Page 134 of A Silent Prodigy for the Lycan Princess

I contemplate what to answer and how to react. Words of praise have always made me feel uncomfortable and embarrassed. Fortunately, Eric’s phone rings. “That’s Val,” he says before he picks up.

His words raise both Aurelia’s and my attention. Val might be Eric’s mate, but I doubt she would call if it wasn’t important.

“Wait a moment, Princess,” Eric says. “Putting you on speaker.” He places the phone between us on the creepy kitchen table we are sitting at. “Go on, please.”

“Guys,” she blurts out, stumbling over her voice. “You won’t believe it! Gustave… he found the picture!”

“What!?” I exclaim. “You mean—”

“Yes, of Night. Okay, he remembered it because it was in a small photo album in Meg’s possession.”

“Wait a moment,” I interrupt her. “Are you telling me that Meg had a photo of him?”

“Not of him in particular. He was part of a group. It was a Christmas party at the orphanage,” she explains.

“Fuck,” I curse. “That’s how he gained her trust.”

“We verified it with Annette already. And it’s actually Night.” She pauses. “Arden, I think they will need you and your photographic memory now.”

“Got it,” I say. “I will join them ASAP. We have a photo of him! I can’t believe it! It means we can finally search for him. Did you tell Zoé to have his picture run through the database?”

“Yeah, Nox told me she is on it. There is something else,” Val hurries to explain. “Nox was successful, too.”

“You put together an amazing team, Arden,” Eric says, impressed. “And Nox is surprising me, as well.”

Aurelia smiles proudly at the success of her beta. “Nox is rather quiet, but he is very intelligent and a good strategist,” she says. “What did he find out?”

“Remember, he talked about the rune?” Val starts. “Seems like he spotted it in the hospital. One of the male nurses there had a tattoo on his wrist. Nox says he is sure it’s the same rune because of the roses surrounding it.”

“The hospital,” Aurelia says breathlessly. “As we thought, they had someone on the inside.”

“We need to split up,” I say. “I will head back to Gustave and the others.”

“And one of us needs to stay here,” Eric adds. “The other needs to go to the hospital.”

“You need to do that,” Aurelia says. “I went there undercover and am scared someone might recognize me.”

“You are right,” he says. “I will head there. Are you okay with staying here?”

“Of course,” Aurelia answers promptly. “Don’t worry. I will talk to the forensic once he is done and see if the trackers you requested find any traces.” She looks around. “I feel like we are missing something,” she mutters.

“What’s on your mind?”

“So, this guy, Night, is a well-organized psychopath, but how come he is that good?” she asks us.

We all stay quiet at her well-placed question. “Maybe,” Val says from the other side of the line. “He learned it somewhere? How to hide his traces?

“He had to,” she mutters.

“Maybe from his father,” I offer.

“Yes, that’s an option, but then his father had to have learned it from somewhere,” Aurelia says.

Eric looks at her thoughtfully. “You think his father at least was a pack wolf first?”

“A very well trained one,” Aurelia points out. “Almost like a trained sentinel. Sentinels go through difficult training. I’m doing it too for my alpha training, but it’s rare that someone is that good.”

I frown. “You have a point,” I mutter. “I haven’t thought about that.”