Page 122 of A Second Chance for the Beta
Aryanna and I stay silent, not sure what to say.
“I lost him,” Julianus says sadly. “Silas wasn’t able to dethrone Aloysius, but he left nevertheless, with the few of his supporters that weren’t killed. I tried to stop him but he knew what I did. The worst part is that he wasn’t even angry, just disappointed. He… he actually offered me to leave with him.”
“Oh fuck,” Aryanna groans. “This is getting really depressing. Seeing how you are here, we know you didn’t.”
“I had a lot of reasons not to. I even tried to convince Silas once more to stay,” he says. “But now I know I was just scared. Once Silas left, nothing here made sense to me anymore. I just lived on here without having any joy.” He pauses. “I should have left with Silas. That’s my biggest regret. That and sabotaging his plan.”
“And how do you want to help us now?” I want to know.
“I saw that Ambrosius was mentioned in the letter from your niece,” he says, surprising me. When I look at him confused, he smiles crookedly. “Vampires have particularly good eyesight.” He pauses. “Ambrosius was Silas’s and Aloysius’s cousin. A great man. Everyone liked him.” He pauses. “Aloysius has the ability to lure someone into his aura. It makes one spill the truth and everything that lies in your soul. I know that Ambrosius was secretly seeing this werewolf woman. I… I actually helped him forge her passport.”
“What!?” I exclaim. “On one side, you backstab your lover, and on the other, you help a friend?”
“It was after Silas left, and I realized what I had lost,” he says quietly. “I was selfish. Silas really liked his cousin. I thought helping him might give me a chance to get back with him.”
“And now? What do you plan on achieving now?” Aryanna wants to know.
“Ambrosius was Silas’s cousin,” Julianus says. “Your niece is also related to him.”
“You want to get in his good graces again?” I ask.
“No,” he says quietly. “I know that chance passed long ago. At this point I just want to find a way to look at myself in the mirror again. Whatever it takes.”
What do you think?Aryanna links me.
Honestly? He fucked up with Silas, but he was honest with us about how much he messed up. That’s good enough for me.
“So, what’s the plan?” Aryanna asks him.
Julianus shrugs. “Simple. I will take the letter to Lord Aloysius and confirm its contents.”
“You helped Candy escape,” I say. “Won’t that put you in danger?”
“Possibly,” he says but shrugs. “I don’t care. Send me a copy of the letter. And I will go to Aloysius immediately.”
I do as he said, sending him a copy of the letter I got from Dante. “Good,” I say, hoping I’m not making the wrong decision. Julianus already backstabbed his beloved once… his mate… and we are just two strangers to him, two wolves on top of that. But for now, he is our best bet. “Meanwhile Ari and I will pack our things. We will leave once you make sure Aloysius knows Charlie isn’t his daughter. Do you think he will truly let us leave?”
“I don’t know,” he says. “He is unpredictable. His orders were clear that he doesn’t want a war with the lycans, hence, to let you go whenever he knows the truth.”
“Let’s hope he sticks to this plan,” I mutter.
“Try to wait here,” Julianus says. “If I survive, I will help you get out of here.”
I watch him leave with mixed feelings. People fuck up sometimes, people make mistakes, and they deserve a chance, but boy, Julianus is basically the reason Aloysius is still going strong. Granted that Aloysius’s actions aren’t Julianus’s fault. I’ve learned that things aren’t that simple usually. There are many factors that keep Aloysius in power and many factors that led to Silas’s plan failing, but it’s a fact that Julianus contributed to the part that kept Aloysius going.
I wonder what kind of life he lived after Silas left. Seeing how he was in Silas’s circle of close friends, he probably lost it all. His friends either died or left with Silas. His love was lost. They were supposed to be each other’s beloved, but that ship sailed, obviously.
I shake my head.
The guilt has to be eating him up all this time.
“What are we going to do?” Aryanna asks quietly. “It’s so fucked up.”
I think for a moment. My first impulse would be to return to Red Claw ASAP and help Charlie, but Dante is right… I need to help Charlie here first and get Aloysius off our asses. But I don’t have forever to achieve it.
“We give him a couple of hours,” I say. “But not any longer. I want to be back at Red Claw by the evening.”
thirty-nine
