Page 196 of A Female Alpha for the Lycan Prince

Harmony and I exchange an amused glance, while Mona doesn’t seem to know how to react. But Dad puts his arm around her and smiles. “Don’t worry, he’s like that to everyone.” She’s carrying his mark now, and they both look so happy to be with each other.

Garret ignores us and proceeds to hand out the drinks. “Soda for the young gentleman,” he hands Luca a glass. “Beer for the uncultured brutes.” We all laugh when he passes the beer to Steve and Marcel. “White Russian for the old gents.”

Dad and Grandpa burst into laughter. “Thanks, Garret,” Grandpa chuckles. “It’s never boring with you around.”

“Oh, and a glass of apple juice for that dashing hot dude in blue. You single?” he winks.

Harmony laughs and elbows Elias. “He’s talking to you!”

“Oh,” Elias blinks. “Sorry. I didn’t notice.”

“Wow, here I am, putting so much effort into my flirting, and he doesn’t even notice,” Garret sighs dramatically, but laughs as well. “I said you look hot.”

“Thank you,” Elias flashes him a smile. “You, too.”

“Well, that’s new,” Garret looks flustered as he sits down next to Elias, putting a hand on his knee.

Harmony exchanges a quick look with Steve, and he nods. We talked earlier about introducing Luca to some of the younger guys in the pack. He’s still so shy, and social anxiety is a massive problem for him… no surprise after being locked up and abused for many years. He’s not going to heal magically overnight. However, Steve is a nice guy, and he’s genuinely kind. “Hey Luca,” Steve looks over at the kid. “Want to check out the food stands?”

Luca shifts around a bit. “I don’t want to be a bother to you,” he stutters.

“You are not bothering me,” Steve grins. “I’m hungry.”

“Me too,” Luca admits shyly.

“Awesome.” Steve gives him the thumbs up. “Let’s go.”

Harmony smiles proudly at the kindness her brother is showing and waves goodbye to them before shifting her attention back to us.

“So, how are you and your mate doing, Jade?” Harmony asks Jade.

The whole table bursts into laughter. “Goddess, I almost forgot about that,” Garret hollers. “Jade and her beau, with a measly age difference of 900 years.”

“For real, Mom,” Grandpa chuckles. “Talk about unexpected.”

“He’s a great guy,” I say, coming to Vincent’s defense. “And you two really fit well together. hat’s the most important thing.”

Jade rubs her temples. “Better fetch me another drink, Garret.”

“What’s this?” Elias asks curiously, pointing at the little box I have been carrying around the whole day. Something told me I shouldn’t leave it anywhere, so I’ve been carrying it around with me all evening.

“I don’t know,” I admit. “Marius gave it to me.”

“Ooh, a present?” Harmony asks curiously.

“I’m not sure,” I tilt my head. “He gave it to me this morning when we had coffee together. He said he will give me an actual present during our weekend trip, but that it was really important for him to give me this today. He told me to open it later.”

“Well, now is later, isn’t it?” Garret says.

He’s right. I didn’t even notice that my birthday is almost over.

“You took it too literal,” Jade chuckles. “That poor guy was probably just embarrassed to have you open it in front of him.”

“I think so too,” Mona smiles warmly, exchanging a knowing look with Jade. “I think it’s something really personal.”

“Open it,” Garret begs.

“Shouldn’t she open it in private?” Elias points out. “Mona just said it’s probably something very personal.”