Page 47 of Defiant Beta

“Open the fucking door. Of course I’m sure.”

The door swings open.

An alpha walks in. I don’t wait to see who it is. I jerk the shoelace down hard around his neck, and I pull tight, gritting my teeth.

Someone yells.

Pain radiates down my side and back. More yelling. More pain. I have my knee in the alpha’s back, and I’m pulling and pulling.

I slump forward as the alpha drops to his knees. Everything hurts, but I refuse to let go.

My head rings. My world turns upside down and inside out.

I blink my eyes open, head woozy. Confused.

How did I end up on my back?

Tiny white light dances across my vision as I sit up.

And then I see them, the three alphas, standing across from me, near the closed door.

Watching me.

Zach, holding the taser, smirks at me. “Nice and awake, sleeping beauty?”

The alpha with the dark blond hair hasn’t blinked since I sat up. There’s no missing the red line on the front of his throat.

“You’re going to regret that,” he says, eyes spitting rage.

“Already do.” I slowly get up. “You’re still breathing.”

He takes a step forward. The black-eyed alpha with the light blond hair grabs his arm and yanks him back. “Wait.” His eyes are on me. Not angry, but curious. Instantly, it puts me on high alert. “Just give it a minute.”

“Give what a minute?” I ask.

He smiles. “Wasn’t talking to you.”

Dread coalesces in the pit of my belly, a sick churn that grows.

Why are they there watching me like they’re waiting for something to happen?

After what I just did, they should have killed me, tossed my body, and gone looking for their next victim.

So why am I still alive? And why are they looking at me like that?

Zach, the one in charge of all this, asks, “Do you know where you are, worthless beta?”

Sweat breaks out on my forehead. “Fuck off.”

He smiles as he tucks his taser in the front of his pants and sticks both hands in his pockets as if he doesn’t have a care in the world.

My eyes dart to the taser.

His smile widens. “You see, my dad used to own this place. Now he’s moved to a larger site since he outgrew this one. Would you like to know what his little chemical factory created?”

I press my back to the wall as sweat drips down the side of my face. My knees are shaking again, and I’m burning up. “I don’t care.”

His smile is slick, so greasy I have never itched to punch someone in the face more than this guy. “See,youout of anyone should care.”

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