ll be alone too. Neither of us should be alone. The Moon Goddess wants us to be together.”

Jeremy reached into his pocket and took out the holly bracelet he’d given me.

My eyes widened and I gasped.

He draped the bracelet over his palm and I could see that he’d had the clasp repaired.

I creased my brow and poked at the bracelet. “You had it fixed?”

“Of course. I always intended to give it back to you,” he said.

Jeremy grabbed my wrist and cl*pped the bracelet on. That had been more than just a present for my eighteenth birthday. It had meant so much back then.

I held my wrist up and turned it back and forth to look at the bracelet.

Blake had been right, it wasn’t the best quality. I could see that now after being surrounded by the king’s finery.

“I was keeping it safe for you. Even when Helen had my mind mixed up, I still wanted to give the bracelet back to you. I wanted us to be friends, if possible,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe the Moon Goddess is stronger than whatever Helen did to steal your wolf.”

“I’ll do this, Jeremy, the wedding and everything, because it is what you need and what the pack needs. But we aren’t mates.”

I said.

Jeremy smirked. “You won’t feel that way forever. Trust me, you’ll warm up to me again.”

He left me in my room to think about what he said. I looked at the bracelet on my wrist again. There was no longer any emotional attachment to it.

Seeing it repaired had been a shock but I didn’t love the bracelet or see it as a symbol of my affection for Jeremy anymore.

Was I really going to go through with this?