Page 10 of Defiant Beta

I slump into my chair, fiddling with my pen and notebook while he drones on.

When he’s writing on the whiteboard, Aden tries to catch my eye, but I’m too embarrassed to look anyone in the face.

An hour later, the bell rings, signaling the end of class.

My cheeks are no longer red, and my notebook is full of the equations from the whiteboard. I don’t know the answer yet, but I will.

I fucking will.

River lingers beside me as the room empties. “Are you okay, Delilah?”

“Fine.” I stuff my books into my bag, conscious that Mr. Vincent is still at his desk, and I am positive he hates me.

She glances at Mr. Vincent. “I have a free period now. Do you want to go through the math stuff?”

I smile faintly at her. She deserves better than this place. All the omegas do. They’re lambs on a conveyor belt, and I know the sort of alphas they will be served to at the end.

Alphas who will take pleasure in making them feel small so they can feel big.

Alphas like this dickhead of a math professor who bludgeoned me over the head with his knowledge and made me feel stupid.

“No thanks, I have stuff to do,” I tell her.

Aden finishes stuffing his notebook into his bag and turns to face me. “Did you want to have lunch?”

"Aren't you supposed to be in class, Aden?” Professor Vincent’s icy tone cuts through Aden’s offer.

Tension stiffens my spine as Aden turns away from Professor Vincent, his submissive omega instincts yielding to alpha dominance.

Prick.

I turn to smile warmly at Aden. “Lunch sounds great. Thanks.”

I’m not here to date, so I wouldn’t have accepted the offer. If Professor Vincent has a problem with Aden being nice to me, I’ll be even nicer to Aden.

He gives me a brief smile, casts a nervous glance at Professor Vincent, and grabs his bag before leaving.

“You can go.” Mr. Vincent skewers River with a penetrating stare.

River, like most omegas, lowers her head when faced with a glaring alpha.

Mr. Vincent is an ass, and if I weren’t trying to cause a scene in Haven, I wouldn’t hesitate to kick his chair leg out from under him and watch him smash his face against the table.

A thought suddenly occurs to me. An alarming one.

Did he go to the lake and find my perfume bundle? Is that what this is about?

No. If he found something, I’d be waking up in a police cell for nearly setting fire to the science building.

This is something else.

River leaves after giving me a reassuring smile.

There aren’t many alphas in Haven.

Lawrence, my sister’s former mate, abused her so badly that even though he’s dead and she’s happy with her scent-matched alphas who would do anything for her, she still sometimes flinches when I don’t give her any warning that I’m about to hug her.

I walk to the front of his desk. “Is there a book I need to read?”

---