Page 34 of An Enigma for the Lycan Crown Prince

I don’t know why a woman like her even looks at a man like him.She says.I guess he is attractive, but surely she would see beyond that. Maybe she was lonely.

Maybe he tricked her?I offer.Or pretended to be someone he isn’t.

Technically, he lost his luna and mate, too, just like she lost her alpha and mate. Maybe that’s how he got her,Celeste says, tilting her beautiful head to the side. I can’t wait for Elden and Regis to see her. She is so beautiful, her fur looks white and lightgrey from afar, but it’s actually silver, and it shimmers in the moonlight.

You think he could have pulled off playing the mourning widower?I ask her.

I think he is more cunning than we give him credit for. He managed to get Carolina as his luna. Remember what Grandma said: everyone wanted her, and he wasn’t even the most impressive suitor. He became the alpha of this pack because of her, because her granddad didn’t have a successor.

She is right. I didn’t know that until Samuel and Geneva told Elden about it. Silverlake was actually Carolina’s inheritance. Her father had a successor for his pack far in the south, but her grandfather didn’t. So, it was set that Carolina’s future husband and mate would take over. She was beautiful, rich, and had a powerful pack attached to her name.

And Caelum happened to be her mate, and at the same time, managed to win over her family.

It’s still so weird, though. Caelum did rank alpha, and he certainly has an alpha’s strength and durability, and he does have a gift, but nothing special, nothing like Elden or other alphas. Yet, he managed to convince Carolina’s family that he was a worthy successor to the pack and a worthy suitor.

We don’t know what truly happened,Celeste says. Suddenly she perks up, sounding happy.Oh! We have a visitor!

There is some scratching against my window, and I jump out of my bed, opening it. Leaning out of it I can see Elden. “Can I come up?” he asks.

“Yes,” I giggle. “You can also use the door. Grandma says you are always welcome.”

“This makes it more exciting,” he says while jumping up and angling for a branch of the tree that grows right in front of my room. He climbs his way upwards until he has reached mywindow and jumps through it. I laugh while I try to catch him, the both of us falling onto my soft carpet.

I have a feeling Grandma knows that he is visiting me secretly. Sometimes, she makes teasing comments about myRomeo.But she doesn’t say anything against it. She really likes Elden, and everyone already knows we are mates. “How was dinner?” I ask him. “If it sucked, I have leftovers for you for tomorrow.”

He smiles. “Thank you. And it did suck, as expected. Then Dad wanted to talk to me in his office.”

“Talk about what?”

“Actually, it was the old man and Samuel,” he explains. “Dad wants me to finally pick a beta. He even presented me with his own choices.” He grimaces. “There is no way, I will pick anyone he wants me to choose. It can only be a terrible decision.”

“Do you have anyone in mind?” I ask him.

“Do you?” he asks in return.

“No,” I admit. “We don’t mingle that much with the pack kids.” We get along well with the other teens here, and both of us have made friends, but it’s nothing on such a deep level that I’d consider anyone suitable to be a beta.

“Some of the other kids aren’t bad,” he pauses. “But a beta needs to stand out to me for their qualities. They need to be loyal to us, but also to the pack. They need to be able to read the mood, to understand smaller issues, and to mediate. I don’t need someone to kiss my ass, I need someone to have his own opinion while still having my back. I need a connection to my beta. The only one I have such a relationship with is Jace, and Jace is going to be alpha himself, a fucking amazing one, I bet.”

“True,” I frown. “We’ll find someone,” I say with conviction. After Elden’s mom died, he kept much more to himself and only let Jace and me in, which is probably why he lacks that special connection to someone else. But he is right, it’s not just that we don’t have friends that could fit the role, it also needs to besomeone who is going to do it well. “We’ll keep our eyes open,” I reassure him. “I bet there is someone.”

“I wish I had your optimism sometimes,” he sighs.

I elbow him. “Have faith in your luna.”

He chuckles, turning to the side and kissing my cheek. “I have.” He jumps up from the floor and pulls me up with him. “Oh,” Elden eyes a small plant in the corner of my room. “That one is new.”

“I found it yesterday,” I tell him. “It was dying.”

“And you saved it,” he says with a smile, his eyes moving towards the ghost orchid, the plant he and I saved together many years ago. The beginning of our friendship. "It grew so much," he says in awe. "Is it just me or did it grow even more during the last couple of days?”

“It did,” I say. “Grandma says it’s not unusual.” I spread my arms and twirl around. “Because we are approaching a blue moon again. She said the plant always gets a growth spurt around the time of a blue moon.”

“Really?”

“Yes, once she mentioned it, I actually made the calculation, and she is right.”

Elden steps closer, inspecting the plant curiously. The orchid is full of buds now, just waiting to burst open again. It blooms once or twice every year for two weeks, but never have there been that many buds. “That one,” Elden points at a particularly full-looking bud. “Why is it so big? It’s bigger than the others.”