Defy The Alpha(s) 2: Rebel Beast

Aria climbed out of bed and hurried over to her vanity. She stopped in front of the mirror, staring at her reflection like it might somehow explain what the hell was wrong with her.

Her cheeks were flushed, her skin coated with a thin sheen of sweat, and through the oversized shirt she wore, she could clearly see her nipples pebbled against the material. But none of that compared to the most embarrassing evidence of all—the unmistakable wetness between her legs.

She was horny as hell.

"Ugh!" Aria let out a frustrated cry, dragging a hand through her hair.

What was going on with her? Couldn’t she rest like every other normal teenager out there without images of these damn beasts invading her dreams and making her desire... things?

Aria released a long sigh. What was she supposed to do about it? She couldn’t stop sleeping simply because she didn’t want to dream about Professor Maverick or Rhydian. That would be insane. She needed sleep if she wanted to keep a sound mind and survive whatever else this place had waiting for her.

Just because Maverick had offered them sanctuary didn’t mean they were suddenly safe. If anything, this felt like the calm before the storm. Aria could feel it in her bones. Something was going to happen sooner or later. The beasts weren’t simply going to give up, not when so many of them still wanted the humans out of the academy.

Her phone suddenly beeped, and Aria nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned toward the bed, wondering who could possibly be messaging her now, then hurried over and picked up the phone.

There was a new message.

[Can we talk?]

~Maverick Nightshade.

Aria’s heart skyrocketed. He wanted to talk?

But talking meant they would have to meet, and meeting Maverick meant looking him in the face after she’d just had the kinkiest dream about him and—oh shit.

No. Absolutely not.

There were only so many things one person could handle in a single day, and Aria had no idea how she was supposed to stand in front of the professor and behave normally when the image of him standing shirtless in an apron was still painfully fresh in her mind.

Aria was already typing out a response when an annoying little voice in her head reminded her of one very important detail.

He could sneak into her room.

Aria’s fingers stopped over the screen.

Fuck.

What if she refused to meet him and Maverick decided to come here instead? He’d done it before. The last thing she needed was to have him appear inside her bedroom while she was still worked up from that ridiculous dream.

At least if they met somewhere else, there would be space between them and, hopefully, enough people around to prevent her brain from betraying her again.

Fine. Aria made up her mind. She couldn’t avoid him forever. Then her gaze landed on the necklace she’d tossed away earlier, its ruby glinting innocently from the bed. Her embarrassment faded a little.

She hadn’t forgotten what Maverick had done. Whatever his reasons had been, he’d provoked Rhydian until the dragon lost control and nearly killed them. She wasn’t going to let him off that easily.

[Alright. Where do we meet?]

Aria sent the message and dropped the phone onto the bed, assuming it would take him a while to respond.

She had barely turned away when the phone beeped again. Aria stopped, then slowly looked back at it.

Was he sitting somewhere staring at his phone, waiting that intensely for her response?

She picked it up again.

[Dimitri is coming to pick you up.]

"Fuck." Aria stared down at the message in horror. She wasn’t ready!

She’d literally just woken up. Her hair was a mess, she was sweaty, and she desperately needed a shower. How fast was Dimitri coming?

Immediately, she typed,

[Give me five.]

This time, Aria didn’t wait around to see if he replied. She stripped off her clothes and rushed straight into the bathroom.

Aria wasn’t the type to spend forever in the shower, but even she had to admit she’d broken a personal record this time. By the time she stepped out and checked her phone, she’d barely spent three minutes in there.

And Maverick had replied.

[I’ll give you twenty.]

Aria’s heart melted before she could stop it. He had no idea why she’d asked for more time, yet he’d given her plenty without question.

Such a gentleman.

The thought came so naturally that Aria didn’t even realize she was smiling until she caught sight of herself.

Get a grip, Aria. He was only being thoughtful.

She quickly typed,

[Thank you.]

Aria took a deep breath, trying to settle the nervous anticipation fluttering through her.

Her phone beeped again.

[You’re welcome. Can’t wait to see you.]

And just like that, her heart began racing for an entirely different reason.Perhaps agreeing to this meeting had been a terrible idea after all. Unfortunately, there was no going back now.

With a sigh, Aria turned to face the next problem at hand. One that had probably plagued women since the beginning of time.

What was she going to wear?

