Page 104 of A Second Chance for the Beta

“She is not dead, is she?”

I feel like a blizzard strikes me. I don’t need her to clarify what she means. I instantly get it, and my heart clenches at the fact that this is the thought she has been battling with ever since yesterday. “No, dear, Ella is alright,” I say, pushing her back a bit to have her look at me. “Look me in the eye.”

I wait for Charlie to raise her gaze and look at me.

“Ella is alive and healthy,” I say. “I wouldn’t be able to stand in front of you the way I am if she weren’t. If our bond broke, I would be broken too. She is on a mission.”

“But…” Charlie has finally stopped crying, now only sobbing silently. “Why… why didn’t she call? What happened? Something happened, didn’t it?”

I hug her again, patting her head. “I will tell you.”

“Please don’t leave anything out,” she urges. “I just want to know.”

“I will tell you everything,” I reassure her. “Let’s have breakfast together. I will start from the beginning as to why she left to visit that other pack yesterday and why she didn’t return.”

“You promise you won’t leave anything out?”

“Yes,” I say. Liam and Annie were right. She needs me to be honest. She was so scared that she might have lost another family member—it breaks my heart.

I make sure that Charlie sits down at the dining table and has something to eat and drink. She sips at her hot chocolate, looking at the huge amount of food. “I still think you want to lessen the blow,” she mutters.

“I just didn’t know how to tell you everything,” I admit. “I’m not good with this.”

“Is it about me?” she asks.

“Partly,” I admit. “You… you remember your nose-bleeding, the change of your eye color, right?”

“Yes, it only happened two days ago,” she says. “Because of my wolf, right?”

“Well, no. Luna Annalise remembered something, which is why she and Ella left to visit an allied pack. It’s a joint pack and coven with two leaders.”

“A coven?” she asks curiously.

“Witches and vampires live in a coven,” I tell her. “In this case, it’s a vampire coven.”

She stares at me. “Vampires… like Edward Cullen?”

“Who is that man?” I ask.

“Forget it,” she says. “So, vampires exist too?”

“Yes, they are very real. They live more secluded than other species, though,” I tell her. “The joint pack-coven is an exception and works really well.”

“Can vampires exist in daylight?” she asks. “Do they kill and suck blood?”

“Yes, they can exist in daylight, though their skin is very sensitive. They don’t kill humans; they have volunteers for blood. They are a bit elitist, but actually it’s a bit similar to us wolves: There are rotten eggs within them, and there are good guys within them.”

She nods tentatively. “Okay.”

“You know hybrids exist?” I ask her.

“I think Ella mentioned once that Jazz is a hybrid.”

“She is partly a witch,” I tell her. “Also, Luna Annalise’s best friend is a hybrid. She is the alpha of an allied pack and part werewolf, part witch.” I pause. “And you are a hybrid too, Charlie.”

Charlie lets her fork drop down into her pancake with whipped cream. “Excuse me?” she asks, shocked.

“You are half werewolf, half vampire,” I tell her, trying to sound as neutral as possible, just to make sure she doesn’t freak out thinking it’s something bad. “While we don’t have many hybrids in our society, they exist, and they are not outcasts.”