Page 108 of Defiant Beta

I take his file from him and put them down, earning a grateful smile.

He rolls his neck. “If someone ever tells you that politics is interesting, they’re lying.”

“I would never be gullible enough to believe such a ridiculous thing.” I hand him my soda. “Here. You look like you need the sugar more than I do.”

I expect him to refuse, but he takes the can, sips from it, and returns it to me. “Thanks.”

“No worries.”

“About this omega in a trunk of Thomas Benson’s car,” Levi prompts. “Who was she?”

“An omegawhere?” Vincent shrugs off his suit jacket, and I realize I miss the gray tweed as he drapes it over the back of his chair.

Xavier gives him a quick rundown of everything he told us already, and Vincent shakes his head. “I thought my day was confusing. Why did she slap you?”

“Thomas Benson wasn’t up to no good. He was there for love,” Xavier declares dramatically.

We stare at him.

“He was there for what now?” I ask, thinking I must have misheard him.

Xavier jumps off the counter to grab two cans of soda from the refrigerator, handing one to his brother and keeping one for himself. Levi has a bottle of water to go with his plastic cheese chips. “Who knows what happens to a newly perfumed omega from a rich family?”

Recalling the dining room talk about love and scent matches being for the poor and naïve, I sigh. “I do, and I really wish I didn’t.”

“Well, I don’t,” Levi says. “Spill.”

“She was in love with Thomas, a childhood friend, but her parents made her go to Haven. Thomas tried to convince them that he would get a job and take care of her, but they weren’t interested in their daughter being with a beta. They had their eyes set on an alpha.”

My stomach grumbles louder than before, almost drowning out the end of Xavier’s explanation. Blushing, I wrap my arm around my middle. “Uh, sorry.”

Vincent pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and looks at me. “Chinese, Thai, or pizza?”

I blink at him. “What?”

“Xavier will set himself on fire if he tries to cook. Levi lives off processed shit, and I’m too tired to cook. You need to eat. Thai, Chinese, pizza, or something else.”

“I’m actually not that…” My voice trails off as he arches his eyebrow, silently reminding me of our deal.

I’m helping to find a killer, and in return, he’s going to help me track down three alphas who need to die.

And I am hungry. So, there is that. “Chinese.”

I listen as he orders enough food for ten people, arranges to have it delivered, and puts his phone back in his pocket, oblivious to all of us staring at him.

“The living room,” he says, suddenly standing.

“Thewhat?” Xavier blinks at him.

“You heard,” he says.

We watch Vincent walk out of the kitchen.

Xavier tilts his head, his expression thoughtful. “My brother never sits in the living room.”

“Because the couch is even more uncomfortable than these stools?” I shift around, trying to find a comfy position that I doubt exists.

“Because he’s always working,” Levi explains. “But he’s right. Couch is better.”

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