Alpha King’s Wolfless Mate by Scarlett Higgins

Chapter 96

**Nora POV

It was well past midnight when Blake returned to the castle. Most of the staff was asleep, but those unlucky enough to be awake and within earshot of the front door were spurred to action by his commanding shouts.

I wrapped myself in a robe and rushed downstairs to see what was going on. My heart was thundering in pan ic at the urgency of his tone. I’d never heard him sound so frantic.

People were rushing about in confusion as I entered the front room. One poor girl almost walked directly into me.

“I don’t care what time it is!”Blakeshouted.“Get Maisi e to my office now! I want the lieutenants and recruits notified that they will report for training at first light. You, I want you to su mmon my

spymaster immediately! Tell him I need to speak with him now.”

At each word, the staff jumped into action. People were sprinting out of the room to follow his orders. I could hear people whispering to each other in confusion as they came and went.

I calmly pushed my way around them, trying to reassure the visibly shaken men and women that everything was okay. I dismissed several of the staff that had clearly jumped up from their beds to see what was wrong. The poor frightened people were standing out here in their pajamas, for goddess’ sake.

What was Blake thinking bursting in the door in the middle of the night and shouting orders like this? He was freaking everyone out!

“Blake,”I started the irritation wasclear in my voice.

He turned and looked at me, but his focus wasn’t on me. His dark eyes

CHIP’

were bright with excitement and quickly darted from me back to the messenger he had been giving orders to.

“Why are you still here? Getmoving, we don’t have time to screw around!”

The man turned and rushed out of the room, ducking his head as if he expected Blake to throw something at him.

“Blake, what the hell are youdoing?”I asked angrily. I grabbed his arm and turned him to face me. I lowered my voice so no one would hear us, but my tone was still just as angry.“What is going on? You are scaring everyone. Unless we’re in imminent danger, you need to stop.”

He frowned at me.“You’re all dismissed!”he shouted.

It only took seconds for the staff to flee from the room. It must have been clear to them that a fight was brewing between us. It was

certainly clear to me.

I released his arm and took a step back.

“What the hell?”I demanded.“Yourush off without a word to anyone about where you’re going and when you finally get back, you wake up half the castle and start shouting orders at people. Do you have any idea of the panic you just caused?!”

“I don’t have time to explainmyself,” he growled. He took a step forward, like he was going to walk away from me, but I stepped into his path.

“And why is that?”I asked. I put myhands on my hips and glared up at him.“Your little meeting with Margot was just too good not to tell the whole pack about?”

His eyes went wide and he sputtered for a second before responding.“Are you reading my mail now?”he demanded.

I snarled.“I wouldn’t have to if you

would tell me what was going on!”

I wouldn’t explain to him that it was an accident because he wouldn’t believe me right now anyway. Whatever news Margot had told him had upset him enough for him to throw logic and caution out the window.

“I don’t have to tell you every littlething I do,”he seethed.

“This isn’t a little thing!What am Isupposed to think about you sneaking off to meet with other women in the middle of the night?!”I threw my hands up in disbelief. T

his wasn’t like him and it was difficult not to let my own anger get the better of me. I tried, but I knew it was a losing fight.

“If you had any faith in me as ahusband you wouldn’t think anything of it,”he said defensively.

I scoffed.“If you had any faith in me as a wife, you wouldn’t hide it

from me!”

“I haven’t given you any reason todoubt me,”he insisted. His shoulders were stiff and it gave away the discomfort he was feeling.

The reaction made me question exactly how worried I should be. If there really wasn’t anything going on between them, why would he be so uncomfortable?

“Your sneaking around is reasonenough!”I shouted.

“What about you?!”he shoutedback. He took a step toward me and glared.

“What?”I said in disbelief. Whatabout me?

“I didn’t exactly see you pushingGraham away when he was making advances on you,” he seethed. He stepped closer to me, forcing me to lift my head to make eye contact with him. My hands were shaking as rage flooded through me.“By your logic, shouldn’t I be

questioning your loyalty?”

I couldn’t believe was he was saying.

“How dare you?!”I gasped.“I put upwith that creep leering at me all week because you wouldn’t tell him to stop!”

He winced, but I didn’t know if it was because of my words or the volume of my voice. I couldn’t believe that he would throw that in my face. I had been embarrassed and uncomfortable every time Graham was near me. Anyone could see that.

“You’re the king and he’s yourfamily. It would be out of place for me to rebuke him. YOU’RE my husband, you’re supposed to defend me!”

“Is that it?”he sneered.“Or is theresomething more between you two? If I didn’t know better, I’d say you felt drawn to him.”

He crossed his arms and stared down at me expectantly. That was

it, that was the last straw. I raised my hand and slapped it across his face.

“You bastard,”I seethed, my voicenow but a whisper. Tears were stinging my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.“How could you say that to me?”

“Maybe his wolf is to blame,”headded quietly.

At this, I took a step back. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How dare he imply that any of this was due to the mate pull?

I wanted to scream, but I knew that if I tried, I would just end up sobbing.

My own fears about what would happen if I completed the ritual to regain my wolf were well known to him. He had reassured me countless times that we would make things work, no matter what. Was that all a lie? Was this what he really believed?

He looked surprised for a moment and a sense of calm fell over his features. It was like he had been sleepwalking and was just waking up. His eyes softened and he took a step toward me with his hand reaching for mine, but I pulled away from him.

“Don’t you dare touch me!”I cried.

“Nora, I didn’t–”

“No,”I cut him off.“I don’t want tohear your excuses.”I wipe d at my eyes and tried to force some strength into my voice.“Now I know what you really think of me.”

I turned on my heels and rushed out of the room.

Blake didn’t follow after me and I was grateful that there didn’t seem to be anyone lurking in the hallways or eavesdropping.

I rushed through the empty halls alone and hurried up the stairs. I bypassed our shared bedroom and ran into my old room down the

hall. It was still fully furnished, but it hadn’t been used in months.

I ran in and closed the door, careful not to slam it. I fell back against the door and growled in frustration.

I wanted to cry just as much as I wanted to punch a hole through the wall.

I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so hurt and insulted at the same time. I pushed away from the door after a few minutes of focusing on my breathing.

Every bit of energy I had seemed to leave my b*dy all at once. I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was close my eyes and forget that any of this was happening.

I walked unsteadily to the bed and climbed under the blanket. It felt wrong lying on sheets that smelled of faded detergent instead of Blake’s pleasant scent. I pulled a pillow tight to my chest. I didn’t want to think about him right now.

I let the exhaustion settle into me and closed my eyes. I hoped that in the morning I would realize that all of this had been a nightmare, but I knew that was only wishful thinking.