Page 17 of A Silent Prodigy for the Lycan Princess

“What makes you say that?” Eric asks. “You aren’t even alpha, yet. How do you know you won’t be a good one?”

“I have a handicap,” I say.

“Yes,” Eric says. “That’s true. But you are also a genius.”

“I am not a genius.” I chuckle.

“I sent you to an IQ test. What did it say?” he asks.

I am well aware he knows the results as he was the one who sent them to me. “You know the result.”

“I still want you to say it.”

“It was something between 175 to 185,” I say. “But it’s just a measurement.”

Eric ignores my objection completely. “So, how come someone with your immense intelligence thinks a leader needs to be all bodily strength? Why can’t an alpha lead through his impressive intelligence?”

“Because we are wolves,” I say. “I need to be able to defend myself.”

“You can outsmart others,” he argues.

“I need to defend a pack during an attack.”

“You can build an army to your liking,” Eric points out. “You have ranked members, guards, warriors. You said you like Star Trek, don’t you?”

“It’s my favorite show.”

“Who was your favorite captain?”

“Oh, come on, that’s not fair,” I complain.

“Just answer,” Eric chuckles.

I groan inwardly. “Picard.”

“Right.” Eric casts me an amused glance. “I don’t need to be a genius to tell you that his leadership skills were tremendous, due to him being a fantastic strategist and an intelligent man.”

He is right. Picard wasn’t a fighter. He was a strategist and yet one of the strongest leaders the Enterprise ever had. “Can we compare a Sci-Fi spaceship situation to an actual pack?” I ask.

“You are the genius. You tell me.”

I roll my eyes at his words.

Eric laughs and opens his arms dramatically. “You just rolled your eyes at your prince. I should behead you.” He turns serious again. “Listen, Arden, you make it sound like you can’t fight at all, but that isn’t true. You are a decent fighter. Are you on par with the fighting skills of usual alphas? Maybe not. But you are above them in terms of other skills. I just want you to be open to the possibility of you not being a failure as a lycan alpha.” He pauses. “I want to ask you something.”

I scrunch my nose. “I bet I won’t like the question.”

“I just want you to be honest,” he says. “And if you can’t be honest, I want you to say nothing at all, instead of lying to me,” he pauses. “Does your father plan on making Vander alpha?”

My heart almost stops beating at his words. Eric looks at me thoughtfully while waiting for my answer. It’s funny because everyone knows Eric as the juvenile and silly prince. They don’t know how perceptive he truly is. It was him who chose me to become his assistant, it was him who had my IQ tested, and it’s him who constantly finds the wolves and lycans with the most potential. “I don’t know,” I answer honestly.

“Is that the truth?”

I nod.

Eric sighs. “Alright, for today, I’ve interrogated you enough.” He smiles. “Enjoy the evening with your date.”

“Thank you, you too.”