Page 21 of A Second Chance for the Beta

Eric’s a good guy. He genuinely cares for his family and friends, and he is incredibly smart. He has this juvenile, slightly silly attitude, which makes his opponents underestimate him, something he always uses to his advantage.

There is a lot of traffic at the moment, so our drive takes us over two hours until Gerard reaches Cambridge. We drive through some suburban areas and pass a few parks until he halts in front of a simple-looking building. “That’s where the offices are for the SOS Children’s Village here,” he tells us. “You can get out if you want. I will just park the car.”

Ella and I happily take him up on his offer, exiting the car and stretching our tired limbs. “It’s a beautiful area,” Ella mutters. “Do you think Charlie is here?”

“I’m not sure, but I think Gerard knows a lot more, or he wouldn’t have driven us for more than two hours,” I say, looking around curiously. A bunch of children are currently playing football, while some teen girls keep playing basketball next to us. I’m not sure if they are orphans or if this is just a club. My heart aches painfully while I watch them. If my baby girl had lived to see the light, she would be a similar age to the football-playing kids now. I wonder if she’d like sports too or maybe have different interests.

I failed her. She wasn’t even born yet, and I already failed to save her.

I can feel Ella’s hand wrapping around mine, giving me a gentle squeeze. I close my eyes, trying to focus on my breathing and how it feels to hold her hand. The overflowing sadness I felt dulls down a bit and instead I feel frustrated. I’m still carrying these wounds with me. I should do better for Ella instead of being such a mess.

She keeps telling me that she understands and that I should heal at my own pace, but I don’t want her to have to deal with my demons constantly.

“Oh no, the ball!”

I blink, noticing how the basketball rolls towards me. Before I can pick it up, one of the girls rushes towards me and accidentally bumps into me. “Sorry, sir,” she blurts out.

I pick up the ball for her and smile, handing it back to her. “Don’t worry, nothing happened.”

She smiles. “Thanks.” With the basketball in her hands, she waves at the group of girls, and they disappear around the corner, probably not to disturb us anymore.

“Here is Gerard,” Ella points out and gestures down the road.

Gerard indeed hurries towards us, smiling apologetically. “I apologize. I had to search all my pockets for cash to pay for the parking ticket.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I ask, angling for my wallet. “I could have—”

I frown.

Ella looks at me appalled. “What’s wrong?”

“Where is my wallet?”

“Maybe you forgot it in my car?” Gerard asks.

That’s a possibility. We still seem to have some time before our meeting—whoever it is we’re meeting—so Gerard takes us back to his car to let me retrieve my wallet. But it isn’t there. I frown in confusion, feeling slight annoyance filling me. I know I had it with me when I got into his car because at one point I handed Ella one of our credit cards to hold on to.

“It has to be somewhere.” I frown.

“Lost it on the way?” Gerard offers.

“No,” Ella says all of a sudden, her tone fed up with annoyance. “The girls.”

“What?” I look at her, surprised. “You mean the ones that were playing basketball?”

Ella groans. “I can’t believe it. It was probably a trick.” There is more in her tone, though, something she isn’t telling me, and I wonder what it is. I look at her curiously, but she seems to be linking with her wolf, a clear sign that she is going through something with her and needs to sort her feelings first.

“Some kids stole it?” Gerard sighs. “Alright, at least we know where to retrieve the wallet from. I will call one of the supervisors here to make sure to get to the girls. Just remember, we are in human territory here.”

I can’t believe it.You could have told me that someone’s stealing our wallet,I point out to my wolf.

I didn’t notice,he mutters.It’s embarrassing, but damn, this girl was a pro.

Awesome, being robbed by a teen!

Ella chuckles and takes my hand. “At least we know who took it,” she says, gesturing towards Gerard, who is currently talking to someone on the phone.

“Don’t worry,” Gerard reassures us. “One of the supervisors is already talking to the girls. They have retrieved your wallet. Meanwhile, we can go and meet the person I want you to meet.”