Page 29 of An Enigma for the Lycan Crown Prince

“No, he left when my first mate passed away, and we never chose someone else for the position.”

He neglects to tell her that we never chose a second gamma because he was barely here, and so Samuel and Geneva took over. Then, they decided that they would continue to lead the pack together with Dad, until I became old enough to take over.

“Elder Samuel, Elder Geneva, I hope you will join us too,” Dad says.

“We wouldn’t want to miss it,” Geneva says. For a moment, I’m not sure if she is being sarcastic or not.

“Flora will attend, too,” I say. I’m definitely not going into this without proper backup! And who is a better backup than my girlfriend and mate?

“She is not family,” Dad says.

“She is,” I say with emphasis. I don’t give a shit if he is going to be angry or not, or if he is going to hit me for standing up against him, but no one is diminishing Flora’s position in my life! “She is my mate and future luna.”

“Your mate?” Emilia asks, stunned. “You are only fifteen, aren’t you? So, the rumors are true.” She turns to Dad. “I would love to meet the future luna.”

“You are the future luna, for now,” Dad says.

“No.” Emilia shakes her head. “I’m your chosen mate, and will help you and the elders from the sidelines, until Elden and his fated mate are old enough to take over.”

My father looks like he wants to protest, but Emilia takes his hand into hers, squeezing it. “It’s hard for a pack to accept a luna so late, and I’m sure they have already accepted your son and his mate. I will help you as much as I can, but this position doesn’t belong to me.”

Dad looks annoyed, but, at the same time, doesn’t seem to be able to fight this woman. I’m actually amazed. How is she doing it?

I still feel confused, but seeing how my father is finally distracted enough to stop talking to me, I decide to take advantage of the moment and sneak away.

*FLORA*

“You are late!” I jump up and wave at my handsome boyfriend, beaming when he comes running towards me. “Did your training with Samuel take longer?”

Like out of a Marilyn Monroe movie, I throw myself into his arms, happy when he twirls me around. I wrap my arms around his neck. “I’m sorry you had to wait,” he mutters, wrapping his arms around my middle and pulling me closer against his body. “Samuel had a few things he wanted to discuss with me. I think he hopes we will take over as soon as we are eighteen.”

“So soon,” I say, before pulling him downwards and kissing his nose. “But if it’s with you, I bet even leading a pack will be fun.”

I let go of him, stretch out my arms, and twirl around. Elden chuckles, grabbing my arm and pulling me against his chest again. I love when he does that. His chest is so broad, and he has trained so much recently that his muscles are getting more and more prominent. The other girls have noticed, too, but he is mine.

“Before I forget,” he says. “Jace needs me to be his backup for one of these crappy elitist parties. Please tell me you’ll come.”

“Of course.” I shrug. “Can’t let you two boys alone.” I beam as a thought crosses my mind. “I can ask Janice, too.”

“It’s a party thrown by his father,” he points out. “You know how he is. Worse than mine.”

“I will say Janice is my friend,” I offer with a smirk. “Jace finds her cute.”

“Are you sure? He didn’t look like that to me.”

Boys. I roll my eyes. Jace looked at her and was completely smitten. “Believe me, he is.”

“Okay but Janice is half lycan, which means to Jace’s parents she is probably as bad as an omega,” he grimaces. “As if it’s bad to be of lower rank. Dad looks down on them as well. What a stupid thing to do.”

It’s one of the things I love about him. His sense of justice. “I am sure Jace’s dad won’t say anything if I bring her along.”

“You sure you can pull it off?”

“Of course, I am your mate after all.”

He smirks. “I love when you abuse your power.”

“In this case, I am rather abusing yours.” I giggle when he twirls me around again and pulls me into a kiss. The day he asked me on a date, three years ago, was the best of my life. We knew we were mates, and it was weird between us for a while when we realized what we meant to each other. I have liked him for so long, and then he made the first step and asked me out; like the prince he is.