For the first time, Aria regretted not coming with more clothes. Not that she’d had much to choose from in the first place. Most of what she owned consisted of dark, oversized shirts, comfortable tops, and jeans. She’d always been the kind of girl who dressed for practicality rather than appearance. Except now, Aria found herself wishing she owned some of Alek’s pretty sundresses or even the kind of sexy clothes Brittney seemed to wear so effortlessly.

"Don’t think like that," Aria scolded herself.

She was only going to meet Maverick, not impress him. Aria was Aria, and she had her own style. There was absolutely nothing wrong with that, even if some unfamiliar part of her suddenly wished she could look a little more feminine.

Hell, black wasn’t even her favorite color. Actually, Aria didn’t think she had a favorite color.

The realization made her pause.

She’d grown up too fast. Between taking care of Davina and assuming responsibilities that should never have belonged to her in the first place, Aria had spent most of her life worrying about what someone else needed. There hadn’t been much time or money left for discovering what she liked, what suited her, or even what kind of woman she wanted to become.

And since she’d never had much of a love life either, none of that had ever seemed particularly important.

Until now.

"It’s just to talk," Aria muttered to herself as she walked over to the wardrobe. She hadn’t unpacked yet, which meant her clothes were still stuffed inside the luggage she’d shoved into the enormous space when they first arrived.

She crouched and began rummaging through her things, pulling out one shirt after another. Then her hand landed on a pair of distressed denim shorts.

Aria paused.

She could pair those with her oversized black hoodie. It wasn’t exactly feminine, but the shorts were cute enough to make the outfit look like she’d put some effort into it without seeming like she’d tried too hard.

Except her legs would be completely bare.

Aria frowned down at the shorts. After the incident with Rhydian and his ridiculous obsession with her stomach, the last thing she needed was to discover that Maverick had a similar fascination with legs.

Surely Maverick wasn’t into legs, right?

Whatever. She was overthinking this.

Aria had already wasted enough time debating an outfit for a meeting that was supposedly just a conversation. She pulled on the shorts and hoodie, then returned to the vanity to finish getting ready. She was in the middle of gathering her hair into a high ponytail when a knock sounded at her door.

Aria walked over and opened it. Alek stood on the other side. Her gaze immediately traveled over Aria’s outfit before returning to her face.

"Dimitri is here."

"Oh. Okay." Aria returned to the bed and picked up her phone. One glance at the screen told her it was exactly one minute past the twenty minutes Maverick had given her.

Damn. Someone was an accurate timekeeper.

Aria slipped the phone into her pocket and followed Alek out of the bedroom. Dimitri was seated comfortably in the living room, sipping a cup of hot coffee.

Aria stopped. How did he—

Alek must have seen the question forming on her face because she quickly explained, "Dimitri has been here for a while."

Aria’s brows lifted. "But I didn’t hear the door—"

"He didn’t ring the bell," Alek said. "He was keeping to the time Maverick gave you."

Aria slowly turned her head and gave her roommate a scrutinizing look. "And how do you know all this?"

Alek’s cheeks immediately colored as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"We’ve been talking."

Okay... Aria decided right then that she wasn’t going to ask any more questions. Whatever attraction was developing between her roommate and Dimitri was apparently moving much faster than she’d realized.

"Miss Aria." Dimitri rose when he noticed her, addressing her with that strange formality again.

Aria frowned. Wasn’t he older than her or something?

"It’s Aria," she corrected him.

Dimitri smiled. "Fine. If you say so, Aria."

"Thank you," Aria breathed.

"We should go," Dimitri said. "Alpha Maverick is waiting."

Aria nodded and headed toward the door, but Dimitri lingered behind. She heard him speak to Alek in a voice low enough that he probably hadn’t intended for her to hear.

"I’ll come back for you when I’m done."

And that was Aria’s cue to leave.

She walked straight out the door without looking back. Whatever was developing between those two was none of her business. She had enough confusing beast-related problems of her own without adding Alek’s budding romance to the list.

Less than a minute later, Dimitri joined her in the hallway with a suspiciously pleased smile on his face.

Aria looked at him, then deliberately looked away. Nope. She wasn’t going to ask at all. Some things were better left unknown. Instead, she focused on the reason he was here in the first place.

"Where exactly is this meeting?"

"In his living room."

Aria stopped walking.

"Excuse me?"

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