The Hybrid’s Second Chance
Chapter 77

Cornelia's POV

"How long have you two been here?" Alexander asked as Julia left the room in search of Sandra.

"A couple of hours," Beth said. "We had breakfast and talked a little."

"It's been a nice and quiet morning," I added.

"Julia said you have your daughters on the way?" Alexander said to Beth.

"Yeah, they should be here soon. They left early this morning after I talked to them."

"I'm sure they are looking forward to seeing you two again," Alexander said.

"I just wish it was under better circumstances," Beth replied.

"I know, I'm sorry for what you're going through. Just know Julia and I will do everything we can to make this right," Alexander told Beth.

"Thank you, Alpha Alexander, we're truly in your debt again." That's the moment when Dr. Williams came into the room, carrying Marvin's chart.

"Good morning, Alpha, Luna Beth, Beta Sandra, Cornelia."

"Good morning, Dr. Williams," Beth said, sounding nervous at what he was going to say.

"Well, after taking Alpha Marvin's blood, I'm still seeing high levels of silver. It seems we're having a difficult time flushing it out of his system. The longer it's in there, the more damage it's gonna do, unfortunately." "So, what does that mean?" Beth asked.

"I'm not sure at this point. I'm going to run some other tests and see if I can't figure out what's going on. I just wanted to give you an update on where we are." "Thank you, Dr. Williams," Beth said with a sigh.

"I'll come and check on him later," Dr. Williams said, before exiting the room. Beth placed her face in her hands momentarily, letting out another deep sigh. "It's gonna be okay," I told her, placing my hand on her shoulder.

"We'll spare no expense in making sure Marvin gets the best care," Alexander said. Beth stood up and placed a hand on Marvin's forehead. I got up and placed a comforting arm around her shoulder, while Alexander stood at the foot of his bed. We all stood there in silence, individually praying to the Moon Goddess for a miracle. A few minutes later, the door to Marvin's room opened.

Looking up, I saw Julia, Sandra, and five other people I had never seen before. Two younger women I assumed were Beth's daughters, along with two younger men that must be their mates. When my eyes met the older man behind them, his stare stopped my heart. His light gray eyes were staring into mine with an intensity I had only known one other time in my life. I heard him utter a word that had all been forgotten in my mind.

"Mate."

The older man stalked towards me as the rest of the room was silent. The closer he got, the stronger his scent became as it invaded my nose and consumed every thought. He smelled like chestnuts and apples, almost like something you would smell on a cool autumn day in a coffee shop. Only inches separated us as he walked right up to me without blinking, his eyes locked on mine.

"What's your name?" he asked in a deep and very sexy voice. Sh*t, I have a name? Yes, I have a name! Um, what was that again?

"Co...Cornelia Sullivan," I stammered out. Why did his stare make me feel like I was a teenager again? Like I had lost all sense of self control. He smiled at me, and my legs almost gave out from under me. I swayed slightly and lost my footing, tripping slightly over absolutely nothing. His hand reached out to stead me, and since I wasn't wearing my usual long sleeve robe, his touch sent a warm sensation through my arm.

"It's nice to meet you Cornelia, I'm Vincent Royer." All I could do was stare into his handsome face as he took my hand to his mouth and kissed it, sending a jolt of warmth and electricity coursing through me. Someone cleared their throat loudly, and it suddenly dawned on me, there were a lot of other people in this room. Looking around, I saw a couple of very confused faces, one that seemed angry, but when my eyes fell on Julia, she was beaming at me as Alexander held her from behind. He was also smiling widely, excitement on both their faces.

"Care to tell the class what's happening, dad?" a deep voice rang out in the crowd. The voice belonged to a heavily tattooed man with short hair cropped into a short buzz. He gave off the impression of a body builder with his alarmingly large stature and bulging muscles.

"This is my mate," Vincent said without taking his eyes off mine.

"Your mate?" The woman standing next to the large man said with surprise, but not anger. She had light brown hair that was cut in a blunt bob to her shoulders. She looked so much like Beth, it was eerie. The other woman looked more like Marvin with that same black hair, but her mother's blue eyes. This woman's hair was long. From where I stood, it looked like it was down to the middle of her back, possibly longer. She was clinging to a man that looked like a runway model. Perfectly proportioned, handsome features graced his face. The woman holding onto him was looking at me with disgust as she said,

"But she's a witch...." That is when Vincent took his eyes off me and shot her a seething angry look. I didn't need to see his face to know it. I could feel his energy shift immediately.

