Page 105 of A Second Chance for the Beta

“That means it’s nothing bad?” she mutters.

“No, it’s nothing bad. In general werewolves and lycans are fated to each other, but in recent times the goddess has begun to mate us to other species too. One of Liam’s brothers is mated to a siren hybrid.”

“A fucking mermaid!?” she blurts. “That’s cool!”

“There are wolves mated to humans too,” I tell her. “And your father just happened to be a vampire.”

“Oookay,” she says.

“Listen, Charlie, I’ll be honest, the person following us to England when Ella and I were looking for you, they were not after you,” I tell her. “I will tell you more about that later. However, there is a second group, and they are truly spying on you. When Ella visited the allied pack and coven, she got a lot of information, and not all of that is good.”

She stares at me. “You think I am still in danger?” she asks quietly.

“We believe Candy, your mom, hid you for a reason, and she wanted to protect you from everyone around her,” I say. “We are not sure what it means exactly. Ella took the chance and opportunity to visit an important coven leader. She is still there and trying to get some answers. I hope this is okay with you because it’s your past and your story, and we don’t want to push your boundaries. Ella is just trying to get answers to be sure you are safe.”

“Wow, I’m like the heroine of an anime,” she mutters.

I’m not so sure if that’s a good thing, but judging by the way she looks, it doesn’t seem to be too bad.

“I want to stay with you,” she says suddenly. “With you and Ella. You won’t send me away, will you? I don’t want to go and live with a guy who hurt mom.”

“Charlie, there is no way we would send you to the vampires,” I tell her with emphasis. “Unless that’s what you truly wanted. We will clarify who your father is, if he is the man hunting you, and if he is behind the bad things that happened to you and Candy. Once we know for certain, and if—it’s a big if—we find living relatives of you, and you want to have contact with them, we will support you. Besides, we have found out that your werewolf genes are going to be much more dominant anyway.”

She looks relieved. “Thank you, Uncle Dante. So, what exactly happened with Ella and who else is after us? I mean the guys that followed you around the globe.”

I hand her a plate with ham and eggs before I start telling her the whole story about Imogen. I leave out the more gruesome and disturbing details but tell her most of the things we know from the hitmen group, how we found them, how we made the connection to the vampires. I don’t tell her that Ella was technically abducted and that her father might be a crazy killer, but I make sure she knows as much as possible.

At the end she stares at me with an open mouth. “Wow,” she blurts out. “That’s a crazy story! Once it’s done, I want to make a comic out of it.”

“That’s a comic even I’d want to read,” I tell her.

She smiles a bit. She still looks confused and worried, but overall seems to believe me that we won’t send her away. She is taking this so well; it’s almost shocking how well she takes it.

Everything is still new to her,Sylvan says.Maybe this helps her with accepting more and more new truths. It also helps that we built a bond to her. She trusts us now.

He is right, and I decide to involve her in what’s going on now. Annie said she might like to feel useful.

“So, Ella thinks your mom might have left you something,” I say.

Charlie looks up at me in surprise. “You mean, something in my possession?”

“I don’t know, but maybe we could call Lorenzo and ask him. He knew your mom well. That is if you want to help—”

“I want to help,” she blurts out. “Yes!”

“Alright, after breakfast you go through your stuff and check everything you had in your belongings when you came here, and I will give Lorenzo a call.”

She nods, eagerly shoveling down her breakfast. “Done,” she jumps up.

“Let’s clean everything up first,” I say.

She groans in annoyance, but thanks to her newfound motivation, she helps me swiftly before dashing towards her room. Meanwhile I take my phone and retreat to my office. Lorenzo fortunately picks up at my first call. He is happy to hear from me and eagerly asks about Charlie’s well-being and how we all are coping.

“I’m sorry for cutting our talk short, Lorenzo,” I say after we exchange a few words, and I reassure him that Charlie is well and adapting to everything surprisingly fast. “We are still trying to find who Candy was hiding from. Do you know if she left Charlie anything?”

“She had a few items with her. I made sure to leave them in Charlie’s possession,” he says thoughtfully.

“Can you remember what it was?”