Defy The Alpha(s) - Chapter 711

Capítulo 711: Natalie’s Skeletons

“It’s finally on?” Dion said out loud, leaning in without thinking to glance at her phone.

Natalie sucked in a sharp breath when she lifted her head, and they were suddenly so close that all she had to do was tilt her chin slightly and their lips would meet.

The thought was so random and so sudden that it startled her. She nearly jumped out of her skin.

“Geez, so sorry,” Dion apologized quickly, stepping back at once. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I was just excited, I didn’t even think.”

Natalie cleared her throat. “It’s fine. It’s not like you’re a plague or something. I just don’t like random touches, or touchy, grabby people.”

“If you say so,” Dion muttered, scratching his head awkwardly.

Meanwhile, the two werewolf guards watched them with open intrigue but said nothing. It was far too early to make any assumptions, though the awkward tension between the two humans was admittedly entertaining.

Natalie tilted the screen toward Dion. “That’s outside the school,” he said, frowning. “What does she even want with your phone? Why go through all this trouble? To hack your money?”

It wouldn’t be surprising. Natalie Avax was filthy rich.

“That would be the dumbest plan I’ve ever seen,” Natalie scoffed. “If she came all the way into Lunaris just to rob me, only to end up being tracked in under an hour, then she’s not very bright.”

She lifted her gaze. “Come. Her location isn’t far. We can track her down with my car.”

“Aye, captain,” Dion smirked, excitement lighting his eyes. “Us on a covert recovery mission during school hours. I mean, look at us, detectives in training. And to think I was complaining about being bored when adventure was just around the corner.”

“Just shut up and follow me, Dion,” Natalie said, rolling her eyes, though a small smile tugged at her lips.

“Thank you for your help,” Dion rushed out just as Natalie seized him by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him away. It was almost hilarious.

The bell had just rang, and the cobbled walkway came alive with activity. Students poured out from different corridors in waves, some rushing with textbooks hugged to their chests, others strolling leisurely in clusters, laughing, shoving, and flirting, alive with gossip and noise.

Dion stood off to the side of the pathway where Natalie had told him to wait, hands in his pockets. Suddenly, the growl of an engine sliced through the chatter.

As expected, heads turned as a sleek red car curved into the lane like it owned the road. The car was glossy, low-slung and aggressively elegant. Yes, it was the kind of car that announced itself without effort — the ones royalties like Natalie Avax rode.

Sunlight glinted off its polished hood, the windows tinted just enough to hide the driver until it rolled to stop just mere inches from Dion’s legs.

Natalie Avax sat behind the wheel and the gossip started instantly.

An elite human heiress pulling up for nobody like him during school hours was enough to ignite a hundred rumors in ten seconds. And for as long as the students knew, Natalie had never had a boyfriend.

So yes, this was shocking.

Dion lifted a brow at Natalie’s deliberate gesture. So this was what it felt like to stand inside a headline before it was written. And to think he’d been begging her an hour ago for a show like this.

The passenger door unlocked with a soft click.

“Are you getting in, or are you enjoying your debut as a public attraction?” Natalie muttered through the open window, smug as hell.

Dion smirked and moved to cross around the front of the car when his phone vibrated.

Not just his. All around him, phones buzzed at once.

A ripple of sound spread through the walkway as students stopped mid-step, pulling out their devices, brows furrowing in confusion.

Though Dion didn’t need to see the headlines to know what was coming, he felt it in his bones that another piece of gossip was already being born. And it wouldn’t surprise him one bit if it had his and Natalie’s names stamped all over it.

Information had a way of flying around here. Still, he opened the article anyway, and froze.

Dion’s grip on the door handle slackened, the same time the breath left his lungs in a quick rush. The words on the screen blurred and sharpened all at once, the implications crashing into him faster than he could process.

“Dion?” Natalie called from the driver’s seat. “Are you coming in or not?”

He didn’t answer.

“Dion,” she said again, louder now. “What the hell is wrong?”

Slowly, he lifted his head and looked at her. It was something in his expression. Was it shock tangled with pity? Unease? A warning?

Natalie felt uncomfortable and that was when she looked around to realize the walkway had gone silent. Not entirely silent but something was wrong.

She noticed the way heads bent together with their eyes lifting toward her, whispering. Some of them even angled their phones discreetly in her direction. The stares she’d grown used to had changed flavor. There was no more admiration, this was judgment.

Her stomach dropped.

Natalie didn’t need to be told.

She picked up her phone and clicked the notification she had received moments ago but chosen to ignore. The headline blazed across the screen:

Scandal of the Elites: Kate Avax in Illicit Relationship with Daughter, Natalie Avax.

Beneath it were screenshots of the twisted, sick conversations Kate had sent her.

Natalie’s breath left her lungs in a rush. She had archived those messages. Hidden them so deep she had almost convinced herself they never existed.

Virginia must have dug them up.

That was why she stole her phone.

To ruin her.

For a moment, Natalie couldn’t process what she was seeing. Blood roared in her ears, drowning out the sounds around her. Her hands began to shake as she scrolled, horror crawling through every inch of her body.

Then Dion was screaming her name.

“Natalie! Natalie, open up!”

She hadn’t even realized she’d shut the car door.

No.

She didn’t want to see him.

She didn’t want him to see her.

She didn’t want to see anyone.

Panic took over. Her chest felt too tight, her vision swimming and without thinking, Natalie shifted the gear.

The engine roared to life. She sped off.

Dion barely jumped back in time as the car shot forward, tires squealing against the stone. Students stumbled out of the way as Natalie raced through the grounds.