Page 53 of The Gamma's Second Chance

She trails off, and I bite the inside of my cheek to stop my laughter, covering my mouth with my fist to cough. Cassandra’s eyes sparkle as she catches my eye, while Haven slips her arm from the loop of Cassandra’s, taking Wesley’s hand instead. Prescott enters the room after Wesley and Haven, letting go of the door, forcing me to grab it before it shuts Cassandra and me out. My nostrils flare, but I rein in my frustrated growl, holding the door open for Cassandra. My hand moves to the small of herback as she passes by me, and I follow her inside, my thumb sneaking up to touch the exposed skin there.

The contact is minuscule, but it’s better than nothing. It’s enough to keep me going through this meeting.

Two of the four alpha and luna couples from the other packs hosting this mating ball sit around the table, with four chairs left empty: one at the head of the table, two to the left of it, and one at the far end. Prescott heads straight for the chair at the head of the table, sitting in it without waiting for Haven and Wes. “Let’s get started,” he says.

But Wesley scans the room, taking stock of who is here and who isn’t, a frown forming. “Shouldn’t we wait for Alpha Benjamin?” he asks, glancing at Cassandra and me.

“He’s late.” Prescott shrugs and checks his fingernails. “I scheduled our meeting to start at—”

Wesley glares at him. “It is two minutes after the time we agreed to meet. We can wait a few more minutes, at the very least.”

Prescott taps the table with two of his fingers, but Wesley doesn’t wait for his agreement or his permission. He instead directs his attention to the others in the room, a genuine smile on his face as he and Haven greet them and chat with them.

“Cassandra.” Haven beckons her over with a gentle wave of her hand. “Come and meet—”

“Ah, yes.” Prescott jumps from his seat and glides through the room towards Cassandra. “Let me introduce you to the others.” He offers her his elbow, but she ignores it, walking around him and over to the first couple who rise to greet her. “This is the esteemed Alpha Thornton and Luna Jillian Maxfield of Northern Mountains.” Prescott claps the alpha on the shoulder as Cassandra shakes his hand. “They lead the largest and oldest pack here in California.”

“Cassandra Stavros,” she says, introducing herself. “I’m visiting from the island of the oracles in Greece.”

“Are you Agatha’s daughter?”

Cassandra peers around the Maxfields to look across the table at Alpha Edward and Luna Hannah Walden, regent leaders of Silver Ridge. “I am,” she says, her words slow and precise. “You know my mother?”

“Not well, no. I’ve met her only once. I do know your father, though.” Cassandra blinks at him as she takes in a deep, intentional breath through her nose. “It was a shock for all the European packs when Alpha Joseph’s mate turned out to be an oracle, and even more of a shock when he stepped down and handed his title over to his younger brother.”

“He had to so he could be with my mother.”

“Oh, of course!” Alpha Edward says. “As it should be. It was just unexpected for an alpha to be fated to an oracle. That’s all.”

“Fate works in unexpected, unexplainable ways sometimes.” Cassandra swallows, then smiles, her eyes distant and wistful, pinching the tip of her finger between the fingers of her opposite hand. “He loves my mother and me very much.”

Her eyes glisten, and her lower lip trembles, but she pulls it into her mouth to hide it, glancing at me. My wolf urges me to move to her side, to take her hand in mine and wrap my arm around her, but the room is too crowded with the bodies and the furniture, and there are two alphas and a luna blocking my path to her.

And I can’t mindlink her to check in with her, since she’s not a member of our pack. My hands curl into loose fists, and I hold back the growl of frustration growing in my chest and instead show her with my eyes that I wish I could be right next to her, soothing her like she soothed me in the lobby.

“Yes, that is clear to anyone,” Luna Hannah says with a chuckle. “The way he looked at both of you when we visited…Well, you were just a baby at the time, but I recognize your eyes. They’re the same as your mother’s.”

Cassandra smiles again and ducks her head, tucking her hair behind her ear. “If you’re from the European pack region, then how did you end up here in California?” she asks.

“They’ve graciously stepped in to run Silver Ridge until Savannah is old enough to take her place as alpha,” Haven says.

“Savvy isn’t Reid’s. Biologically,” Wesley clarifies, winking at Cassandra whose brow furrows at Haven’s remark. “Taryn was already pregnant with her when they met, but Reid still claims her as his daughter.”

“Delightful little thing,” Alpha Edward chuckles fondly. “The last time Taryn and Reid brought her to visit the pack, she—”

But we don’t get to hear what hilariously adorable thing Savvy did during her last visit to Silver Ridge because four phones ping with an incoming text, and all four alphas grab their phones to read the message. Wesley frowns, glancing at Cassandra and then me. “Alpha Benjamin isn’t able to make it. Something came up.”

“Typical,” Prescott says under his breath. He shoves his phone back into his pocket, crossing his arms and pinching his lip between his fingers as he storms to his seat. “What a waste of a meeting…”

“It’s not a waste,” Haven says, rounding her chair and standing between it and the table. “Everyone else is here, and I am certain Alpha Benjamin would be too if—”

“Listen, Haven,” Prescott says, leaning over the table, the tips of his fingers pressing into the surface. “I know you’re new to being a luna and all that entails, but—”

“I’ve been the luna of Crescent Lake for almost four years now, Prescott,” Haven says, raising a brow at him.

“Alpha Prescott,” he says with an edge to his voice.

Haven lifts her chin and draws herself up to her full height of five feet five inches, her hand resting on her belly, her nostrils flaring slightly. “I’ll address you by your title when you’ve learned to address me by mine.”

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