Alpha King’s Wolfless Mate by Scarlett Higgins

Chapter 46 : On My Own

**Nora POV

After returning to the castle with Blake, I’d managed to set myself up with some secret funds. It had been unintentional at first, but now that I was on my own, it came in handy.

I got myself a small one-bedroom cottage in a town where no one asked questions. I got myself a job in the local library, shelving books. It didn’t pay much but it was enough to pay my bills and afford groceries, and that was all I needed.

Especially since I was trying to stay under the radar.

Every night when I lay down in my bed, I instinctively reached for the space beside me. Part of me always thought I’d feel Blake there, but I never did.

Most nights, I could barely sleep. I’d toss and turn with thoughts of Blake running through my head. My dreams should have comforted me, but instead, they just reminded me of the way Blake used to hold me when we slept, and how the weight of his b*dy felt next to mine.

In the morning, I rolled over on the bed, half expecting to bury my face in his chest and be taken into his arms.

Every time I was met with emptiness, tears sprang to my eyes.

Sniffling, I wiped my tears away and got up. I sl*pped on my sl*ppers and a robe over my pajamas.

Mornings were cold here. I lived near the ocean and most mornings a thick fog hung around my house and the town I lived in.

I liked it because it meant I was even less noticeable when everyone else’s visibility was reduced.

My automatic coffee pot bubbled and gurgled, timed to start shortly after I got up. For the first time in my life, I was completely on my own, and it wasn’t easy. I was still figuring it all out.

While I sat at my kitchen table, sipping coffee and watching the fog out my kitchen window, I thought about all the breakfasts I’d had with Blake on the patio. He’d always made me laugh and we had more food than I knew what to do with.

Now, I was scrounging by on cereal and low-budget coffee.

It wasn’t a glamorous lifestyle by any means. But it was my life and I was making it work all on my own.

That gave me a certain sense of pride.

I headed out to walk to work. There was no need for a car in a small town like this. The library was a ten

-minute walk away and the grocery store was only five minutes. It was easier to walk.

The library was at the center of town in a little shopping district.

Most mornings, when I walked, the fog was thick enough that I couldn’t see in the store windows. By the time I walked home, it was dark and all the shops had turned their lights out.

Today was the first day I’d lived here that the fog wasn’t lingering on my morning walk The sun was warm on my skin and it lifted my mood, but I still kept my head down as I walked. There were already some locals out and about and I didn’t want to make eve contact with anyone. I didn’t think anyone would recognize me around here, but I really couldn’t risk it.

As painful and difficult as it was to live on my own, it was better for me and Blake this way.

One of the shops across from the library caught my eye and I changed direction, going to the storefront instead.

Beyond the big, picture window, I saw several familiar musical instruments. There were harps, upright pianos, violins, and clarinets.

I pressed my forehead against the glass, thinking of all the instruments that Blake had made me learn to play. When he told me I had to learn. I’d been as stubborn as a rebelling teenager. We’d fought so much back then. It hadn’t been all bad, it had been intense and passionate.

By the end, he was cheering me on, complimenting me for how much I’d approved.

Tears welled in my eyes and I smiled at the bittersweetness of those memories. We’d come a long way from those first few days together.

My heart ached suddenly and I turned away from the instruments, burying those memories deep down inside.

I hurried over to the library, clocking in just before I was late.

The head librarian, a tall, rail-thin woman that always wore a tight pencil skirt and ruffled blouse, poked her head into the break room. Her blond hair was slicked back in a ponytail that brushed her shoulders.

She smiled at me. “Cutting it close there, aren’t you?” she asked in a soft voice. She always whispered, even when it was just the two of us.

“I’m sorry. I slept through my alarm,” I said, thinking fast.

“No worries. You’ve never been late once, I won’t hold it against you,” Ms. Kelly said, winking at me. “We just got a big return on textbooks. Would you like to shelve them?”

“I’ll get right on it,” I said, nodding.

She smiled again and left the break room.

The library wasn’t busy. Another reason I had chosen to work there. I could hide in the bookshelves spending all day taking books off the return cart and putting them back on the shelves.

Today, I was stuck in the reference section.

There was an open window near where I was working and I could hear a couple outside. They giggled and laughed. I heard one of them sigh and then the sounds of a deep k*ss.

Gritting my teeth, I tightened my hands around the book I was holding and slammed it onto the shelf.

Why did other people get to live in their happiness when I had to give mine up?

Groaning, I wiped my brow and pushed the cart away from the window, going to a place where I couldn’t hear the lovers whispering sweet nothings to each other.

“This is for the best.” I told myself, rolling my shoulders back and shelving the next group of books.

Blake had a chance to find his true mate, his equal, and I didn’t have to live with unbearable heartbreak.

As much as I loved him and missed him, we were both better off.

Or so I kept telling myself.

After work, I stopped by the grocery store to get a premade frozen dinner. While I was walking home, the hairs on the back of my n*eck prickled and I stopped dead.

Someone was watching me.

I glanced around but I didn’t see anyone. Shrugging, I kept walking.

Just before I turned down my driveway, I was struck from behind. Pitching forward, I fell to my knees. My dinner skittered across the ground and I slammed my knees into the pavement.

“Get her!” someone shouted.

A foot collided with my stomach and I curled into a ball, wrapping my arms around my head to protect myself as a gang of werewolves started kicking me.

For a split second, I thought Blake had sent these guys after me. He wouldn’t order people to hurt me, though. Who were these guys?

“Wait, wait, Helen will want to see this,” one of the attackers said.

They all stopped kicking me. My ribs ached and I could feel bruises forming on my skin. I’d protected my face, though.

“Record this and send it to the Alpha. He’ll make sure to get it to his daughter,” someone else said.

I didn’t move, staying curled in a ball. I wouldn’t make my move until I knew what they were doing.

They were talking about Helen’s dad… he was the Alpha of Reed pack.

Had Helen returned to her pack? Was that even possible? That wasn’t good!

“Say cheese, you little traitor,” the gang leader said.

I pulled my arms from my face, glaring at them as they stuck a cell phone in my face.

Jeering, he hit the record button, it made a beeping sound when the video started. He handed the phone to one of his nearby friends.

“Read for this Helen, my princess?” he asked, blowing a k*ss at the camera.

Quickly, I glanced around while the leader gave Helen a short speech to the phone. There were four guys there attacking me. There was no way I could take them all on. but I wasn’t completely defenseless. This was my territory. I had the upper hand against them.

Behind the house, there was a tree line and a stream with a thick mud bed. As long as I could get away from them, I could use the stream and mud to mask my scent. I knew some larger trees I could climb and hide out in until they were gone.

“Alright, make sure to get this while I kill this b*tch for Helen.” the leader said. He turned back to me with a cruel smirk.

This wasn’t good!