Page 73 of A Second Chance for the Beta

I can hear some rustling before Annie’s voice comes through. “You found someone?”

“Yes. Okay, Annie, I know this might sound weird, and I’m not sure if the alpha will approve.”

“But?” Annie asks.

“I want Dave to question him,” I say.

Annie is quiet for a moment. “Okay,” she says. “Why?”

“Because this guy is like the textbook example of a clueless, helpless guy who is barely legal,” I say. “Either he is a very good actor or the most oblivious guy I’ve ever met. They told him we were the werewolf mafia,” I say, cringing a bit because it’s so awkward to even say it out loud. “I think Dave could probably win his trust.”

“I got you,” Annie says. “I trust your judgment. I will make sure Dave is ready.”

“The alpha?”

“Liam won’t be happy, but he also won’t oppose if you have valid points,” Annie says. “Don’t worry for now; just take him to the pack for questioning.”

“Thank you,” I say before hanging up and handing Ye-Joon his phone.

“Yeah,” he says. “When the guy followed you, Lane and I had to take a double look to make sure it’s really not just someone who wanted to use the bathroom. He was also short on money, spending his whole evening with one drink.”

I shake my head. “I hope this is leading us somewhere.”

“Dave is capable,” Ye-Joon says. “He might get through to him.”

I smile. “I know. Thanks, Ye-Joon.”

“Anytime.”

I wave at him before finally following Dante and Lane, meeting them at the car. They haven’t even bothered tying the guy up, just locked the door. Lane is sitting next to him and keeps an eye on him. He looks terrified, though. I have no doubt he thinks we are going to execute him somewhere.

twenty-four

Richie

*ELLA*

Oncewereachthepack and the packhouse, Liam, Annie, and Jun are already awaiting us. Liam has his brows furrowed as he watches us bring along a potential threat to his pack. Jun looks equally worried and makes sure that he can shield Annie just in case.

“I won’t say anything,” Richie exclaims once Dante drags him out of the car and towards one of the meeting rooms. We call it an interrogation room in front of him just for the pretense. There is no way we can drag him into the dungeons; he would probably have a heart attack.

Liam looks completely unimpressed at his words. “We will see,” he says shortly.

Richie looks horrified once he eyes Liam. He looks him up and down, shifting around nervously. His reaction surprises me, and I decide to go with my first intuition. “Have you never seen an alpha before?” I ask shortly.

“What do you mean?” he mutters nervously. “What’s an alpha?” He looks around. “What is this place? Where is your underground base?”

“You and Annalise are right,” Liam says shortly, looking fed up already while turning towards me. “That’s a job for David.”

He gestures for Dante to take the young man along, waiting for them to disappear through the door before shaking his head. “How did he end up in this? We shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but he doesn’t give off a lot of criminal energy.”

“I agree,” Annie says. “We should be cautious until we know who he is and what he did.”

Dave doesn’t take long to arrive, almost running towards us. Once he is there, we fill him in on everything. Then we all leave to sit in an adjacent room where Jun has set up a screen beforehand to stream what the surveillance cameras in our so-called interrogation room show us.

Richie is sitting at a desk there, clearly distraught, while Dante doesn’t say anything at all. Sometimes the young guy tosses nervous glances at Dante, basically shrinking back into his seat whenever their eyes meet.

“Forgive me for sounding naïve,” Dave mutters. “But this guy doesn’t give off any criminal vibes at all.”