Page 28 of An Enigma for the Lycan Crown Prince

I still remember when he introduced her to me.

“Meet Emilia,” Dad says shortly, while looking at a completely perplexed Oliver and me.

My gaze wanders to the person behind him, a beautiful woman… older, Dad’s age.

“Alpha,” Oliver asks, stunned. “You found your second chance? I wasn’t aware.”

Despite everything, he still treats my father with respect. Not with the friendliness he used to have for him, but he still respects him as his alpha. I sometimes hate him for it, but now I can at least understand him a little. He still is Dad’s beta, after all. It doesn’t matter that Dad is barely at home.

“She is not my second chance,” Dad says shortly. “We chose each other.”

“Caelum, I told you that’s not the way you should introduce me. You should have told them in advance,” Emilia admonishes him, much to my surprise. Never has anyone talked like that to my father. Then she steps forward, reaching out her hand towards me. “I’m Emilia,” she says, “from a pack in Tuscany. I’m so happy to finally meet you, Elden.”

I can only stare at her, not able to bring myself to take her hand. She lets her hand drop, a hint of sadness in her eyes, but when Dad wants to push past her to yell at me or do worse, she puts her hand on his arm. “It’s okay,” she says. “They are shocked. I would be, too.”

He just gazes at her and stops paying attention to me, fortunately. Beta Oliver lets out a sigh of relief, also.

“I wish I could have met you earlier, but your father and I didn’t know where our relationship would take us,” Emilia explains.

“How did you meet?” Oliver finally finds his voice again.

“I lost my mate,” she says, sadness in her eyes. “He used to be alpha. I did lead the pack for a couple of years until his younger brother was ready to take over,” she pauses. “Unfortunately, we had no children. Caelum and I met during a meeting for the Council.”

She seems to be nice, for the lack of a better word, and like she genuinely grieved her loss. How come my father found someone like her, and how come she wants him? If she isn’t a totally crappy person, she could do better.

“You are finally here,” Samuel’s voice reaches us from behind. “Welcome to Silverlake, Emilia.”

“Thank you, Samuel.” She smiles at him, before gazing at Oliver and me. “Samuel and I are old friends.”

“Oh, are you?” I ask, turning to Samuel. One gaze at him tells me what I wanted to ask, because he looks pathetically sorry.

He did know.

Of course, he did.

Asshole!

“I’m going to meet with Flora,” I say, ready to leave this miserable little piece of drama here.

“Did you finally get serious with that girl?” Dad asks.

The way he says ‘that girl’ riles me up instantly. It’s not what he says but how he says it. As though Flora is just a nice little ornament and not her own person. As if she didn’t have any value aside from being my mate and future luna.

To my relief, Geneva steps forward now. “Allow me to welcome you too, Emilia,” she says. “We haven’t met yet, but I have heard a lot about you from the Italian packs.” She turns to me now. “You know, they always talked highly about Emilia. Despite being known as the widowed luna, she kept her pack together.”

“You are praising me too much,” Emilia says. “I did what anyone would have done.”

Geneva is a kind woman, and very smart. She was Mom’s friend. If she says Emilia is a good person, I’m more inclined to believe it, but at the same time, she just said she hadn’t met Emilia before. Emilia could still be a fraud; she could be a self-centered piece of shit like my father. Everything is possible.

“We are going to have a family dinner tonight,” Dad says. “I expect you to attend.”

I have to fight hard not to laugh. Family dinner? The last time we had one was when I was six, before Mom had her last depressive episode. “A family dinner?” I repeat.

Oliver seems to have similar thoughts because for a split second, the look on his face is of mere disbelief.

“Yes,” Dad says shortly, turning towards Emilia. “Beta Oliver will attend also. I want you to meet the ranked members.”

“You don’t have a gamma?” she asks.