Page 46 of Defiant Beta

I’m just tired and hungry. That’s all this is.

Another hour passes.

Bruised toes make hobbling painful. I’ve nearly broken a finger, a clip I had in my hair, and I have crawled over every inchof this room, searching for any stray bit of glass, rock, or metal to force the lock.

Nothing.

There is nothing.

If I can’t get out of this room, then I have to think of something else.

My gaze settles on my sneakers. Or rather, one of them. I don’t know what happened to the other. It could be back in the parking lot or in the room with the toilet that the asshole shoved my head into.

I take my sneaker off, and I spend the next two minutes pulling the laces from it. Then I place the sneaker beside me and I hold the black shoelace as I work out how I can kill someone with it.

A door bangs in the distance. I scramble to my feet, press my cheek to the cold metal, and strain to listen through it.

Thud.

I flinch, hating my reaction to the sound as I steel my spine.

Male laughter drifts toward me.

The alphas are back.

I weigh up my options. It doesn’t take long. It’s just me and a single black shoelace against three big alphas.

Do I wait beside the door for it to swing open and then…

“No.” I shake my head, already dismissing the idea of jumping at them.

Three of them and one of me means whoever I grab had better be the one with the taser, or I’m going to be in a world of pain. I can surprise one of them, but not all of them.

As I cycle through ideas and swiftly reject them, the footsteps move closer.

“Make it count, Della,” I whisper.

Stiffening my jaw, I take the shoelace and stretch it, wishing it were longer. I wrap the end around one wrist, and repeat the action with the other end until I’m holding it taut.

I’ve never garroted a man before, but it can’t be that hard, can it?

As I listen to those footsteps, their laughter stirs the memory of waking up on the floor and not knowing what they did to me.

I flatten my lips as I stand right beside the door, holding the ends of the shoelace. Fear keeps trying to overwhelm me. I refuse to let it.

Forcing my racing heart to slow, I wish I’d told Everleigh I loved her the last time I saw her. I don’t regret going into Haven Academy or taking Mercy’s place, but I regret not telling my sister I love her.

My heart spikes at the rattle and clang of a key in the lock.

I slow my breathing down and lift both my arms up over my head. Straight.

And I wait.

“She’s quiet,” one of them says from right outside. “You think she’s planning something?”

“After the way Zach nearly drowned her?” Another alpha snorts. “She’s probably waiting on her knees to do whatever will get her out of here.”

“Are you sure? She seemed?—”

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