Page 142 of Defiant Beta

“Here.” I hand Levi his phone back and turn to walk out.

His hand circles my wrist, halting me. “Della?” His voice is soft.

I force myself to meet his gaze, feeling oddly sad. “Yeah?”

Just tell me what you’re doing. This won’t hurt so fucking much if you involved me.

He kisses my cheek. “Stay safe with your sister, okay?”

My eyes prick with tears. “Sure.” My smile doesn’t feel the least bit real.

I walk upstairs and quickly throw the clothes that Everleigh brought me into a bag before showering and getting dressed.

I leave all the clothes that Vincent brought me behind.

I don’t want a new wardrobe from him.

Everleigh arrives with Kylian to pick me up.

He’s my favorite of her mates because he was the one who put a bullet in my sister’s abusive former mate’s head. If anyone deserved to be six feet under, it was Lawrence-Fucking-Wentworth.

“You’re quiet,” Everleigh says in the car on our way to their house. “You’re never quiet. What’s wrong?”

Everything.

Vincent tried to hand me a business card as I left, the number for a therapist. I smiled brightly, ignoring himandthe card. Xavier moved to hug me, but I would have punched him if he did.

Or cried.

Probably cried.

I rushed past all of them and slid into the back of Kylian’s car, but I felt them watching from the door as Kylian drove me away. I didn’t look back.

“Della?” Everleigh asks softly.

I pull my gaze from the city view outside my window. It’s still early, and there are barely any cars on the road. “Do you still have the Cinderella dress?”

Vincent bought me more clothes than I would have ever needed, and I left them all behind. They don’t want me, and I don’t want their clothes.

The Cinderella dress is what she wore when she decided to fight for her pack and tell them she loved them.

My reason for the dress isn’t to find love with a pack of alphas. It’s to save the omegas I should have been back at Haven Academy saving all along.

She stares at me like I lost my mind. “What are you talking about?”

“The Cinderella dress. I need it.”

She presses her hand against my forehead.

I slap it away. “Stop that. I’m not sick. I have a date and I need a fancy dress.”

She frowns, concerned. “Della, you were abducted. Should you really be dating?”

“I refuse to live in the past, Ever. It’s time to move on.”

“You need time to heal.”

“I need todosomething. It’s either hunting those alphas who hurt me or dating.”

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