Page 50 of A Second Chance for the Beta

Dante and Liam join us with a couple of drinks and some canapes while tugging a slightly nervous Levi along. He seems to be spellbound to be around so many high-ranking pack members, but he still appears confident. “Levi just completed our exchange program,” Liam explains. “He was our guinea pig and volunteered to go and visit one of our allied packs and learn from them. We want to have this as a regular program now.”

“It was a great opportunity, Alpha Liam,” Levi says.

“He just returned earlier than expected,” Liam explains. “I met him on my way.”

Poor guy, I think, to bump into the alpha first thing upon his return has to be scary. Liam is a fantastic alpha and an overall great person, but he is stoic and composed, and gives off a stern image. As an alpha, he has to keep everyone in line, but he is putting real effort into being more approachable. Fortunately, he has Annie to help him with that.

“Welcome back home, Levi,” Annie greets him with a warm smile. “We heard you did very well in your training.”

“Thank you, Luna,” he says, looking slightly flustered. “I was really happy about the opportunity.”

“Seems like we will soon have a new sentinel to add to our warriors,” Dante muses.

“Yeah, they showed me some neat techniques,” he explains. “Wild Meadow is a rather small pack, but they are really effective and are living with a werecat pride. Their queen showed us some tricks.”

“You learned to be sly like a cat?” Dave teases.

“I wish I could say I were.”

“Let’s put that to the test,” I chime in. “So, how would you deal if you knew someone would be spying on you or someone in your family. But you don’t know who they are; they are not showing themselves, and every trace you follow disappears into nothingness.”

I hate the fact that we don’t know who exactly spies on us. Well, we know it was a professional hitman, but they had to come from somewhere!

“Can’t you lure them out?” Levi asks.

“That would endanger a child,” I say. Charlie is going to school, which is a heavily guarded place at the moment, but other than that, I don’t want to take the risk and let her play the bait in such a dangerous situation.

“How young is the child?”

“Teenager,” Dante says.

“How about someone who acts as her?” Levi offers.

I grab Dante’s arm. “D, we could absolutely do that. Charlie isn’t tiny; she is rather tall. We could have one of the female warriors dress up as her.”

“I agree,” Liam says and nods at Levi. “You passed the test.”

Levi lets out a sigh of relief, making Dante chuckle. “Take your day off tomorrow,” he tells him. “Your aunt and uncle are looking forward to seeing you, and Austen is too. Spend some time with them, and if you want to, you can join training the day after.”

Levi beams. “Thank you, Beta Dante.”

We watch him leave before Liam turns his attention back to us to let us in on his own plan. “Annie and I have some information too,” he says. “That’s why I was late. Can we talk somewhere private?”

“Let’s go to my office,” Dave offers.

Without disturbing the party and pulling the attention on us, we make it to Dave’s office. Liam closes the door behind us. “Clyde Garcia,” he says. “The council managed to put a name on that guy Ella drew, one of the guys following you.”

“Then we have a name,” Dante exclaims.

“Yes and no.” Liam sighs. “I talked to Eric earlier, and he confirmed my suspicion. It’s a made-up name. However, there is a criminal record attached to his name. Very shady guy. Eric will send us the record.”

“While I wish we would have a real name to track down, it’s still something,” Dante says.

“I have more,” Liam interrupts him. “Annie and I talked to our pack witches,” he explains. “Stella and Jazz said they would need one object, anything, that belongs to one of the mercenaries, and they could track them through a spell.” He pauses. “Stella’s wife Portia asked her underground contacts too. She said the group we are searching for is always working for a customer, and they need to have a spy somewhere. A mediator between them and their customer, someone who wouldn’t raise any suspicions when he strolls through the city.”

“Someone we can’t smell and detect?” Annie asks. “Then he can only be a human.”

“That’s what I thought too,” Liam agrees. “I talked to Portia about this.”