Page 26 of A Silent Prodigy for the Lycan Princess

He winces slightly at the burn. “What?” he mumbles.

“Stepped between him and me.”

“You are my brother,” he says with emphasis. “And he is just an asshole, who looks down on you for your lack of hearing. Who even cares? Your hearing impairment is just a little part of you.”

“Dad is right, you know?”

“What?” Vander exclaims. “I’m getting really pissed, now. You are not damaged, you are not useless, you are—”

“I wasn’t talking about that,” I say. “But he is right when he says you have courage. You would be a good alpha.”

Vander stares at me now. “What are you implying?”

“This pack will need a good leader,” I say.

“You would be a good leader!”

“At this point, I am not sure if they will accept me,” I say. “But they will accept you.”

Vander looks shocked. I know that up until now, he has never thought about himself as becoming alpha. I also know he loves me and that he is not lying when he says he thinks I would be a good leader. But I need him to realize that things might not play out the way both of us want them to.

“I don’t want to become alpha,” he says. “Arden, this is your birthright. And you deserve it!”

“Maybe,” I say. “But is it truly fair that I get this advantage because I was born first?”

“This is how things were always done,” he points out.

“Just because it’s always been like that doesn’t mean it’s the best decision.”

“Okay.” Vander takes a deep breath. “I know why you think that. You see yourself training and that you aren’t the typical strong alpha, but I think the Goddess knows what she is doing. I will not allow anyone to look down on you. You ARE an alpha. You are a genius. You will lead with your brains, and I will train hard and become your beta.”

I smile at him. “You want to be my beta?”

“Is there anyone better than me?” he asks, showing me his usual cheeky grin.

“No.” I chuckle. “I would be honored to have you as my beta.”

I drop the subject for now, not because I truly agree with Vander, but because I know he doesn’t want to see it yet. Our father is not going to make me his heir, and he will not give a shit about it being my birthright or not. I don’t even think he truly appreciates Vander, either, but in his eyes, he at least isn’t defective.

I somewhat patch Vander up, and we both make it out of the alpha suite. My goal is the kitchen to organize something to eat for us, because our father ruined our first attempt at lunch. The kitchen staff, consisting of female omegas only, has always been very kind to me. The head of them has always pampered Vander and me when my father wasn’t looking.

Around them, I never switch off my hearing aid. I enjoy talking to them and listening to them.

“Don’t tell me the young alpha is looking for something to eat?” Camille, the head of the omegas, teases me.

I chuckle. “Actually, the young alphas are.”

“Both of you?” She lets out a dramatic sigh. “Zoé.” She turns to a young omega who has just started working here. She is a rather tall young woman with shoulder-length hair and a beautiful smile. “You just prepared muffins, didn’t you?”

She nods, glancing at me shyly. “If the young alpha wants, I can also make an omelet.”

“I would love that,” I say, eyeing her for a moment. “I remember you. You participated in last year’s marathon.”

“You remember?” she gapes, beaming happily. “I didn’t have much training, but…” she pauses. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to say—”

“You don’t need to apologize,” I say, well aware that my father doesn’t really care about training the omegas. He doesn’t go out of his way to be cruel to them, but he has always looked down on them. “I think you did really well.”

“You participated too, didn’t you?” she asks while starting to prepare our omelets. “I saw you and tried to keep up with your pace.”