Page 114 of A Female Alpha for the Lycan Prince

“I’ve never heard of this family,” I mutter. “Sad stories are my forte; I thought I’d heard them all.”

“They didn’t live in town. He has a mansion in the countryside, somewhere up a mountain or something like that. Weird dude; quite possessive. I swear his eyes turned black sometimes. His son seemed to have an anger problem too. The little girl here was pretty scared of him.”

Wait? He has a son!? “He had more than one child?” Harmony asks.

“There were two boys with them. One was older, and I think the other was a similar age to the gorgeous little Ciara here, maybe a bit younger,” Mr. Evans muses, “Yeah, the younger boy was definitely still a child, and very quiet. He wanted to have his photo taken with his sister too, but Henrick and his older son didn’t allow it.” He shrugs. “He looked sad, but what can you do?”

Maybe try to help them? I think to myself. Help two children who were obviously caught in a toxic relationship with their father and were afraid of their older brother?

Mr. Evans changes the topic and starts rambling on about other things, indicating he has nothing more to add.

Good, we can finally leave this place. I mind-link Garret to phone us. A few minutes later, I present Mr. Evans with a sob story about my very single older sister, who needs my help because she doesn’t feel good. And did I mention she was very single? And beautiful?

Mr. Evans lets us go, wanting us to promise we will be back later with my non-existent supermodel sister.

Once outside, we wait until we walk around the corner before letting out a deep breath. The guys are already waiting for us, eager to hear what we discovered. Harmony shudders in disgust. “Yuck,” she mutters. “I feel gross.”

I pull my fake eyelashes off. “I need to scrub myself after that experience,” I sigh.

“Did it work?” Elden asks. “Did he tell you anything?”

“Yeah,” I grimace, thinking of the way he salivated over us and how he talked about that poor little girl. “We have a name, a motive, and we know the general location. Jade was right that he’s probably living on the mountain.” I pause. “Also, I’m sure he’s a wolf.”

Harmony nods. “Mr. Evans mentioned his eyes turning black sometimes, and his older son was hard to control.”

“What?” Eric exclaims. “And my poor rose is in there with them? We need to get her back fast.”

I look at him thoughtfully. Could it be… maybe… I shrug it off though. He’s right, getting Valerie out of there is our top priority. She might be able to stall them, but eventually, they will realize that she can’t bring back the dead… or whatever state Ciara is in. Mr. Evans said she was close to dying. Who knows, maybe this Hendrick’s mate was a human, and so Ciara didn’t have a wolf. Therefore, she got sick. Her mother doesn’t seem to be around anymore, either. A genetic disease would have to run in the family.

*VALERIE*

Luca doesn’t look me in the eye. He keeps staring at the ground while he tries to tend to my broken arm. Thankfully, he’s given me some painkillers, and he’s now trying to put my arm in a splint. It hurt so much at first that the pain made me dizzy, but eventually, Luca finishes, and my arm is resting safely in a tight bandage. Now I just need to wait for the painkillers to kick in some more.

I look at Luca thoughtfully. “You’re good at this,” I nod towards the splinted arm, “You know what you’re doing.”

He shrugs. I keep looking at him, noticing a bruise on his face. It wasn’t there last time I saw him—poor kid.

“I’m Valerie,” I say softly. “Thanks for helping me, Luca.”

He looks up, surprise in his eyes, before casting his gaze back down. It’s almost like he’s afraid he would get hurt if he looked at me for too long.

“Did they hurt you?” I ask carefully.

“No more than usual,” he mutters. I notice, however, how he’s keeping his hand firmly against his side.

“And what’s wrong here?” I point at his side.

He looks down. “Lenny kicked me.”

“Who is Lenny?” I want to know, although I can already guess the answer.

“The one who broke your arm,” he mutters.

“May I?” I ask softly. When he nods, I lift his shirt, noting in horror how many scars he carries. I don’t say anything though, instead focus on the darkest bruises on his side. If I’m careful, I can heal him a little without sabotaging my health too much. I need to practice my gift anyway. I focus, resting my hand against his side and feeling the warmth there. I do it the same way I did with Elden, but I am careful not to heal him completely.

I pull my hand away before it’s fully healed, but I can see that the skin has lightened from severe into mild bruising, and Luca’s stance and breathing seem more relaxed.

He looks at me stunned. “Thank you,” he whispers.