Alpha King’s Wolfless Mate by Scarlett Higgins

Chapter 84

**Nora POV

The store was finally quiet after a very busy afternoon rush.

Christian was training with Blake today and Dave was visiting a relative in a neighboring pack, so I was on my own.

Dave had offered to stay, more than once, but I had insisted that he go. There was no reason for him to forego visiting family to work at the store. The whole reason that I was volunteering was to help out so that Dave wasn’t so overworked and the pack still got what they needed from the store.

The pack was really starting to warm up to me, and I was more than happy to spend the day making small talk with the friendly faces that stopped in. It helped to raise my spirits.

It wasn’t that anything had happened between Blake and I, not since the day Margot returned from her university tour, anyway. But we were both under an incredible amount of stress dealing with the uncertainty of the Lanecreek situation and neither of us seemed willing to lay our feelings out for the other.

I didn’t want to feel like I was contributing to Blake’s stress. I’m sure he had similar intentions with me. We just had to hold out for a little longer. We would find out what his uncle would come up with too and then we could put an end to this whole fiasco. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.

Maisi e and Blake had been meeting almost every morning, but as far as I knew nothing had changed.

Each time Blake walked out of his office after meeting with Maisie, he seemed just a little more concerned and a little more out of my reach.

He didn’t want to open up about the extent of what had happened when his uncle had seized power. He was withdrawn, and not just from me. Charles seemed downright dejected by Blake’s behavior and so did many of the older staff.

There had been high ranking visitors from nearly every pack in the kingdom over the past few days. It wasn’t hard to guess that Blake was shoring up his allies and warning other packs to be cautious in dealing with Lanecreek.

It felt like Blake knew something that he wasn’t telling me and I hated it.

I couldn’t seem to shake my negative thoughts lately, no matter how hard I tried.

I sighed. I was leaning against the counter and staring into the distance. It was hard to focus on much today. I was feeling so drained from the weeks of uncertainty and tension with Blake. It felt like we were steadily approaching a cliff and neither of us was able to turn away from it.

The chime of the door opening broke me from my thoughts. I called out a greeting, but there was no response.

I watched to see who it was.

A short, wide set woman with loose flowing, pure white hair and tawny skin strode confidently toward the register. Her eyes were dark and serious as they locked onto mine.

“Hello,”I said nervously.“Can I help you?”

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“Hello, Luna,”she replied in a soft, airy voice.“I amRita, the pack healer.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,”I noted.

I was a little worried that something was wrong because she was looking at me so intensely. She had walked directly to the register, like she was here with a purpose other than shopping.

“I’m glad that I found you here,” she began.“Itwould have been more difficult to have this discussion at the castle. There are always so many people around. You never know who may be listening.”

That statement made my blood go cold. What could the healer possibly have to say to me that was so important she was worried about spies?

“What’s wrong?”I asked tensely. I knew that Icouldn’t hide the worry in my tone from her, and I didn’t try to.

“Nothing is wrong, exactly,”she said thoughtfully.“But my sister called. She has seen a vision, you see,and I strongly believe it is relevant to you.”

“A vision?”I asked in confusion.

I looked closely at her kind, matronly face, but she didn’t resemble any of the priestesses that I had met. I had no idea who her sister could be. If a pack priestess had a vision, shouldn’t she be going to Blake about it?

“She has seen a vision of a crimson wolf emergingfrom the smoldering rubble of a battlefield and uniting the lands in peace and prosperity that our kingdom has not known in generations,” she explained.

I stared at her in shock. A crimson wolf would indicate the descendent of a long line of Alphas. Could the vision mean that someone other than Blake is destined to be the Lycan King?

“Why come to me with this information?”I asked.“What does it have to do with me? I’m not thedaughter of an Alpha.”

That statement wasn’t quite accurate. I didn’t think that I was the daughter of an Alpha, but I didn’t actually know. I knew absolutely nothing about my birth parents. I was found abandoned as a child by the Alpha of Moonery.

He told me once that he had tried to find information about my family, but nothing had come of it. I had no doubt that he really had tried. Before everything that had happened with Helen, Alpha Al had been kind to me and treated me with care. He wouldn’t have lied to me about something like that.

It didn’t make sense that the seer would come to me about vision s of a crimson wolf. It was obvious that the vision must be about Blake or one of his relatives, maybe even Graham.

“My sister insisted that the vision was related toyou,” she answered. She searched my face and frowned. She must be able to see the disbelief in my expression.“I am not a seer or a priestess, I don’t pretend to understand how the goddess communicates with her chosen ones, but I trust my sister’s word.”

Her tone was confident and proud.

I worried that I had offended her inadvertently. The pack healer was the last person I wanted to anger. There was no telling when you might need the

Chapter 84

assistance of the healer, and when that happened you wanted them to like you and do their best to help you.

“I’m sorry, I just-”

She lifted her hand to silence me. I was torn between anger that she would act so fl*ppantly toward me as the Luna and embarrassment that I had handled this interaction so poorly.

“She wanted me to extend an invitation to you. Shewould like to meet with you directly and discuss her vision.”

“I don’t know…”I said hesitantly.

“There is only one condition,” she continuedseriously.“You must come alone when you meet with her. What she has to say is for your ears alone.”

“I wouldn’t feel comfortable not informing Blakeabout this,” I stated automatically.

Rita nodded sympathetically. “I understand, Luna,”she answered. She reached out and patted my hand on the top of the counter.“You’re a good woman. Sometimes, however, being a good leader and being a good wife are not the same thing. The choice is yours.”

She looked like she wanted to say more, but the doorbell chimed and we both fell silent as the sound of excited young voices entered the store.

“Thank you,”I said.“I’ll consider it.”

She nodded and smiled at me.“I trust that you will. Have a good day, dear.”

With that, she turned and walked out of the store. As she vanished from sight, a group of four teenage

girls came into my view.

“Hello, Luna,” they called out in unison.

I forced a smile onto my face.

“Hello,”I greeted. I recognized the girls as membersof the high school robotics club.“No meeting today?”

The tallest girl laughed lightly.“Oh, we’re going to be working on our build all night. We’re just here for snacks!”

The shortest girl, who was the team captain, approached the counter. She had a giddy smile on her face and leaned toward me.

“We have an order form for Dave,”she said. She slida sheet of paper across the counter.“He said he was going to special order us some of the components we need.”

I smiled at her and I could feel the tension from my shoulders melting away. This is why I was here. Working in the shop allowed me to play a more direct role in keeping the pack happy and thriving, and that was all that mattered.

Right?