Page 159 of An Enigma for the Lycan Crown Prince
There is a flash of light in front of my inner eye, as my vision opens up to our surroundings again. Regis is still towering above our father, but now steps back and lets go of him as he promised.
I gaze around, noticing how Flora waves at me happily. Vincent doesn’t look shocked or surprised at all, just grins. Samuel, however, looks very relieved. When more and more of my surroundings become clearer, the noise of the warriors and pack members around me reaches me, too.
They are…cheering?
For Regis and me?
“We have a new alpha,” one of the men exclaims.
Further cheers fill the area.
You were right,Regis says. He looks crestfallen.I would have killed him.
We are the strongest together,I tell him.As a unity. Let’s not forget that. I wouldn’t be where I am without you.
He looks content at my words and nods. Once he has retreated to the back of my mind, I shift back to my human form. Dad has done the same. There are nasty claw marks on his side that don’t seem to heal properly.
“You looked amazing, man,” Vincent exclaims. “Fuck, the claws on Regis were insane!”
“Iron and silver claws,” Geneva says with a smile.
“Yeah,” Vincent grins. “He is our Iron Alpha.”
“Am I the Iron Luna then?” Flora asks.
“Aw,” Vincent says. “If you look at me so cutely, of course you are.”
She smacks his arm in annoyance. “Don’t call me cute, or I will shoot silver at you.”
“I have a feeling that threat isn’t going to get old soon,” Vincent says with a shiver. “Ugh, creepy.”
The noises around us are getting louder, with more and more of the pack members chanting my name. Some of them seem to have picked up Vincent and Flora’s argument and throw in the new nicknames for us.
“Just fantastic, thank you, Vince,” I mutter.
“You are welcome,” he grins. “Every cool alpha needs a cool name! It’s a superhero name.”
“Yeah, thanks for nothing.”
“I like it,” Flora says with a happy beam.
If she and Celeste like it, I like it too,my lycan, the biggest simp of all, admits. I am clearly outvoted.
Goddess, my body feels tired. I should be happy about this outcome, but I just feel so drained. However, there is still something else I need to do though.
Flora told me not to battle the headache. I thought it would simply help me regain control, which it did, but it also did something else. It showed me what my mind was truly capable of. Glancing in the future was just one part of it. My fatherwanted me to reach my full potential? Well, I will show my potential to him now. I step closer to him. He is sitting on the ground, disheveled and, for the first time in his life, looking truly defeated.
Staring into his eyes I allow my gift to come forward, traveling deep into his mind. He struggles against me entering his mind like that, but I push past his defenses and let my gift show him what he needs to see.
“What are you doing?” Dad gasps.
I keep sending him the future I found. The one that could have been if he made different decisions. Mom is still there, an elderly woman now with Flora’s and my child on her lap. And Dad is in it too. He is respected and valued despite his mistakes, because he always worked to better himself. He is play-fighting with a little boy, my son, in a future that will never happen that way because he ruined it.
When I have children, he won’t get to know them, he won’t be in my life.
“It could have been,” I tell him, noting that he has tears in his eyes. “This is what could have been, but will never be. Not for you, at least. It will be for Flora and me. And for our friends.”
I take a step back, my eyes meeting Emilia. She looks tired, and for the first time that I have met her she looks truly exhausted. “Emilia,” I say quietly. “You know, you will always have a place in this pack. You helped Flora and me so much.”
