Page 168 of A Silent Prodigy for the Lycan Princess

She stays quiet for a while before she looks at the sky once more and starts sobbing again. “It’s so beautiful.”

Chapter fifty-four

Another Pair

*AURELIA*

The next couple of days are up and down. I try to be there for Arden the way he needs it, without pushing him or forcing him to openly grieve or to talk. Mom said it’s a process and all I can do is be there. Arden is not showing how sad he is or how crushed, but it’s obvious in the small gestures like in the way he switches off his hearing aid whenever someone else is around.

We send Vander off in a beautiful, yet devastating funeral. When someone dies so young, it brings people together to cry. For Vander, almost the whole pack gathers.

But it breaks Arden all over again.

He throws himself into work to distract himself from his pain. He and Eric are cleaning up all the mess Night left; from hisvictims to the wolves who worked for him. He had a whole network of rogues and traffickers working for him. Junior, his most trusted man, was captured alive, which proved to be helpful to their task. The attack on Arden’s pack happened as revenge against Arden’s father. As we expected, Night wanted to go down with a bang, and now we know he wanted to take the man with him who was responsible for messing with his business.

I’ve also contacted Alexander and talked to him briefly. Even the stoic, rather cold man let his guard down for a moment to voice his condolences and promised me he and Silas would be dealing with everything on the vampire side. Apparently, it’s much more complicated for them, but they are on it, and he gave me his word that he would not rest until the vampires are punished.

It’s still a mess, but it’s getting more and more cleaned up.

Lion and Tori will be traveling home soon, as Tori can’t miss more days in school. I want to have an official talk with them before they start preparing for their trip back home, so I’ve borrowed Arden’s office for that purpose.

“Please take a seat,” I tell both of them.

“Sounds official,” Tori says, confused, but does as I tell them.

“I already discussed this with Arden, and we decided this together,” I tell them. “We are not going to be the usual pack with me being a female alpha. Arden will take over some of the luna tasks, but he won’t be the typical luna, either, maybe a bit like Marius. However, we still need a gamma, and I think you would be perfect for this, Lion.”

Lion stares at me, his eyes wide. When Tori elbows him with a giggle, he jumps up. “Fuck, yes!” he blurts out.

I smile, happy to see him so happy. “And Tori.” I turn to look at her. “Silverlake didn’t have a delta for a while because my mom technically has always filled that part of the job. But Arden willwork for the Council a lot, and we both think the tasks of a delta aren’t really suited for his talents. But, they are for yours.”

Tori gapes. “No way,” she whispers.

“It’s going to be a lot of work for the both of you,” I tell them. “We still have time until I take over the pack, but you will need to start learning under Gamma Aurel, Lion. And Tori… we didn’t have a delta for a long time, so it’s a whole new field you are moving into. I won’t hold it against either of you if you don’t want to—”

“Shut up, Auri!” Tori blurts out. “We are so happy! Right, Lion?”

“Yes.” He nods, his eyes glowing with motivation. “I am up for the task and the challenge!”

“I honestly thought you would ask one of your twin brothers,” Tori points out.

“We still consider Felix and Dario for a rank,” I tell her. “But the gamma and delta need to be people I can trust with this task now, as they need to be trained. There will still be the need to fill the position of a second beta for me, and maybe for Arden. It’s a choice neither he nor I want to make yet because we don’t want to exclude my brothers.”

Arden and I discussed this for a long while, and both agreed on it. We are also both aware that Felix and Dario are going to grow into potentially strong lycans, and will deserve a rank too. Arden decided to leave the beta position for him open until Dario and Felix are old enough to see if one of them is up for the task. There are so many possibilities for their futures that we don’t know about so we can’t fully count on them yet, but at the same time, we don’t want to exclude them either.

Tori and Lion entwine their fingers and smile. “We won’t disappoint you,” Tori assures me.

I feel relieved at their reaction and happy about having such a strong team around me, with people I trust. “I know you won’t.”

It’s when I wrap up my work and start to head out to see how Arden is doing that Eric approaches me.

“I need to show you something,” he says.

“Is Arden okay?” I ask promptly, my first thought always directed at him in fear of him getting hurt.

“Yes, don’t worry,” he says warmly. “He is with Leila and Val, at the moment. They have invited Léna, to talk a bit with her.”

“How is she doing?”