Page 80 of Defiant Beta

Shit.

“So?”

He takes a step closer, smothering me in his sharp and slightly sweet alpha pheromones. “You will sleep more than you have been.”

“What makes you think?—”

“The bags under your eyes, Miss Jackson.”

Okay, so he might know a little more than I want him to know.

“Stop calling me Miss Jackson,” I tell him, deciding I need to set my own ground rules.

Not because I don’t like it. I like it more than I should. He doesn’t just say my name. He growls it. “And what the hell am I supposed to call you, anyway? Mr. Vincent? Dexter? Head of the Council? Wearer of tweed jackets that make girls sigh?Sir?”

“Who was sighing?” He looks far too interested in my answer.

“None of your damn business,” I tell him severely.

Me. I did more sighing than I should have.

“Sir.” His expression is inscrutable.

I growl.

I swear he hides a smile as he turns and walks away to open the refrigerator. “Vincent.”

I stare at his back. “What?”

He peers over his shoulder. “You can call me Vincent.”

“Are you seriously telling me you used your real name as your fake name or your fake name as your real name?” I sit at the kitchen island.

“You’re reading too much into it.” He pulls ingredients from a fully stocked refrigerator.

“So, you’re going to help me find those three men?”

I could do it on my own, and but my abductors were rich. Probably so rich they’ll have someone hiding them in the city.

“Killing isn’t an easy thing to do.” He pulls a chopping board from a cupboard and a chef’s knife from a drawer that slides open so smoothly, it doesn’t make a sound.

“That’s okay, I can do it. Just help me find them, and I’ll take care of the rest. Might need a little help to dispose of the bodies, then we can go our separate ways.”

He reduces a red onion to a pile of thin slivers. “How would you do it?”

“Strangling might take too long.” I think about other ways to kill a person. “A bullet would be too fast. Maybe a baseball bat?”

He lifts his head and looks at me.

His expression is utterly blank. “A baseball bat?”

I nod. “Maybe with nails in it, if I knew how to put nails in it.”

After another long stare, he refocuses on the vegetables he’s slicing. “You’ll have nightmares after.”

“I have nightmares now.” I wince the moment the last word leaves my lips. Shit. I said way more than I intended.

He merely nods. “As long as you help me unearth secrets from Haven Academy.”

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