Page 130 of Defiant Beta

Xavier, in ripped blue jeans and a white T-shirt, grins at me on his way to the coffee machine. “Want coffee, Della?”

I swallow my eggs and shake my head. “This is good.”

Levi pours two glasses of OJ and slides one to me. “Here.”

“I could have gotten that.” I eye him warily, not sure what to say to him. But I’ve had time to think, and now I’m no longer fueled by rage.

Xavier was right.

Levi opened up to me. He didn’t need to show me the scars on his back, just like he could have avoided telling me about his uncle’s abuse and the reason for his tattoos.

When we slept together, it hadn’t felt like pity sex. It had felt like he wanted me as much as I wanted him. Like he wanted memore. It’s why it hurt so much to hear him say that sleeping with me was a mistake.

Levi retreats to the other side of the kitchen island with his OJ. “It’s the least I could do after you killed the thing that crawled onto Xavier’s face.”

I nearly choke on my juice, laughing. “What!”

“Ha ha.” Xavier deadpans as he strokes a hand over his smooth cheek.

“You could do with some fake tan, man. Your face is two different colors,” Levi adds.

I look at Xavier and laugh harder. “I can’t believe I missed that.”

It must have been from his gardening all day—half of his face tanning while the skin under his cheeks remained resolutely pale.

Levi is smiling, Xavier is too, and Vincent is leaning against a kitchen counter with his mug of coffee and a hint of a smile curling his lips.

This morning feels perfectly ordinary, and it shouldn’t.

This isn’t my home, and these alphas are not mine.

“It’s not that bad.” Xavier twists to study his warped reflection on the front of the massive stainless-steel refrigerator. “My face feels so naked. At least it no longer itches.”

“I don’t get it. Why was the big beard so necessary as a disguise?” I ask.

Levi joins me on the other side of the kitchen island, dragging his stool closer. The peppermint body wash he used in the shower mingles with his warm amber scent, and he smells delicious.

I offer him a piece of bacon as a peace offering, and not because he smells nice. I think I was wrong about him, and as usual, jumped to conclusions instead of talking things through like an adult.

Smiling, he takes it. “Thanks.”

“We look too much alike,” Vincent explains, drawing my gaze. He’s looking from me to Levi and smiling slightly. Guess he heard about our fallout and is happy we’ve worked thingsout. “People might have wondered if the new gardener had a connection with the new math professor.”

Ah.

“Your eyes are different.” I glance between them.

Xavier walks over to me, leaning on the kitchen island and almost on my breakfast. I give him a significant look, but he waggles his eyebrows at me and stays put. “Come to bed eyes. I can’t walk down a street without a woman tripping me over when she falls for me. What do you think?”

Levi rolls his eyes and mutters about inflated egos as Vincent shakes his head.

I nudge my plate aside before he can stick his elbow in my eggs and peer deep into his pretty gray eyes. “They’re okay.”

“Okay?” He growls, downright insulted.

Swallowing my smile, I stab a piece of bacon and lift it to my mouth. Xavier leans in and bites it off my fork.

“Hey!” I glare. “That was mine.”

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