Page 136 of A Second Chance for the Beta

“And you are alright with joining?” Dante asks. “What about your old vampire lord?”

Julianus sighs. “Silas made sure to spread the word I’m under his protection.”

“But you aren’t,” Dante says.

“I can’t,” Julianus admits. “I… Silas moved on, and he is happy. I think he has found someone much more worthy to become his beloved than I have ever been. And the fact he hasn’t officially asked him yet is my fault too. Because I betrayed him to an extent, he can’t trust easily anymore.”

“I think the same goes for the person he is considering his beloved,” I say shortly. I don’t want to rub salt into Julianus’s wound, but I think both Marcellus and Silas come from a place of great pain and betrayal, and they found solace in each other.

Julianus is right. There is no place for him in Silas’s life, at least not like it was before.

“I will help you with your niece,” Julianus says. “To pay you back for your kindness and help, Beta Ella. And then I will try to make amends and find a place I belong to.”

“Alpha Liam would be willing to let you stay in the pack,” Dante says. “Because of your help.”

Julianus stays quiet for a while. “That’s an offer I will need to properly think about,” he admits.

“Fair enough,” Dante mutters.

He is tense. I can feel it through our bond. The fact that Charlie means so much to him, that he embraced her and me as his family means so much to me.

“Remember,” Dante says. “You and Ella will wait for them at the meeting point. The rest of us will hide.” He tosses me a glance. “The makeup makes you really look—”

“Hideous?” I offer.

“I was going to go for beat up, but in a way that’s hideous too,” he says. “Dave really is an artist.”

“He has a friend who is a dancer and works for a theater; apparently, he knows quite a bit about theater makeup,” I explain. Dante is right. I look freaking amazing in the worst way possible. Dave and Annie made me look like I got the beating of my life. The fact I look like I haven’t healed will make them believe I was pumped with wolfsbane.

But I’m so ready to strike.

“Silence now,” Dante says while he parks the car in a small side road, hiding it from prying eyes. We will walk the last part of the way. Everyone aside from me and Julianus have their scents suppressed.

*CHARLIE*

The fresh air helps me regain my senses. The basement, the darkness there, the sticky air, the lack of water and food… it all made me feel numb, but now my senses seem more on alert again. I can feel my hearing sharpening, taking up any noise surrounding us.

“There is no one back here aside from us,” I mutter into the silence, still keeping my voice low in case the men have the car windows open.

“Are you sure?” Dario asks silently.

“Yes, my senses are enhanced thanks to the vampire genes,” I explain.

I feel something cold against my hands, making me wince in shock first before I realize my ties are loosening. Felix moves the blindfold off my head before proceeding to do the same for Dario. “You got a knife?” I whisper.

“Yes, when they held me and Dario, I managed to snatch it from that one drunk guard that threatened Dario,” he mutters.

He and Dario exchange a short glance. “When we tell you to,” Felix whispers. “Run. And get help.”

“Are you nuts? You are going to do something dangerous, aren’t you?” I mutter.

“Yes, but we need one of us to get away, and you are our best bet,” he says quietly.

Impossible! I want to tell him that it’s a crazy plan! When we chased towards the river, they were so fast, but then I remember how the guards dragged them out of the cell occasionally and roughed them up. I don’t know what they did to them, but I know they hide it so as not to upset me.

“You can see quite well through the night, can’t you?” Dario asks.

I nod.