4. Winter Solstice

Chapter four

Winter Solstice

*AURELIA*

" M y girls look fantastic as usual," Dad compliments both Mom and me. His eyes linger on Mom, though, something dark flashing in them. I knew the black dress would be a good idea. It's out of Mom's usual comfort zone, but she seems to enjoy the attention.

Freya and Finn went ahead, to spend some time with Liam and Annie and their twin girls. So, my parents, my twin brothers, and I drive together. The winter solstice is a huge event, and I am so happy my whole family can attend it.

We arrive at the same time my brother Marius and his mate Celine do. Marius grins at us when he sees us. "Oh, my lovely family!" He pauses when he sees me. "You look too beautiful for your own good," he comments. "Dad, why do you let her look so good?"

"If you want to try and stop her," Dad says, "good luck."

Marius looks at me while I return his gaze with furrowed brows. "No, better not."

We both laugh, and I give him a hug. "Hey, silly man." Not everyone finds his jokes funny, but I do. Also, I know he would never tell me what to wear, and if anyone actually did, he would be the first to get angry.

I let go of him when Mom's tiny frame pushes me away to hug Marius, too. "All my babies in one place." Mom giggles while squeezing him. "Seeing you all so grown up, I almost wish we could make another one!" Her eyes light up at her own words, and she turns to Dad. "Elden! I want a baby!"

Dad is used to Mom's antics by now, but even he looks horrified at her words.

I take advantage of the distraction to catch up with Celine. She is the alpha of Moon Blood, with Marius being her lune. It's an uncommon match, but Marius has never cared for titles or what society wants to push him into. It's what makes him so amazing. In the short time he has been lune, he has already achieved a lot for his pack.

Meanwhile, Celine is the born alpha. She is strong and intelligent, a hybrid with witch powers.

"You look fantastic, Celine," I say.

"She does," Marius says while hugging her from behind. "Albeit a bit tired."

"You are always worrying about me," she says.

"That's because you work too much."

"You're one to talk." She chuckles. She turns to me now. "I can't wait for you to take over your pack," she says. "Another reigning female alpha will make my work so much easier."

"Come, let's go and meet the others," Marius says, taking her hand.

Celine agrees and leads us to a huge hall, which Liam and Annie have turned into an impressive ballroom for today. I see a lot of familiar faces… friends, acquaintances, and allies. There are many high-ranking members of different packs here, and I already know it will be quite a busy day, full of networking.

We bump into Finn and Freya, who are catching up with Liam and Annie. It's so amazing to celebrate this with all my siblings. In a way, I can understand Mom's overexcitement. We all chat for a while until Finn and Freya leave us to greet their friends, the future twin alphas of Emerald Moon. Finn's gamma, Emmanuel, and his mate Matthew join them. Matthew is an old friend of the twins and seems happy to catch up with them.

After greeting each other, Annie takes Celine's arm and gestures towards her human friend, Dave. He recently found a werewolf mate and joined her pack. "Look, Dave is here," she says.

Celine gazes through the room curiously. "Oh, I am so happy he was able to join your pack." She turns to look at Liam. "What did Alpha Elden say?"

"Not much," Liam says. "He didn't vote against me when I suggested Dave as an advisor for the Council."

"He would never vote against you," I say. Dad doesn't like humans much due to his history with them, but he has learned to respect Dave for who he is, and he would never sabotage one of us in their work. This project was important to Liam, and bringing a human into the lycan council as an advisor was a challenging task he had at hand. Dad would have never worked against him.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Celine takes Annie's hand. "Is that him? Dave's mate?"

"Yes," Annie exclaims, subtly gesturing towards a tall, bulky guy standing next to Dave with his arm around his waist.

"He is actually kinda cute," Celine says with a chuckle.

"Hopefully not as cute as I am?" Marius wants to know.

Celine snorts, reaching out her hand to touch his neck. "Obviously, you are the cutest."

"See, when I tell Liam he is cute, he always complains." Annie laughs. "But he can't help it. When he cradles my baby girls, it's just the sweetest."

Indeed, Liam narrows his eyes to glare. He is very similar to our father. Strong, tall, and a bit stern. He is a bit more stoic than Dad, though, and a tad bit more serious. Eye to eye with Annie, he faces no chance, and soon his annoyed expression melts away, and he smiles. He hugs her and kisses the top of her head. "I can't help it either," he says. "With my three beautiful girls surrounding me, I am putty in their hands."

"Pity the girls are too small to celebrate with us," I say. "Aunt Aurelia wants to see her nieces."

Annie smiles. "There are way too many people for them. But you will see them for Christmas."

"Awesome," I say. "I hope you are aware that we all tried to outdo each other with our Christmas gifts for them?"

"She is right," Marius snorts. "It's going to be crazy. Better brace yourself."

"So, none of you listened to our request not to overstimulate them," Liam says. "I wish I could say I am surprised."

"I bet it's going to be similar with my family," Annie says. "Someone else needs to get a baby soon."

"Well, some of our siblings have found their mates," Liam agrees. "Here's hoping for some baby action soon."

"Or maybe you can toss in a third," Marius suggests.

"How about you do your part first?" Liam retorts.

Marius blinks innocently while Celine glares at her mate for even shifting the topic towards them. "I need a drink," he says.

"I will help you." I chuckle.

