Page 92 of A Second Chance for the Beta

“Oh I see.” He smirks. “You know who I am.”

“Well, you know who I am as well. Isn’t that just fair?”

Aloysius looks at me, tapping his fingertips against each other. “You had contact with my brother, hadn’t you?”

For a split second, my heart stops beating. Does that mean he knows I’ve been meeting with his brother right before the douchebag abducted me?

“When and how did you meet?” Aloysius demands to know.

“I met him only briefly,” I say, feeling relieved that he has no idea about my meeting with Silas. “A few months ago, during a meeting with some high-ranking lycans.” I make sure not to drop any names in case he will want to verify anything.

“I see,” Aloysius says. Apparently, it makes sense to him that his brother would mingle with our kind. “And what did my brother dearest tell you?” Aloysius asks while pouring us a glass of wine.

I decide to be honest—as much as I can. I’ve gotten my own taste of Silas by now, and I’m aware these ancient vampires aren’t going to believe just any bullshit. At least I coincidentally ate that candy before, so Aloysius’s tricks won’t work on me. I need to appear confident and in control. “That you think everyone who is not a vampire is dirt.”

“Hm,” Aloysius hums, clearly amused. “You don’t sound scared of me.”

“Why would I?” I say. “I’ve met your brother. You won’t shock me anymore.”

Aloysius’s eyes glint at the hint of Silas being as strong as he is. He doesn’t like that, clearly. “You are interesting,” he says. “Pity you are mated.”

Goddess, he didn’t just say that!

“What do you want from me?” I ask. “I’m sure I’m not yourguestfor no reason.”

“Oh, but Beta Ella, you can leave anytime,” he says with his signature smirk.

“I know, and I appreciate that, Lord Aloysius,” I say. “But if you don’t give me a reason to stay, I will indeed take my leave.”

He shifts the glass between his hands. “You have a child in your care, don’t you?”

“Yes,” I say. “What’s this to do with her?”

“You didn’t notice anything weird about her?” he inquires.

“Like what?” I say, well aware of what he is talking about. But it seems he knows much less than I anticipated. Good for me.

“Your sister.” Aloysius leans forward to look into my eyes. His gaze is gentle all of a sudden, and I can feel his presence pushing against the walls of my mind. Here he is, the vampire prince and his mind games, just like Silas warned me.

Yuk,Nefeli grunts.Can he stop looking so creepy? He is so old, at this point he has to be decomposed already.

I decide to play along and pretend to fall for his charm, smiling at him dreamily. “She passed away, unfortunately,” I say sadly.

“That’s truly unfortunate,” he says, his expression somber as if he truly mourns her. Wow, he is good.

“Do you know the father of her child?” he asks. “I would like to give him his condolences.”

“Oh,” I say, smiling joyfully at him. “I thought you could help me with that. It seems she was with a vampire at that time!”

“Oh, was she?” he smiles. “If you have a name, I could look for him.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t,” I say sadly. “Maybe he wasn’t impressive enough to be worth a mention.”

I can see a glint of annoyance in his eyes while Nefeli can barely contain her laughter in my mind. Targeting his ego seems to give me the best results—both ways. I can stroke it and I can hurt it. That’s probably his biggest weakness.

“You have no clue at all?” he asks.

“I would need to research a bit more,” I admit.