Alpha King’s Wolfless Mate by Scarlett Higgins

Chapter 76

**Nora POV

The first thing that struck me as we exited the castle was the warmth of the night. Bonfires blazed in all directions and the garden was twinkling with candlelight, all of which created heat that warmed the otherwise chill evening.

The second thing that struck me, took my breath away really, was just how beautiful everything looked. The fires lit the night and ca st stark shadows across the garden which made the pale purple and white flowers that were arranged on every surface stand out against the darkness.

I had worked with the local florist to select night blooming flowers to arrange around the festival as an homage to the goddess. The flowers, which bloomed only in the moonlight, captured the pale beauty of the full moon perfectly.

The scent of flowers and flames was intoxicating.

I held Blake’s hand tightly as we made our way to the central altar in the garden. It sat just below the statue of the god dess and faced out to the festival grounds. Blake k*ssed me, then stepped back, leaving me to face the entire pack by myself.

I breathed deeply and did my best to remain calm. I looked out at the crowd of people and wolves. The revelry had ceased and everyone had turned to face me. I watched as each member of the crowd dropped to one knee and bowed their heads to me. The wolves amongst us were no different, bowing their heads low to the ground.

My chest felt tight as I looked out at the sea ofbowed heads. This didn’t feel like my place. I felt like an imposter, but I was the Luna and it was my responsibility to perform this dedication to the goddess. I had to shake the feeling from myself and focus.

My eyes landed on Kelly’s bowed head and I paused. It must be killing her to bow her head to me. This was the position that she wanted to occupy. I’m sure that she would be soaking up this attention like a cheap little sponge.

Beside her, Graham’s head was bowed as well. Suddenly, he raised his eyes and his gaze locked with mine. A cold feeling washed over me at the intensity of his stare. I averted my eyes, only to find that Margot had raised her s as well. I didn’t need to follow her eyeline to know that she was looking at Blake.

It didn’t matter. Blake’s attention was on me. I was confident of that. The way he’d looked at me when he entered the room and saw my gown had sent heat pooling in my belly.

The head pr iestess stepped beside me, signaling the pack that they could stand once more. With the pack on their feet and watching me closely, I placed my hands palm up in the priestess’s.

She set a large, polished moonstone in my hands, then gently pushed my hands toward the sky. I turned to face the pack again, holding the moonstone in both hands and closing my eyes. The pr iestess spoke in a clear, loud voice that could be heard across the entire festival grounds without artificial amplification.

I couldn’t focus on her words. I was too busy just trying to keep my mind clear and not trembleunder all of the attention.

When the priestess stopped speaking, a howl went up from beside me. Even though I’ve never heard it before, I know that it’s coming from Blake. The howl was echoed by the rest of the pack, resulting in a momentarily deafening wave of sound.

When the sound died, I opened my eyes and carefully handed the orb back to the priestess. She placed it on the altar, then turned back to the crowd.

“May the blessing of the god dess be upon us foranother year,” she called out.

The crowd cheered and howled once more. Blake stepped to my side and put his arm around me. I leaned against him, grateful for the support. A flurry of activity s wept the crowd as the pack began to celebrate in earnest.

I looked at Blake and he smiled at me in a way that made my heart flutter. I had made him proud, which was more than I could have hoped for.

**

The festival was going so well that I was giddy from the satisfaction. Blake was making the rounds and chatting with all of the guests who had traveled to attend. I’d done the rounds once already and made sure to speak to everyone who wanted to speak to me.

It was a lot more people than I anticipated. It seemed like my work in Dave’s store had done a lot to make the pack more comfortable with me. I was starting to really feel like I belonged and it created a warm, light feeling in my chest.

Christian approached me with a glass of white winein his hand. He held it out to me with a shy smile on his face.

I took the glass gratefully.“Thank you.”

“You’ve been so busy I figured you hadn’t had achance to get anything,” he explained.“This is the best festival I can remember. You really outdid yourself.”

I smiled brightly at that.“I’m so glad it worked out,”I admitted softly.“I was so nervous!”

Christian shook his head at me.“Please,” he said teasingly.“You knew you were going to kill it. I saw that notebook. There was no way you thought it would fail.”

I laughed and had to cover my mouth to keep the volume down.“You always give me such a hard time,”I giggled.

Christian shrugged.“Someone has to.”

I saw movement from the corner of my eye and glanced over. Blake was staring pa st me, his eyes locked on Christian. I could be imagining it, but he almost looked angry.

“Thank you for the drink, Christian,”I said.“Havefun tonight, okay? You work too hard.”

“Same to you,” he replied seriously.“And thank you,again, for putting this all together.”

I nodded to him, then turned to walk to ward Blake. I wanted to make sure that nothing was wrong. He looked irritated.

Graham stepped into my path and I stopped mid-step. He was the last person I wanted to get stuck talking to tonight, but I knew it would happeneventually.

He moved into my personal space and looked me over with a strange glint in his eye.

“You certainly know how to plan an event,”hecomplimented.

There was an odd lilt to his voice and the scent of liquor was strong on his breath. I didn’t step back, I didn’t want to give him the impression that he was intimidating me.

I looked over his shoulder at Blake, but his attention had shifted to Maisie. It seemed like they were deep in conversation.

“To have a Luna like you is a blessing,” Grahamadded. I frowned at him.

“I’m sure that Kelly will make a fine Luna,” I assuredhim. It was a lie, of course, and it seemed like Graham was quickly realizing that. His expression fell just a little, but he shrugged it off.“I’m glad you’re enjoying the festival,”I added.

I tried to step around him, but he didn’t budge, which left me standing awkwardly close to him. He leaned down to speak into my ear.“Blake doesn’t know how lucky he is,” he said.“I envy him.”

“Blake works hard for everything he has,”Icorrected. Graham straightened up and looked me over thoughtfully.“Have a good night,”I replied quickly.

Then, I walked away from Graham, leaving before he could say anything more.

I stopped walking as my eyes landed on Blake. His attention had turned from Maisi e to Kelly’s little friend, Margot. The girl was staring at Blake withopen interest and he was doing nothing to rebuff her. In fact, the charming smile on his face could be interpreted as encouraging.

I growled, despite myself. Luckily, no one was close enough to me to hear it. I turned and walked toward the bar. I wasn’t going to let the Lanecreek visitors ruin my night. There was plenty of fun I could have at the festival without Blake.

I downed the wine that Christian had handed me, then ordered another. The evening was getting wild, and there was no reason that I couldn’t get a little wild too.