Page 106 of The Beta's Blind Date

“I can come back later if you need some time. The ultrasound can wait until—”

“No,” I say, working the word out through the tears and the tightness in my throat and chest. “I want to see it. I want to see my pup.”

He nods and stands, moving out of the way of the nurse. “Charlotte is also an ultrasound tech, and she will perform yours today. Because the pregnancy is still early, it will need to be done trans-vaginally.”

“Okay.”

The nurse wheels the cart—which I now realize is an ultrasound machine—closer to the bed. She has me lie back and helps me adjust my feet and knees so she can insert the ultrasound wand. The screen lights up, and she moves the wand around, taking measurements on the screen as Dr. Russo looks on.

“This is the fetus,” he explains, pointing at the tiny creature shown in black and white on the screen. “And… yep. It’s measuring at a little over eight weeks.” He pushes a button, and a line appears on the screen, pulsing and spiking. “The heartbeat is strong, too. Looks like a healthy little one in there.”

He turns and smiles at me, but my eyes are locked on the screen, glued to the little gummy bear in my stomach who already owns my whole heart.

My pup.

Chapter 37

REID

Ihatehospitals.

They are too clean, too white, too stifling. And underneath the surface, the hint—the threat—of death lingers.

Nothing good ever comes from a visit to the pack hospital.

One visit to the pack hospital eighteen years ago changed the entire trajectory of my childhood—of my life. I walked into the hospital thinking my mom was hurt, just needing extra medical attention after an intense rogue attack.

And I walked out of it motherless.

The wall against my back is cold—almost as cold as the snow covering the ground outside—even through my T-shirt. It’s uncomfortable, but it keeps me here, keeps me anchored in the present. For the most part.

It’s difficult, though, now that I’m not with Taryn. Her presence and touch kept the demons at bay, but the reality of what happened hits me full force. The similarities between this night and that fateful night—it’s overwhelming.

Taryn is lucky. We are lucky. Rogues are ruthless, relentless, especially when in wolf form. Their connection to and control of their animal is tenuous at best and gets weaker the longer they are rogues. I don’t want to think about what he’d have done if I’d taken any longer to get to her.

The door to her room opens, and a nurse walks into it, but my chin is dropped to my chest, and I don’t look up. Taryn’s pissed at me. And I can’t blame her. The only one I can blame is myself.

I let it go too far.

Her emotions shoot down the bond to me, running the gamut of every emotion known to wolfkind. I sit there, waiting, absorbing all of them, feeling the full force of everything she’s feeling combined with everything I’m feeling. Then, as suddenly as the flow of them began earlier this week, it stops. I push, reaching out to her, but there is a solid brick wall erected between us on her side of the bond.

She’s blocked me.

My wolf whines and scratches against the confines of my mind, and I force myself to stay on the floor instead of barging in there to make sure she’s fine, to find out what it is she thinks she needs to hide from me. And since the rooms are soundproofed, I can’t hear any of what they are saying. I’m being kept in the dark.

Footsteps approach me, and someone sits next to me, matching my posture with their knees up and arms resting on them. I glance over, and Maddie sits there, a fading bruise on her cheek from the fight with the rogues and her hair damp from a shower. “Why so glum?” she asks.

I sigh and lean my head against the wall. “Taryn’s probably going to reject me.”

“She’s your mate?” I nod, my head still against the wall, my hair scratching it. “Well, that saves you the trouble, right? Since you don’t want a mate?” I groan and pinch the bridge of my nose, looking at her from the corner of my eye. “Oh. OH.” She glances between the door to Taryn’s hospital room and me several times before a slow smile creeps across her face. “Well. How the turntables.”

I sigh and shove her shoulder. “Shut up.”

“Why do you think she’s going to reject you?”

“Because I’ve known she’s my mate since the moment I met her, and I didn’t tell her.”

“Yikes,” Maddie says, grimacing. “At least you have almost a month until the next full moon. Because you’re going to have to grovel.”

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