Page 31

Xavier

A student sits with her back against a tree, gazing down into her lap.

She twirls a blade of grass between her fingers as the wind whips her long, blonde hair around.

I’m late to rescue Levi and Della from the motel room, and I’m dying to know how they got locked in there, but I stop when she sniffs and rubs a hand over her face.

For years, we’ve been so focused on finding Aly’s killer that we literally blinded ourselves to the world around us.

Like people needing help.

Levi accused Vincent of being cold. What about me?

Five minutes, then you have to go.

I turn around and walk back. “Everything okay?”

She scrambles to her feet, dragging her hand across her reddened eyes. “Sorry, I’ll?—”

I lift a hand to calm her, recognizing her as a girl I’ve seen with Della. “You’re not in trouble.”

She sighs. “I probably am. I should be at a math quiz, but I didn’t go.”

“Because you don’t like math?”

“Because I didn’t see the point. No one cares if we pass the quiz. The only thing that matters is that we match with the right alpha at the end-of-year ball.”

I take out my cell phone to quickly message Levi that I’m running late. Then I sit on the grass, resting my back against the tree. Moments later, she joins me.

Her toffee scent teases my senses. It’s rich and buttery sweet, but not overpowering. She’s an omega, and as an alpha, I’m drawn to omegas, but her scent lacks the appeal of Della’s subtle, beta fragrance.

“What’s your name?” I ask.

“River. You’re the gardener, right?”

I nod. “Xavier.”

Shit. I shouldn’t have given her my real name, but it’s too late for that now.

“Do you ever feel like you’re heading in a direction you’re not sure about? That maybe you want something you’re not supposed to want?”

My mind flashes to Della.

I hope she’s recovering from what happened to her. I want to be with the rest of my pack, not here, pretending to be a gardener. Justice for Aly is important, but we’ve been searching for it for so long that I’m tired.

Aly wouldn’t have wanted this life for us. If she’d survived and we hadn’t, I’d want her to be happy rather than on an endless quest for justice.

I miss being a pack. And Della. I hadn’t known I would ever want again, but I do.

“Occasionally,” I admit.

“So, what do you do?”

I mentally wince. “Not sure that’s a question I can answer for you.”

“Because I’m an omega?”

“Because I’m not you.”

She blinks at me.

I gesture toward the buildings. “This place is supposed to prepare you for …” I blink. “Uh, actually, what does this place prepare you for?”

“Obedience,” she whispers. “To be meek and submissive. To eliminate all but those qualities. To be graceful, seen, but not heard.”

No fucking wonder Della was trying to set this place on fire.

“So why stay?”

She looks away, picking at her fingers. “Because that’s what you do in my family. All the Harrington girls are omegas. We come to Haven, learn grace, get matched with a rich alpha, and continue the same.”

“Could you do something else?”

She scrunches her nose. “Like what?”

I shrug. “What do you want to do? If you weren’t an omega, what thing would you be out there doing right now?”

She stares at me, her brown eyes blank. “I never thought about it.”

I get up. “Maybe you should think about it.”

“And if I choose wrong?”

I grin at her. “Welcome to the real world, sweetheart.”

She studies me for a bit. I have to go, but she doesn't look like she’s done yet.

I smile encouragingly at her. “Go on.”

“My big sister Juniper mated with a pack of alphas.”

I cock my head. “And?”

“That’s what I’m afraid of. You seem nice, but maybe the alphas I match with aren’t like you.”

I frown. “They hurt her?”

“I don’t think so. I haven’t seen any bruises on her, but…”

“But?” I prompt.

“She was so happy when she first matched with Pack Wells.”

“Then what happened?”

“They took her happiness and crushed it beneath their shoes.”

Shit. I need to speak with Lucas Security about that. Maybe they can break her out or something.

“That won’t happen to you,” I assure her. Whatever it takes. I’ve had my eyes closed for too fucking long. It’s time I started doing more to help the people around me.

