Page 47 of An Enigma for the Lycan Crown Prince

“If I only knew what you are thinking,” he says. “It’s so hard to read you.”

“I don’t mean to insult you,” I say shortly.

“Just ask,” he pushes. “Like seriously, by now, you should know that I’m the most chilled dude ever.”

“How do you do it?” I ask. “After everything that happened to you. How are you happy and optimistic?”

Vincent looks at me for a while, and I’m scared I did indeed insult him or push it too far. I don’t mind normally if I cross certain boundaries. I have no problems with standing up for myself, but I really don’t want to hurt a genuinely nice guy like him. “I’m not always like that,” he admits after a while. “Like, sometimes, getting up is so hard.”

“Really?” I turn to look at him.

“Yeah, a fucking battle every day,” he says.

I don’t say anything; it just feels good to have someone here who understands what I feel. It’s hard to put into words otherwise. I’m still pondering over his words when I feel it again. It starts with a slight throbbing behind my temples, a sense of terror overflowing me the second I feel it, well aware of what’s going to happen. The throbbing spreads through my whole brain, slowly expanding, tugging at my nerves and pushing against my skull, before jolts of pain surge through me. I gasp in pain, curling over and grabbing my head.

“Elden?” Vincent blurts out, appalled.

“It’s my head,” I pant. “Sometimes… it just comes…”

It’s like something is pushing against my skull. I always thought the pain came from inside, but it doesn’t… it’s more like an outer force wanting to push into my head.

Vincent grabs my shoulder. “Okay, I’m going to get help!”

“No, just go,” I huff. “You have work.”

“I’m volunteering there,” he says. “I already linked them and told them that the future alpha needs my assistance. I am going to get help.”

“No! No one can help,” I blurt out. “Just stay here. It’s… my gift…”

I close my eyes, unable to bear to look at anything. Everything hurts my head: the sun, the rustling of the leaves, even my own breath. It’s so loud all around me.Regis,I breathe out, trying to reach out to my lycan, but I can barely grasp our bond.

It’s our stupid gift,he mutters, rubbing his head against the ground.

I stop focusing on him, as it just makes it worse. That’s when I feel something cold being pressed against my neck and forehead. It soothes the pain a bit. I can only breathe through it and wait till it passes. It has to pass. I knock with my knuckles against my skull, as if it will chase the pain away.

“Just breathe,” Vincent instructs me, his voice quiet and low. “Breathe through every wave of pain.”

The cold against my neck and his voice, make it easier to focus on him, instead of the pain that’s trying to split my skull apart. The minutes seem to drip by excruciatingly slowly while wave after wave of pain hits me. After what feels like forever the pain subsides, with only a dull feeling remaining. I take a deep breath. “It’s gone,” I mutter.

“Shit, dude,” Vincent says, looking at me in worry. “That lasted for forty minutes.”

“That long?” I ask, horrified. “It’s never lasted that long!”

“Will you listen if I told you to see the pack doctor?”

“No,” I say.

“Thought as much.” Vincent takes the bottle he has pressed against my neck and hands it to me. “You need to drink some more. Or even better… how about we grab something to eat?”

I nod. “Not a bad idea.”

“Here, or should we go to town?”

“Town,” I say. “I need to get my head away from here for a bit.”

I make sure to link Beta Oliver to have someone drive us. Fortunately, Oliver never asks many questions when I need something. It’s like we have a silent agreement with each other that he will have my back if needed and give me an out so that I won’t need to deal with my father. We never talked about it, we still don’t, but I know I can rely on him when I need something.

“This pack really doesn’t have a gamma?” Vincent asks when he sees how Oliver approaches us with a warrior.