Page 156 of Defiant Beta

“Cian said they all kissed you before you got in his car.”

Blushing, I roll onto my back to hide my red face from my nosy sister. “For a serious alpha, he sure likes to gossip,” I grumble.

“Talk.” She pokes me in the side.

I squeal and slap her hand away. She’s always known my weak spots. “When did you get so pushy?”

“When you started avoiding me.” She moves to poke me again, but I scoot away, and she lowers her hand to the bed. “Tell me.”

Sunlight streams through the window, brightening the strands of her long, blond hair.

I absolutely love her to death, but she is beautiful and an omega, and right now, I’m second-guessing everything.

I’ve fallen for Pack Madden, but I’m not beautiful or an omega.

What if they want more? Like to knot a delicious smelling omega in heat.

“Vincent said he had something he had to do, which is why I should stay here with you for a bit. But what if it was a way to ditch me?” I voice the fear I’ve been harboring since Cian drove me back to the Pack Ashe mansion.

“No one is going to ditch you, Della.” Her eyes soften with affection. “They’ll love you if they don't already, because you’rethe most generous, fiercely loyal, and loving person in the world. And you’re not too bad to look at, either.”

I snort a laugh. “Shut up. But also, thanks. Feel free to keep the compliments coming.”

We grin at each other, and her smile slowly fades.

“You need to talk to someone, Della.”

“No, I don’t.”

“I know you’re stronger than me, stronger than anyone, but wanting to talk about the things that hurt you doesn’t make you weak.”

I blink at her, surprised. “You think I’m stronger than anyone?”

She sighs heavily. “At the risk of giving you a big head, yes, I do.”

I chew my lip as I think it over, then shake my head. “I’m reckless. You think longer before doing things that are liable to get yourself killed. I worry about that stuff after the fact.”

“Hearing you say that is giving me an aneurysm. Come here.”

She lifts her arm, and I scoot closer to her.

We haven’t done this in years. Mom never wanted us to be close, and I never understood why she was always so pissed at the thought of me crawling into Everleigh’s bed or her crawling into mine so we could talk before we went to sleep.

Now I know it was because she saw me as her kid, but she didn’t view Everleigh the same way. But she’s my sister. It doesn’t matter that we have different moms. I love her more than anyone else in the world.

“You’ve lost weight,” she says.

I inhale her sweet vanilla omega pheromones. “I was going through some stuff for a bit.”

“Was or are?”

“Was.”

“You didn’t even think about your answer.”

“Didn’t need to.”

“Della…”

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