Page 162 of A Silent Prodigy for the Lycan Princess

Night has no strength anymore, just lying on his back with sweat dripping off his body. The pain must have driven him close to insanity, as he begins clawing at his own skin.

Before he can hurt himself anymore, Arden steps forward with a sudden growl. Cato’s presence gets stronger, and his claws appear. Then the two of them start to wordlessly rip Night’s body into pieces.

I watch him until I feel how exhaustion settles in. He is drained, even without the bond it’s obvious. I shift back to my human form, carefully approaching my mate.

“Arden,” I whisper, clinging to his back. “Night is gone. He is gone.”

Arden drops onto his knees, his body shaking as he cries.

Arden holds my hand as if holding on to life when we make it back to the pack. Once we approach the center of it, some warriors come towards us, handing us clothes so that we don’t run around just covered in blood.

The first one we spot is Gustave. He comes running towards us with tears in his eyes, and just wordlessly hugs Arden.

Arden doesn’t talk at all; he has switched his hearing aid off so that he can tone out everything around him. The voices and the noise are straining him after having over-exhausted himself with his gift. Still, I can see how much Gustave’s gesture means to him.

The next one to approach us is Emilien.

“Night?” Emilien asks me quietly.

“Dead, but you will need to put his body together again,” I say shortly.

“We’ll retrieve it,” he says. “His victims and other packs might want to see proof that he is truly gone.”

Arden and I watch the pack members still running around to deal with the chaos. The attackers are mostly dead, but the attack did leave more casualties and loss due to it happening so suddenly.

Vander is the only minor that fell. My heart clenches, again, at the thought of it.

Vander,Arden links me, his voice broken.

I look at Emilien. “Where is Vander?”

“We… we made sure to respectfully retrieve his body. He is being cleaned up now and will be sent off the way he deserves. Ask Arden if he wants him to be sent off here or at the Council?” Emilien looks at Arden. “I am sorry,” he forms with his lips.

Arden just nods before I link him and tell him what Emilien said.

I want him to get sent off here,he mutters.His friends are here, and Léna. Vander loved the pack and felt a deepconnection to it. I think… I think he was coming to terms with the possibility of becoming alpha, and fuck…. fuck… fuck.

He buries his face behind his hands.

“He wants Vander to be sent off here,” I tell Emilien. “Please give us a moment.”

“As long as you need,” Emilien says quietly.

I turn my attention back to my mate and wrap him in my arms. I have no idea what I’m supposed to say. Even the mere thought of losing one of my brothers already breaks me. I can’t even imagine what he is going through now. He loved Vander so deeply and always had his safety and happiness in mind. He was his only family and for a long time his only friend.

I realize I don’t need to say anything, though, because there are no words of comfort that can heal his pain.

When Eric approaches us, he puts an arm around each of us, hugging us both. One of his hands rests on Arden’s head while the other is on my shoulder. “He switched off his hearing aid?” he asks me.

“Yes. Should I… do you want me to tell him something?”

“No,” Eric says quietly. “I will talk to him when he is ready. There are no words now that can ease that pain.”

For a while none of us says anything or moves. Then suddenly, Arden looks at Eric and, to my surprise, switches his hearing aid on. “My father,” he says. “What is happening with him?”

“What do you want to happen?” Eric asks.

“I never want to see him again,” Arden says bitterly. “I honestly don’t care what happens to him.”