Alpha King’s Wolfless Mate by Scarlett Higgins

Chapter 66

**Nora POV

I followed Maisi e for a few more blocks before we reached our destination.

Maisi e stopped walking and I looked up at the storefront she stopped in front of. It was a short, square wooden building with a hand painted sign hung above the door that read, “Dave’s Home Goods”.

I’d been here a couple of times with Blake and Charles to get items that were needed at the castle. It was a general store, the only one around if I remembered correctly. Inside, everything from the walls to the shelves was made of brightly colored wood and could easily be handmade. It had a rustic, comfortable quality to it that I enjoyed.

I looked at Maisi e in confusion.

“The homego ods store?”I asked.

She point ed at the front window of the store where a neatly written sign was taped.

“Help wanted,”I read aloud.“You think I should geta job here?”

I didn’t understand what she was getting at. I wanted to find a way to get to know the pack and win them over. I didn’t see how working at the general store would accomplish that.

“You don’t have to take the full-time position,”sheassured me.“But volunteering to help Dave out once in a while will get you out into the community and give you a chance to get to know people. Nearly everyone in the pack comes here every week. Trustme. When people see you working in the community, they’ll see you as more trustworthy and approachable.”

“That makes sense,”I nodded.

If I was volunteering, then I could work around my duties at the castle and the rapidly evolving situation with Blake’s uncle. It would do me some good to get out of the house more often, too.

“I’ll do it.”

Maisi e opened the door and led me inside.

A bell chimed softly above our heads and a reedy male voice called out in response.“Welcome, I’ll be with you in a moment.”

We walked further into the store. I scanned the room as we entered and took in as much as I could. The shelves nearest the door were stocked with candy and chips. At the far wall across from us, I could see beautifully detailed quilts and duvets. Almost anything a household might need could be found at the general store. Maisie’s statement about the whole pack coming here certainly made sense.

As we reached the end of one of the shelves, the front count er came into view. There was a kind eyed middle aged man standing behind it, scribbling away in a notebook with a serious look on his face. He had short cropped orange hair and dark eyes.

“Good morning, Dave,”Maisi e called. He looked upand smiled brightly as he greeted Maisie, but stopped mid-word when he saw me standing beside her.

I tried to make my smile as disarming as possible asthe man stared at me.

“Luna,” he said softly.“Welcome, what can I do foryou?”

“Actually, we were hoping that we could help youout,”Maisi e began.“You’re still looking for help around the store, right?”

Dave looked surprised.“Yes. It’s been difficult to find anyone with the time to work. Everyone in the pack has their duties to attend to and so many of the younger folks have already taken on extra responsibilities in one way or another.”

“Wasn’t your son helping you out?”Maisi e askedcuriously.

“Christian helps out when he can, but he has beentoo busy lately. Between his university courses and training with the Alpha, he just doesn’t have the time to stock shelves.”

“Christian is doing well in his training,”I finallyperked up.“Blake has been impressed with his quick progress.”

Dave smiled proudly.“I’m glad to hear that,”he replied.“Christian can be very critical of himself. He’ll be thrilled to know the Alpha is happy with him.”

“What’s he studying?” Maisi e asked.

“Business,”he answered.“He wants to help meupdate and improve the store. He thinks there’s a lot of untapped potential here. He started at the capital university last spring.”

This piqued my attention. I had heard about special universities that catered to shifters, but I didn’t realize there was one in the capital. There weren’tany in Moonery, the territory was too small to warrant building one. I had always been a little disappointed by that. I would have liked to go to university. It didn’t seem likely to happen now.

The fact that there was a university nearby was exciting to me. I wanted to learn more about it if I could. It was great for the community to have such a service available nearby.

“So, you would benefit from an extra set of hands atthe store here,”Maisi e stated matter-of-factly.“A volunteer, maybe?”

He sighed and looked at me curiously.“What does that have to do with the Luna coming to visit?”

“I’m here to help,”I explained. Dave’s eyes grewwide at my words.

“I couldn’t ask you to take time away from yourduties as the Luna,” he said hurriedly.

He looked concerned, like he might be in some kind of trouble. I felt bad that he he would assume my presence was a bad sign. My duties as the Luna were almost nonexistent at this point, that was the whole reason I was here. I couldn’t exactly say that though.

“I promise you, it’s no trouble. I’m good atmanaging my time.”

He looked conflicted and glanced down at the notebook in front of him. His brows wrinkled in concentration as he stared at the page.“I sure could use the help…”

“Dave,”Maisi e said in a scolding tone.“It’s theresponsibility of the Luna to ensure that the families of our pack have their basic needs met, isn’t it?”“Of course it is,” he noted with a frown.“But I don’tsee how stocking shelves or selling milk and eggs is going to do that.”

“The entire pack depends on this store for theirbasic necessities, don’t they? If you keep overworking yourself like you have been, the store is going to suffer. You’ll get sick and have to close or you’ll start sl*pping on inventory and orders.”She had her hands on her hips as she talked and Dave’s frown deepened at her words.“What kind of situation will that put us in?”

“It wouldn’t be pretty,” he conceded.

“So, it’s well within the realm of my responsibilitiesto make sure that doesn’t happen,”I added.“Milk and eggs don’t seem like much until a hungry family can’t get them.”

“When you put it in that light …” he saidthoughtfully.“I suppose it would ultimately fall to you to solve the problem wouldn’t it?”

“Better to avoid a problem now than try to fix itlater,”I noted firmly.“Tell me truthfully, why do you seem so worried about me helping out here?”

I couldn’t help but be curious about why he seemed so hesitant to accept my help when he seemed to need it so badly. It didn’t make sense to me.

He looked at Maisi e questioningly, and she nodded at him, encouraging him to answer.“You’re a queen,” he said simply.“What fool would expect a queen to lower herself to men ial labor like this?”

The look on his face said that he thought I was ridiculous for even asking.

I had to hold back a laugh.“I wasn’t born nor raiseda queen,” I said.“I’ve worked shelving books in a library in the past. I imagine that’s similar to stocking shelves. Besides, you’re implying that what you do is below me, as if it isn’t a vital part of the kingdom. What you provide allows the pack to have the lifestyle they do. Your store and the work you do in it are very important to the pack.”

Maisi e looked almost impressed as she looked at me. She gave a subtle nod of approval when I glanced at her. I turned back to Dave and looked at him hopefully.

His face lit up in a genuine smile.“So, when can you start?”