Page 61 of Defiant Beta

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

He steps closer, bending to meet my eye.

It takes everything I have to slow my racing heart and not show him my fear.

I’m not afraid of him. Not afraid of anything, but something inside me is different.

“What happened to you is on my head.” My eyes widen in surprise at his quiet but intense words. “Until the alphas who hurt you are behind bars or six feet under, you’re my responsibility. I donotintend to let you come to harm again, Della Jackson. So, are you walking, or am I getting a wheelchair?”

I startle. “What did you call me?”

“Della Jackson. Your real name.”

Shit. He knows everything then.

“There was a girl,” I blurt out, suddenly remembering the omega from outside the school gates. “Mercy.”

“She’s fine. Cut up her hands getting over the gate, but she’s okay.”

I slump in relief. “Is she still at the school?”

He shakes his head. “One of the teachers said her dad collected her and took her home.”

Thank fuck.

I get up.

My legs immediately crumple.

He sets me back on the bed. “Wait here.”

He returns a minute later with a wheelchair. He manages everything.

A nurse asks him where he’s taking me.

“She’s ready to leave now. Don’t try to stop us.” And he wheels me right past the wide-eyed nurse.

This man looks like my math professor, but that is absolutely not the vibe he’s throwing out.

He helps me into the back of his car, a discreet black Audi, and slams the door shut before rounding it to climb into the front.

The slam of the door throws me into a flashback so hard it hurts.

My mind keeps trying to pull me back to the past.

I refuse to let it.

“Don’t you have to get back to school to teach?” I ask as he pulls away from the hospital.

“No.”

I stare at his back as he drives. “Because…”

Steel-gray eyes hook mine in the rearview mirror. “Because.”

“Alrighty then,” I mutter, buckling up and crossing my arms.

Chapter 20

---