Page 51 of A Second Chance for the Beta

“Oh, you got even more?”

“You remember that Portia opened this bar with Dave’s friend? The one who is one-quarter werewolf?”

“You mean Ye-Joon?” Dave asks.

“Exactly. All it needs is for you, Dante and Ella, to get out and play the prey. He told Portia he could toss in a few rumors here and there that say exactly where and when you will go out. And Levi is right; we could have a young female warrior pose as Charlie. It’s not a bulletproof plan,” he adds, “but it’s more than we had until now. Worst case scenario is that the both of you go on a dinner date and won’t have anyone following you.”

“For all it’s worth, the mercenary group could still be in England,” Dave points out.

“Do we really believe that?” I ask.

For a moment, we are all silent. “No,” Annie says, and everyone else agrees. “However, I think we would benefit from knowing what they were after.”

“You don’t think they want Charlie?” Liam asks.

“I didn’t say that,” Annie says. “The timing is too off not to be connected to her, but I feel like we are missing something.”

It’s silent around us. I can see Liam furrow his brows while putting a protective arm around Annie. “You are right,” he says. “Something feels off.”

“As long as we don’t know what’s going on, we need to be extra cautious,” I say. “I want a guard to follow Charlie regularly. I know she likes her independence, but I can’t take the risk. I will try to reassure her that it’s just temporary.”

“I agree,” Liam says. “It’s unfortunately necessary.”

I know Charlie will hate it, but better safe than sorry.

*CHARLIE*

The guard Ella and Dante picked for me is trying to be subtle, but he is always somewhere around. Gisela and Austen notice him too. “Man, they must be really worried about you,” Austen mutters.

“Ella said it’s just temporary,” I say. “But it’s so annoying. They think someone is after me, but nothing has happened so far.”

“Right? What can happen in school? They are guarding it anyway,” Gisela says.

“Has it always been that way?” I ask. “I mean with the school being guarded? There are humans here too.”

“No, that’s ever since Luna Annalise became luna and one of her friends, Alpha Celine, became alpha of Moon Blood. A while ago, a student was abducted, so they decided the school needs to have more werewolves as teachers or working there.”

“Technically, it’s not guarded,” Austen explains. “They are working here. In case of an emergency, they can act fast.”

“Makes sense,” I say. “But shouldn’t that be enough guards?”

Austen shrugs. “I don’t know. Dad and Levi are also always extra cautious.”

My phone beeps, a message of Rob coming in, the boy who asked Ty to hand me his number. He wants to meet later. “Awesome,” I groan. “I have Miss Doubtfire here spying on me while Rob wants to invite me to a coffee shop later.”

“Oh cute.” Gisela beams. “You can still go, right, Austen?”

“Hm,” Austen says, looking slightly nervous. “I guess so.”

“Isn’t it extremely lame to show up with my nanny in tow?” I ask.

Gisela scrunches her nose. “It is. A bit.” She and I exchange a gaze, grinning at each other. I love this girl. She is a little devil inside. “It’s time for the super-besties-distraction-strategy!”

“Awesome.” I laugh. “Does my other bestie help too?” I ask Austen.

Austen rolls his eyes. “I guess I have no choice but—” He doesn’t finish his sentence because one of our teachers approaches us, gesturing for Austen to come closer. Next to her, there is a tall, handsome guy. “Oh, Levi,” Austen beams.

“That’s Levi?” Gisela asks, giggling. “This family has good genes.”