The rest of the night is as magical as I expected. I make sure to spend some time with my family and friends before Dad and Liam both take me along to meet some of their business partners and allied alphas. Finn mingles on his own as his pack is in a different part of the country. But, since Dad wants me to take over in a few years, it's time the allied alphas get used to seeing me around. I am, in fact, enjoying socializing, having fun with meeting new people, and making new contacts. I know not all of them will be excited to deal with a female alpha, but I am a lycan princess, to my advantage, and with both Liam and Dad having my back, no one would even dare to make a shallow comment.

Eventually, though, I want them to let me stand up for myself. I hope Dad will let me handle some meetings on my own, in the future.

*ARDEN*

The preparations at the Council are going into the last stage, and everything is as crazy as it can be. Christmas in Paris is just magical, and even more so at the Council. My younger brother and I are here to help because Prince Eric requested for us to be, and it's probably the only thing my father truly likes about me: the fact that one of the princes of the Council sees a tiny bit of potential in me.

Eric rummages through some of the books. "Where again was the passage about lycans during the Enlightenment and French Revolution?" he mutters.

I turn to him. "The Years of Evolution," I say. "Page 215."

He looks at me. "Bless you and your eidetic memory," he mutters. "Please tell me you can recite the whole passage."

"I can," I reassure him, helping him write the facts down. Considering I am an alpha's son, his firstborn, at that, I'm not particularly strong and not really skilled in any areas. I don't even know if I have a particular gift. As an alpha-blooded lycan, I am supposed to have gifts, but so far I can't sense any. My only asset is my mind.

One of Prince Eric's subordinates enters, and I turn back to my work. I lower my hearing aid to avoid hearing what they are talking about. Eventually, the both of them leave the room. Silence engulfs me, completely, lulling me in. Years ago, when I had the accident, I was devastated to realize I lost major parts of my hearing, but now it's a blessing. I can tune out everything around me, and just be with myself.

Half an hour into my work, I can feel something changing. Vibrations through the floor indicate a soft, even padding of footsteps. A young woman. I sense her approaching and look up, noticing Valerie. She is Prince Erics's mate, a young, beautiful, and gentle woman, one of the kindest people I have ever met.

I don't have many friends, but she is one, so I immediately turn my hearing aid up again.

"Why do you do that?" she asks quietly.

"Sometimes I prefer the silence," I admit.

I like to be engulfed by it, and not hear what others say about me. The moment I realized I could literally tone their insults down or block them out—the mocking, the hate, the disgust—the silence around me became much more bearable. Like a blanket I can pull over my head and not see or hear anyone.

I don't talk much, either, unless it's with people I am comfortable with or when I really have to. Sometimes, I am not sure if my voice is too loud or if I pronounce a word awkwardly.

"What happened to your face?" she asks.

"I had training today," I explain. "With my father."

"And he hurt you like that?"

"Get up," my father links me. He is the only one whose voice I can't escape even if I wanted to. His alpha command could easily break through any barrier I put up.

I've learned to remove my hearing aid before training with him. It would always break in one way or another. The downside is that it gives me a disadvantage not to wear it… something I feel that he enjoys.

The moment I scramble to my feet, he punches me again, sending me flying. "You are my son, my oldest," he yells. "Why aren't you better?"

"Well, I am an alpha's son," I say. "Training is always hard."

Valerie reaches out her hand, touching my face. I feel the warmth flooding through her fingers, feeling how the slight burn of the cut on my cheek subsides. "Done," she says, pulling her hand away.

"You shouldn't exert yourself over such a minor injury," I say.

She laughs. "But it's not draining me much to do it," she says. "You know I could try again…" she pauses. "With, well, with your hearing."

When Valerie arrived here and heard of my ailment, she offered to try to heal it. That was if I wanted her to. And I did. I wanted it. I wanted to feel normal for one time in my life. Her gift is healing. She is a true miracle and is considered a special werewolf. The Council was basically hysterical in their joy when they realized she and Prince Eric were mates and that she would move here. Healers are incredibly rare.

But no matter what she tries, she can't heal my hearing. The first time she tried, the repercussions of using her gift hit her, and she spent three days in bed with a fever. That's the downside of having a gift like hers; there is always a price to pay. Hers is to be of weak health.

It made me realize that my lack of hearing is part of me. No matter if I like it or not, it's not going to magically go away.

"No." I shake my head. "We tried it a few times already," I pause. "The injury that ruined my hearing is old," I say quietly. "Too old, and it even influenced my wolf. Back then, everyone thought that once I got my wolf, it would…" I pause, not sure how to continue.

Valerie doesn't say anything. She understands me even without me saying it aloud. I grab my ear as if I can make the silence go away and heal me magically. My wolf has the same ailment as I do. He wasn't able to heal me despite being an alpha wolf. Ever since that day, I have been my father's biggest disappointment. It's bad enough that I am not the best of fighters but even worse that my wolf can't hear well.

What kind of alpha can't hear?

My younger brother Vander doesn't have any disability, but he isn't the firstborn either. Usually, the first child of an alpha inherits his strength unless they are twins or triplets. Vander isn't made to lead, and that's okay, but I am not the typical alpha, either, and that's a problem.

Between the both of us, I can see that Dad prefers Vander. He is fun and popular and a decent fighter without even having his wolf yet. He will turn seventeen soon, and then his lycan will wake up, and hopefully, he will be strong and healthy.

I can feel my own lycan humming in my mind. We don't talk much for obvious reasons. Cato resorts to projecting images instead and communicating in other ways. Technically, he has a voice, but he isn't comfortable using it due to his hearing ailment. And, just like I do, he hopes Vander will not share our fate.