Page 61 of The Gamma's Second Chance

Chapter 22

CASSANDRA

“Wait—”

Benjamin sprints around his desk, lunging for me and grabbing my arm, and Nolan growls, baring his teeth at him in warning. Nolan won’t win in a fight against him—Benjamin is a lycan, after all—but he won’t go down without trying.

Benjamin backs away, though, releasing me as soon as the growl leaves Nolan’s lips. I lift my chin and stare at Nolan, my eyes brimming with tears and my breaths shallow and shaky. He cups my face in his hands, and I relax at his touch.

“I’m fine,” I whisper, even though I’m obviously not.

My heart echoes in my chest, like the pounding of a deep bass or the beating of a timpani. It’s so loud I’m sure everyone in the packhouse can hear it reverberating off the walls of Benjamin’s office. My hands shake, the folder clutched in them flapping against my chest, and my blood rushes in my ears, drowning out any other noise.

Fine is not a word to describe me at this moment.

“Sorry,” Benjamin says from behind me. I glance over my shoulder at him. He stands with his hands on his hips, his brow furrowed. “I just… You seem so… Do I know you?”

I take a deep breath and turn all the way around again, Nolan’s hands falling from my face. I slip one of mine into his, squeezing it as hard as I can. “We’ve never met. But I’m your sister.”

The air leaves the room at my revelation. Both males freeze in place, and no one makes a sound. The fall of a hair onto the freshly waxed floor would be as loud as a dropped platter in a dining hall. Nolan’s hand loosens around mine, and I step closer to Alpha Benjamin—my half-brother—whose hand covers his jaw, his chest heaving harder with every breath he takes.

“This is a DNA test,” I say, holding the folder Wesley kept safe for me out to him. “It was conducted after Wesley—after he—after your father… um…” I swallow and lick my lips, avoiding Benjamin’s eyes and shifting my weight between my feet, unable to bring myself to put voice to his fate, even though he was the worst type of male there is. “After he died, his witch—Gladys—confessed everything to the thirteen crones. And later on, King Malachi had this DNA test done.”

The folder shakes in the space between us, still gripped in my trembling hand, and Benjamin stares at it. His shoulders rise and fall, and he shakes his head at the folder. “I don’t understand…”

“We didn’t know he was my father until after he died. He hid his true identity from my mother, and he used her to find Selene’s daughter. To find Haven.”

Benjamin’s eyes widen, and he meets Nolan’s gaze over the top of my head. “He did say something about an oracle.”

Nolan inhales sharply. “He said he ‘formed a relationship’ with one, and that’s how he knew when Haven was born and where to find her.”

I glance at Nolan. His face is unreadable, his hands hanging loose at his sides. My heart clenches, but I face Benjamin again, thrusting the folder at him. He takes it, but he doesn’t open it. Instead, he sets it on his desk and perches on the edge, his hands on his hips again as he scrutinizes me.

“The proof is right there in the folder if you don’t believe me,” I say, gesturing at it where it sits, unopened and unread by him.

He shakes his head and holds his hand up. “No, I don’t—I don’t need to see it. I believe you. I just—I’m processing this.”

I nod and inhale through my nose, blinking back the tears and folding my hands in front of me. A lump forms in my throat, and I swallow back what feels like one million burning hot pieces of molten silver. My knuckles turn white from how tightly I clasp my hands together.

I expected nothing less than this. I didn’t expect tears of joy and laughter and hugs.

But no matter what I expected, no matter how much I prepared for this to unfold exactly as it is, it doesn’t hurt any less. None of my mental preparations change the truth. I’m still a product of his father’s infidelity, and he’s still the product of the male who used my mother and who was willing to dounspeakable, Goddess-awful things to anyone who stood in his way or he deemed to have outlived their use to him.

Benjamin gives a dry laugh and runs his hand through the blond curls on the top of his head. “I’m guessing Wesley asking to meet with me about the mating ball was a ruse?”

I chuckle with him, even with my boiling anxiety and my sore throat, and nod. “Your absence yesterday made it easier to come up with a reason for us to arrange a meeting with you.”

His lips twitch. “Clever.”

“Haven’s idea.”

He nods and crosses his arms. “Look—um…” He trails off and blows out air from his cheeks, raising a brow at me. “I’m sorry. I don’t know your—”

“Oh Goddess, I didn’t even…” I groan and smack my forehead, then step closer to him, holding my hand out. “Cassandra. Stavros.”

He shakes it firmly—a positive sign—and I breathe a small sigh of relief. “Why don’t you explain everything to me? From the beginning.” He gestures towards the large sitting area in his spacious office, where two large dark brown leather couches sit perpendicular to each other, one facing the windows, and I nod, leading the way to the sofas. “Nolan?” Benjamin flicks his eyes to the door of his office.

Nolan. I almost forgot he was here, too. He’s said nothing beyond recalling something Pierce said to them all those years ago. He stands in front of the door, his face just as unreadable as it was a few moments ago, just as indecipherable as it always was before he kissed me and laid claim to my body.

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