Page 15 of A Second Chance for the Beta

Oh, I call my friends and go lingerie shopping,she says.We figured, no matter what and how, we always get our mates with lingerie.

In my mind Sylvan almost starts to drool at the thought of our mate going lingerie shopping. And she is right; sometimes she pops up with interesting new stuff. Last time she bought a white lace set that made her look like a little devious angel.

I can’t believe you are teasing me while we are sitting in an airplane, and I can’t do anything,I complain with a smirk before bending closer to her. “But when we reach our hotel tonight…” I whisper into her ear.

She grins. “Better not forget your promise.”

*ELLA*

“Florence is amazing!” I turn around to look at everything. It’s beautiful, smaller than Paris, the only European city I’ve visited until now. The buildings, the little cafés… even the streets… everything is so beautiful. “I wish we had time to go sightseeing,” I admit. “Maybe next time.”

“Yes.” Dante squeezes my hand. “Let’s find Charlie, and then when we settle everything, we can return one day.”

“Charlie was born here,” I say. “Maybe he would like to revisit this place one day.” I pause. “Goddess, Dante, I was so set on finding Charlie that I forgot to consider what would happen if he didn’t want to come with us.”

Dante takes a moment to answer. He often thinks properly before replying. I love that about him. “One step after another, Ella,” he finally says. “Let’s find him first, and then step by step we can decide everything together. I will be there the whole way.”

We are about to mess with the life of a child, a teen.

Maybe he has a new family now.

Or maybe he is alone,Nefeli reasons.On top of that, he is technically a rogue! I don’t think he lives in a pack.

How do you know?

Intuition and our gift,she says.I am constantly trying to feel him through our bond, and I don’t think he is in the safety of a pack.

I sigh. I need to find him. First things first, Dante and I make our way to the hospital. Bernard did a lot of work for us already, and Liam had the Council pull some of their contacts. So, we manage to meet a doctor and a nurse, both of whom were present that night.

“Yes, I’m sure it was her.” The nurse looks at Candy’s picture and smiles. “She was all alone, and I brought her something to drink before she went into labor. Poor little thing.”

My heart aches at her words. “I wish I would have known,” I mutter.

“She was a nice girl,” the nurse says. “I think she would have been happy to know her sister is looking for her.”

I don’t have the heart to tell her that Candy isn’t alive anymore. “And her child?”

“I wasn’t working that shift,” the doctor explains to me. “But I heard that a young woman gave birth and left shortly afterwards. It was a bit of a ruckus because she was supposed to stay at least a day. The weird thing is, she was talking to a man.”

“You saw her?” Dante asks.

“I saw a young woman leave with a baby in her arms,” he explains. “It could have only been her. Even all those years later, I still remember how she was hugging her child and pulling her jacket over her shoulders. Like she was hiding from something.”

“And the man she talked to?” I ask nervously. “Was she afraid of him?”

“No…” The doctor frowns. “I thought he might have been her father. But I can’t tell for sure.”

Her father? Dante and I exchange a gaze. It’s impossible for my dad to have been there, but maybe… maybe she had some help here.

“Oh,” the doctor’s eyes widen a bit. “I just remembered something. The man… he was wearing a cap. An SOS Children’s Village cap. I remember finding it weird because he seemed so familiar with your sister. Then I figured maybe he is just working there.”

“SOS Children’s Village… that’s like an orphanage, isn’t it?”

“Yes, our orphanages here are different from the states.” The nurse beams now. “Wait, let me give you some folders. If your sister’s father or uncle or whoever that man was was working there, you might be able to find him.”

This is the first real lead we have. When we leave the hospital, Dante and I head to our hotel. It’s a cozy place in the old part of the city. It’s not as fancy as a newly built hotel would be, but it has all the charms of being part of the old town. “Do you think the SOS Children’s Village guy was there to pick up Charlie?” I ask.

Dante frowns. “I don’t think so,” he says. This is what I love about him; he can always keep a cool head, and his analytical instincts as the alpha’s beta tend to kick in whenever we face a little crisis. “The thing is, your sister tried to keep everything under the radar. No one knew she had a baby, aside from your parents. She knew her life was in danger, and I doubt she would have just handed the child to an orphanage, to an unknown person. Charlie might be in an orphanage, but I doubt it’s here where Candy gave birth, and I doubt the man is someone she doesn’t know.”