Page 12 of The Beta's Blind Date

“What about you, sir?” the server asks me.

“Nothing for me,” I say, showing him my water glass with a half smile. “I’ll stick with water too.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she says as he walks away. “I don’t mind if people drink in front of me.”

I set my glass down again. “I don’t—I don’t drink either,” I mumble, pressing my lips together once the words leave my mouth.

Why did I tell her that? I don’t know her. I’ve never met this woman, and I’m telling her something I’ve never even admitted to my best friends.

Stupid mate bond.

Stupid wolf.

“Really?” she asks, her brows raising.

“Yep.” I look down at the table, at the navy blue napkin folded like a swan on my plate.

“Why?”

“I just don’t.” I rush the words out so my wolf doesn’t force me to disclose any other personal details to this woman. This stranger.

“I used to,” she says. “But a drunk driver killed my parents. That’s why I moved here a little over a year ago. My aunt—my mom’s sister—is the only family I have left, and she lives here. I mean, in Silver Ridge. My parents used to live here too, but my dad had a job offer in San Diego right after they mated. He couldn’t pass it up, so they moved down there before I was born. But I wanted to be with my family, so I came here after they died.”

I nod as she talks, my eyes fixated on her face as her emotions play across her features during her story. My heart aches; her pain is my pain. Her eyes go distant, her voice trailing off, and we sit in silence for a moment.

“Oh, Goddess!” she exclaims, dropping her face into her hands. “I can’t believe I did that. I’m so rude!”

I chuckle and shake my head. “You are far from rude.”

“I’m over here pouring my heart out to you, telling you my sob story, and I haven’t even introduced myself!”

“It’s really not a big deal. I’m not upset.”

“Taryn Campbell,” she says, ignoring me and holding her hand out across the table.

I eye it, staring at it like it’s a cobra about to strike. It has to be a test. She’s too composed, too easy-going about this whole situation. About us being mates. She must be waiting to spring the trap, to catch me off guard, and that’s when she’ll drag me under, take me into her clutches, and beg me to never leave her.

My eyes travel up the sleeve of her black turtleneck back to her face, to those starless night eyes, eyes that hold no hint of malice or cunning. She’s just smiling, waiting for me to reply, waiting for me to shake her hand and tell her my name.

I don’t get it. I don’t understand why she isn’t reacting to me at all. Why am I a steaming hot mess over here while she is relaxed and poised over there? It should be the opposite. I should be the cool one, the one telling her she doesn’t have a chance with me, while she is on her knees begging me to not reject her.

I give myself a mental shake and another mental pep talk.Come on Reid. You can do this. You are a beta wolf, the beta of Crescent Lake. You have faced worse than this, and you will face worse than this in your life. You can shake your mate’s hand, and you can be as nonchalant and distant about this whole thing as she is.

I grit my teeth and grip her hand, giving it two firm shakes. “Reid Thomas.”

Her eyes widen and her hand stills in mine, her jaw slack. “Seriously? You’re Reid Thomas?”

“Last I checked.”

Her head tilts to the ceiling, and she laughs. It’s pure and joyful and fills the restaurant with light. Eyes of the other customers turn to her, most of them males, and I suppress the urge to growl, forcing my wolf back again so he doesn’t push through and make me claim her in front of everyone here.

“Of fucking course you are,” she says through her laughter, wiping her eyes. “Of fucking course, when I decide to search for a mate, I get matched with the playboy of Crescent Lake, the male who everyone knows has no interest in settling down at all.”

“Ironic, isn’t it?” I chuckle halfheartedly, wishing for the first time in my life I had a drink in my hand that was stronger than water.

Because there it is. Spelled out in plain English. She wants her mate. She wants the one thing I don’t want. And now I am going to have to pray to Selene that she’ll meet up with me when it’s the full moon so we can complete the rejection.

“What are you even doing on Date-To-Mate then?” she asks.

---