Page 109 of A Second Chance for the Beta

“Thanks for the weird image, Ari,” I groan.

“For real,” Julianus mutters.

“Don’t be so sensitive, you two,” Aryanna says. “Just imagine it… just you and a plastic bag full of blood.”

“Please shut up.” I laugh.

“Is all the talk about blood making you hungry, Juli?” she teases him.

He chuckles, and for the first time that I met him, he actually smiles. “You two are so weird,” he says. “No, I just need blood once a month.”

I decide to take the risk. “A hybrid like my niece too?” I ask casually.

“It depends on how strong her genes are,” he answers thoughtfully. “For her, it might be enough to feed all two or even three months; maybe she can take even longer pauses. Her werewolf genes are going to be dominant, though. Normally that’s how it is.”

“That makes it easier,” I say with a smile.

“Then she can go to school and do her sports classes without any issues,” Ari adds.

I nod, deciding to tell Julianus more about her to make him realize that she is a person and not just a disposable object. “She is very active,” I tell him. “Loves sports. And she is a little warrior already. Punched a bunch of older teenagers.”

“I wish I could have seen it,” Aryanna laughs. “It must have been great to see her kick that bully.”

“What happened?” Julianus asks curiously.

I jump onto the opportunity and tell him how a guy tried to trick Charlie and how she and her friend fought back and made him the laughingstock instead. Julianus chuckles once I’m finished. “She sounds like quite the challenge.”

“She is a great kid,” I say. “Talking about… I don’t see many kids here.”

“That’s because us vampires aren’t as family-oriented as werewolves,” he admits. “It takes a while for us to choose a beloved, and we tend to build our families later.”

“Your life span is a bit longer than ours, so it makes sense,” I muse.

“But Ella has a point,” Aryanna says. “It’s not just that there aren’tmanykids… there are basically none here.”

“We had very few in this coven a couple of years ago,” he says. “But recently no one has planned their family.”

“How come?”

“I think the atmosphere isn’t perfect,” he explains. “At least that’s my guess.”

“You mentioned that before already,” I say, trying to look somber. “When your master’s brother left, the nurturing side of his coven disappeared too.”

Julianus looks down at his plate. “Yes,” he says quietly. “I think this is probably the reason.”

“Are there many vampire hybrids?” Aryanna asks.

“Oh, no. It’s very unusual,” Julianus explains. “We don’t mingle much with other species, but it can happen.”

“He is right,” I muse. “I haven’t heard of a mating between a werewolf and vampire up until now.”

“You are missing out,” Aryanna tells him with a grin. “We have a lot of stamina.”

“Oh, vampires are quite the skilled lovers too,” he says with a smirk. “We are said to be very creative.”

“Makes it even worse that we don’t have any mates with vampires,” I say. “I think a hybrid could have so much potential!”

“You think so?” he asks surprised. “Aloy—” He clears his voice. “I meant to say vampires believe that hybrids never reach their full potential.”