Page 58 of Defiant Beta

“Drop it,” I snap.

She looks hurt, and the door snicks open. “Everything okay?”

Rune’s big bulk fills the doorway as he flicks his gaze between us.

“We’re fine,” Everleigh says softly. “She’s being stubborn.”

I snort a laugh. “When am I not? I know you want to help, and I appreciate it, but I’m okay.Honestly. Talking has never helped. Not like punching someone in the face or kicking a wall, you know?”

She releases a sigh. “No, I don’t know.”

“I do,” Rune says with a smile. “I still have a dent in my wall.”

I kicked their entryway wall when I found out Lawrence had taken Everleigh. Imagining that it was his balls made me feel a little better.

“Go, Ever,” I say.

“I’m not leaving you on your own,” she replies, determined.

“Lucas Security said they’d watch over you,” Rune adds. “Just say the word and I’ll have Garrison park someone on this door who will kill anyone who so much as sneezes in your direction.”

“Let's hope it isn’t a nurse or a doctor, huh?” My next yawn is fake, but Everleigh is showing no signs of leaving, and I need her to go before she cycles back to talk of doctors, cops, and even worse, psychiatrists. “Go. You said the cops would stop by to ask me questions, right? I’ll be here napping until that happens.”

“And if whoever hurt you comes looking for you?”

“They would have to know where to find me.” She opens her mouth, but I keep talking. “And they think I’m dead. They won’t come after me.”

Ithought I had died. When I first woke in the hospital, I thought Ever was crying over my dead body.

“I could do with changing out of these clothes and grabbing a shower.” With visible reluctance, Everleigh gets to her feet and draws me into a hug. I hide my wince from her when she touches my back, and I keep up my smile as the rest of Pack Ashe appears in the doorway. It doesn’t look like any of them got a wink of sleep.

“Can you make sure she gets some sleep?” I tell them. “She looks exhausted. If she wants to come back tomorrow, then whatever, but she needs proper rest in a proper bed.”

“One of us could stay here with you,” Rune suggests.

“No need.” I fake another yawn. “I’ll be sleeping too. And you all look like you need rest as much as she does. I’ll be fine.”

They eventually leave, Everleigh promising to come back in a few hours.

The second the door closes after her, I drop my false smile and pull the needle out of my arm. Wincing, I set the needle down on my tray and rub the blood spot with a tissue I grab from a box next to a vase of bright yellow sunflowers—my favorites.

I have no intention of speaking to cops, doctors, or anyone at all.

I just want to get out.

My legs have other ideas.

The second I stand, I grab the bed before I can fall. I’m deciding how to leave without having to rely on my legs when my door bursts open and my mom rushes in, startling me so badly that I don’t immediately scream at her to get out. “What are you doing here?”

She’s wearing jeans and a T-shirt, her shoulder-length brown hair pulled back from her face, revealing bags under her hazel eyes. She seems much older than the last time I saw her—more worn down and tired.

“Everleigh told me what happened.”

I stare at her. “She did what?”

“You’re my daughter. I deserved to know.”

“No,” I bite out, “She’s a good person who thought youshouldknow. She was wrong. You don’t deserve to know anything.”

---