"So?" the other woman said. "Vincent is part elf?"

"Abby, could you be kind for one minute?" Beth shot at her, getting to her feet. The shock of meeting what seemed to be my second chance mate still hadn't worn off, but I knew we had other things that mattered more to take care of first, so I tried to focus. "Maybe, if you would tell me what's going on," she spat at Beth.

"Abby," her mate said in a tone that made me think this was her typical behavior.

"How about I introduce you to everyone here first, okay?" Abby rolled her eyes but didn't say anything further. Beth let out a breath before addressing everyone in the room.

"Everyone, these are my daughters Abigail and Jordyn and their mates, Colson and Hendrix. And it appears Hendrix has brought his father and former Beta of their pack, Midnight Crest, Vincent Royer."

"This is Sandra Parker, Julianna's mother and Beta of October Moon. Cornelia Sullivan, who is also Julianna's mother. That's a long story. And we have the Lycan King and Alpha of this pack, Alexander Hudson, who is Julianna's mate." Everyone exchanged friendly hellos and bowed to Julianna and Alexander out of respect. "Now that we have that out of the way, we can all sit down and talk about what's going on." Alexander must have mind linked someone, because a couple of nurses came in carrying chairs for all of us. Once we were all sitting around Marvin's bed, we began to tell our tale to everyone who had just arrived. Vincent took a seat next to me and didn't let go of my hand the entire time, making it increasingly difficult to concentrate on the task at hand.

We sat around for what felt like hours as we talked about Logan and Gregory, the fight our packs had, putting Marvin in charge, what happened to me and my coven. By the end, I think everyone had a headache and a million questions. Abigail sat with her arms and legs crossed so tightly for so long, I was afraid she would never come unraveled.

"So, you have no idea who did this?" Jordyn confirmed.

"No, we don't," Beth told her, sounding mildly frustrated.

"We'll figure it out though. Once he wakes up, your dad will be able to give us more information," Julia added.

"How do we know if he's going to wake up?" Colson asked.

"We don't; the best thing we can do is let Dr. Williams do his work," Alexander told him. Everyone fell silent in the room, not knowing what to say or do next.

"You're all welcome to stay here for as long as you like. I have my sister Hannah making up guest rooms as we speak."

"Thank you, Alpha Alexander," Jordyn said politely. At that moment, the door to Marvin's room opened and in walked Hannah, followed by Elijah.

"This is them now," Alexander said, getting to his feet. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet my sister Hannah, and her mate Elijah, who also happens to be my Beta. Hannah, Elijah, this is Jordyn and Abigail, who are Beth and Marvin's daughters, along with their mates Beta Colson and Beta Hendrix."

"It's nice to meet you," Elijah said, shaking all their hands.

"You as well, Beta Elijah," Colson said.

"Hannah, I love your dress," Jordyn said.

"Thanks! I got it on sale."

"Oh, and this is Hendrix's father, Vincent, who also happens to be Cornelia's mate," Alexander told them. They both looked from him to Vincent, to me.

"Holy sh*t!" Hannah exclaimed excitedly, running over to give me a hug from where I sat. Vincent chuckled slightly beside me at her reaction. I would have to explain Hannah to him, in all her adorable detail. "That's amazing! After everything that's happened to you. Did she tell you what she had to do, and how she had to abandon her first mate?" Hannah started blurting out.

"Hannah!" Elijah said in a warning tone. "Maybe Cornelia wants to tell him about those things in private."

"Oh right, sorry," she laughed, going back to stand next to her mate. "Well, the guest rooms are all ready to go, I had them make up three, but it seems we only need two," she smiled in my direction, making me blush slightly.

"Seeing as it's a little past lunch, why don't we show you all to your rooms and then we can meet in the dining hall for something to eat?" Alexander suggested, trying to divert Hannah's onslaught of signals.

"That sounds great," Colson said, looking at Abigail, who looked like she in no way thought it was great.

"Elijah and I will take Abigail, Colson, Jordyn, and Hendrix," Hannah said. "Cornelia, you've got Vincent, right?" She gave me a wink as she turned to lead the four others out of the room. She was in no way subtle; I'll give her that. I got to my feet and Vincent followed. "Julia and I will go make sure they have the table set for enough people," Alexander said, taking her by the hand.

"Beth and I will stay here for a little while longer," Sandra chimed in, moving a couple of seats closer to Beth.

"My room is in the pack house," I told Vincent.

"Lead the way," she said with a smile.