Page 140 of Defiant Beta

She’s beautiful. So beautiful that I was lying to myself when I said she wasn’t my type. She isexactlymy type.

This house is a rental we’ve been staying in for the past few months. For the first time, this house feels like a home, and it’s all because of her.Shemakes it feel like a home.

We all watch her for a beat, then Vincent closes the door, and we return to the kitchen.

“We can’t let anything else happen to her,” I say quietly.

Vincent and Levi nod.

We’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe.

Chapter 41

Della

I fakea yawn as I walk into the kitchen the next morning.

Vincent, fully dressed, sips coffee from a white mug. “Morning!”

He nods. “You look like you had a good sleep.”

I take a seat on my regular stool. “Levi put a movie on, and it was so boring, it knocked me right out.”

When Levi suggested I lie down, I didn’t think I would sleep. One moment, I was watching an old black-and-white cowboy movie with the volume turned down low. The next, the soft murmur of male voices woke me. Levi was no longer on the couch with me, and the voices were so secretive that it was clear they were hiding something from me.

Hurt that they were keeping me in the dark despite Vincent asking for my help to hunt down Aly’s killer, I eavesdropped on their conversation, all while making my own plans.

They had their reasons for being in Haven Academy. I had my own. If they want to push me out, that’s fine. They can do their thing. I’ll do my own.

Levi and Xavier come down dressed in jeans and T-shirts. I’m still in my pajamas, having padded from the living room to the kitchen.

Levi smiles at me, and Xavier playfully ruffles my hair.

As I drink my juice and eat the toast with peanut butter and jelly that Vincent sets down in front of me, I watch them covertly. “So, what happened last night? Did you find out anything?”

I heard all about their plan to keep me in the dark, but it will look suspicious if I don’t ask. I’m nosy. Vincent knows that better than most.

What will he tell me? The truth? Lie?

“Another dead end,” Vincent says, looking me in the eye, proving politicians are truly gifted liars.

I appreciate them wanting to keep me safe, but there’s no reason to lie about it. I’m not a child.

“You didn’t have to drive too far, though?” I try to sound concerned when, in reality, it’s taking everything not to fling my juice in his face.

We were supposed to be ateam. I was supposed to help them track down Aly’s killer, and he was going to help me find the three alphas who hurt me.

What happened to that team between yesterday and today?

Why are they suddenly shutting me out?

“You know how it is,” Xavier says evasively.

Yeah, I know exactly how it is.

He’s still a lying prick, but I don’t hate him as much as I hate Vincent right now because he, at least, did not look me in the eye as he lied to me.

“Any plans for today?” Vincent asks.

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