Page 125 of Defiant Beta

But he—they—did those things because they wanted to. That’s what the look in his eyes tells me. “Thanks.”

He nods and continues with his work.

“Has anyone tried to kill you recently?”

His gaze shifts from the open file on his lap to me, an eyebrow arched. “Should I be concerned?”

I smile. “Not me. Xavier said someone would try to take you out because you’re not doing enough for the city.” We’d talked a bit about it while eating Chinese food the other day.

I still can’t believe he’s Dexter Pieter, head of the Council, the body that runs the city. The most powerful man in the city is sitting beside me in bed, and no matter how many times I tell myself it’s true, it doesn’t stop feeling surreal.

“Someone will try. They will fail,” he says calmly.

Life must be so much easier when you’re an alpha. They all seem so fearless. As if the world owes them everything, and all they have to do is reach out and take what they want.

Then I remember Levi.

Alphas hurt too. They’re just better at hiding it than the rest of us.

I muffle a yawn and snuggle deeper into the sheets. Then I frown at my white satin sleeve. “Where did the PJs come from?”

He turns a page. “Your dresser.”

“But they weren’t ones my sister brought.”

“Weren’t they?”

I scowl at him. “Do you even know how to answer a straight question?”

He looks down at me. “Of course I do.”

I growl.

A flicker of amusement crosses his gaze. “I had some time after a meeting in town.”

My eyebrows must touch my hairline. “To go shopping for me?”

“It wasn’t difficult.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

“It was a small thing.”

We stare at each other for several seconds, and I clear my throat. I’m not sure what possesses me to say, “Xavier said you like me.”

I wait for him to laugh in my face and immediately deny it.

His expression is unreadable. “Did he?”

“You’re not denying it,” I point out.

“Should I be?”

This man is as infuriating as he is attractive. I want to shake answers out of him constantly, and I keep getting this overwhelming sense that he’s secretly laughing at me. He knows how much it kills me not to have straight answers, and he is purposefully driving me crazy.

“Yes, because it’s not true.” The new clothes have made me wonder. And now, he’s here with me instead of down in his office doing important Council stuff.

“My brother has a big mouth.”

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