She peers up at me. “You can do that?”

“If that means breaking you out of here or setting fire to the school, I’ll get it done.”

She smiles. “You sound like…” Her amusement fades. “Delilah.”

Fuck.

“You talk to the teachers here, right?” she asks.

I brace myself for a question I don’t know how to answer. “A little. Why?”

“Do you know what happened to Delilah? The girls were saying something about someone being grabbed outside the gates, and no one has seen Delilah since. I asked Ms. Arkwright, but she just told me to get to class.”

I shouldn’t tell her about Della or about half the shit I shouldn’t know as a lowly gardener.

“ Please ,” she pleads. “I just want to know she’s okay. That’s all.”

Already regretting what I’m about to do, I drop into a crouch and lower my voice. “You can’t tell anyone this, okay?”

“Cross my heart,” she says in a rush.

“Someone hurt her.” I lift my palm when River starts to speak. “But she’s doing better. I don’t think she’s coming back here.” Mainly because she shouldn’t have been here in the first place.

“If you see her, can you tell her I miss her and that I hope we get to see each other again soon?”

I smile. “I’ll do that.”

She throws herself at me, embracing me tightly. “And that. Give her a hug from me.”

I cast an anxious glance at the buildings behind us. I’m not attracted to River, but if anyone saw me hugging a student, I’d be in a world of trouble.

She pulls away and gets to her feet, smiling at me. “Thanks. She was right. So are you. I know what I need to do.”

I stand up, alarmed by the determination glinting in her eyes. “And that thing is?”

“I’m running away,” she declares, backing away.

“ Wait !”

She halts.

I grab a scrap of paper and a barely working pen from my pocket. “Hold off on running until you know where you want to run to. This is my number. Call if you need anything. Okay?”

She grins, takes the paper, and whirls around as a bell rings. “Thanks, Xavier. Bye!”

“A five-minute conversation and I convince a girl to run away from everything she knows.” I shake my head as I watch her leave. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

My cell phone vibrates, prompting me into action.

As I jog toward the teachers' parking lot, I glance around. No one is around. I get into my car and buckle up. Leaving school in the middle of the day like this is risky, but Levi and Della need me.

I start my engine and drive toward the gates, using my staff fob to open them.

There aren’t any cops out front, but I heard they park outside in the evening to prevent more abductions.

There’s still no sign they’re closer to finding the alphas who grabbed Della, and Lucas Security hasn’t stopped searching either.

As the gates shut behind me, I spot a dark red Honda in the farthest corner of the visitor’s parking lot. A man in navy janitor’s overalls is standing near the trunk of his car when he catches me staring at him.

Thomas Benson.

Levi caught him hanging around outside the girls’ dorms.

What the fuck is he doing here?

He sprints toward the driver’s side as I accelerate, slamming on the brakes with a deafening screech to cut him off, blocking his escape.

“I’d wondered what happened to you,” I say, throwing my door open and getting out of the car.

He backs up, eyes frantic as they bounce between me, the school gates, and his vehicle. “I have to go.”

“Where?”

“Home.”

I stalk toward him. “So, what were you doing out here?”

And why do I think you were up to no good?

“Nothing. I wasn’t doing anything.”

As I prowl toward him, a muffled female voice echoes from the trunk of his car. My mind flashes back to Della, half-dead, discarded like a piece of trash. Suddenly, I feel murderous.

“You have got to be fucking joking,” I growl as I shake with rage.

“No. You don’t understand.” He backs up. “I can explain.”

“You can explain why you have a girl in the trunk of your car?” My voice rises with each word.

His eyes are desperate. “Yes. I can explain. It isn’t what it looks like.”

“Move,” I order.

He turns to the trunk.

Before he can do more damage than he already has, I grab his arm and wrench him away. He thuds to the ground, and I rip open the trunk of his car.

A red-haired omega in a Haven Academy uniform rears up, spots Thomas on the ground, and slaps me across the face. “You bastard .”