Page 134 of The Beta's Blind Date

“With the scientific advances we’ve made as werewolves, plus the addition of the pup growing slightly faster with its alpha and lycan blood, and the fact that we use magic in our testing, we’re able to find out the sex much sooner than human doctors,” he says with a laugh. “So, do you want to know?” he asks again, looking between us.

I turn to Reid, but his face is blank, his eyes moving from the ultrasounds to the doctor and back again. I suck in a breath and nod, looking at Dr. Russo and waiting for him to tell us.

“It’s a girl,” he says.

As soon as the news leaves his mouth, I look at Reid again, trying to catch a reaction. I swear his lips tip into a smile for a moment, but it’s gone before I can tell for sure, a figment of my imagination, just me projecting my hopes and imagining them into reality.

I caress my stomach again, though, smiling at it. At my pup. My daughter. An alpha princess, a tiny warrior who’ll drive me up the wall with her sass that’s too much like mine and who’ll have Reid wrapped around her finger.

I hope. Goddess, I hope. He’s still here. He hasn’t bolted or said he can’t do this. Granted, he hasn’t said anything at all. But he’s holding my pup’s pictures and staring at them, his gaze intense, his hands holding the paper as if the slightest movement will disintegrate the photos.

The door closes behind Dr. Russo with a soft click, leaving Reid and me alone. I blink against the itching in my eyes and sit up straighter. Reid props himself on the edge of the bed, still holding the ultrasound pictures, staring at them as if they contain information he will be quizzed on later.

He blows out a long sigh and sets them on the table, his head dropping into his hands, and I bite back tears, swallowing them down and steeling myself.

“You’re upset.”

“Damn straight I am,” he says, lifting his head.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I just found out after the rogue attack. I was going to tell you today, but—”

“What were you thinking? Exerting and endangering yourself like that? Getting between my dad and me? You put yourself and our pup in danger!” He shakes his head and stands, pacing the side of my bed, throwing his hands around, his movements frantic. “You need to be more careful while you’re carrying our pup! I don’t want to lose either of you.”

I flinch, my brow furrowing, my head swiveling to follow his frenzied pacing. “What?”

“It would kill me if something happened to you or our pup or both of you!”

I shake my head and pinch my arm. Hard. This has to be a hallucination brought on by shock and exhaustion. This is not the reaction I expected, not what I thought he would be upset about. “I don’t understand. You keep saying ‘our pup.’”

He stops pacing and faces me, his hands on his hips as he takes a deep breath. “You’re my mate, and, blood or not, that’s my pup.”

I stare at him, unblinking, water lining my lower lids. My throat tightens and it hurts to speak, my voice cracked and shaky. “But—”

He strides towards me, cutting me off as both his hands cup my cheeks. “My mate.” He moves one hand to rest on top of my stomach, his eyes never leaving mine. “My pup.”

My eyes squeeze shut, and I turn my face into his palm, my body shaking as a sob forces its way out of me. I cover his hand on my stomach with my own, lacing our fingers together, and he climbs onto the bed with me, sliding under the blanket and pulling me against his body.

His arms wrap around me and I cling to him, burying my face into his chest, letting his warmth and strength engulf me, letting him be the strength for both of us as I give in to everything I’ve held back since I woke up in this same hospital bed two days ago.

“You don’t care?” I ask between my sobs.

“Taryn…” He sighs and shakes his head, kissing my forehead. “I won’t lie to you. It is… difficult… to know that our first pup together won’t be mine. But what I care more about is you and spending my life with you. And what kind of male would I be if I rejected you because you got pregnant by someone who wasn’t me? Our positions could easily be reversed. I mean, not me being pregnant. I can’t get pregnant.” I cough out a laugh and shake my head at him. “But seriously, it could easily be me with a pregnant ex-fling or a baby with someone who wasn’t you. And what would you do if our roles were switched?”

He glances down at me, and I peer up at him through my wet lashes and swollen eyes. “I would love that pup as if it were my own,” I say.

“Exactly. Just like I’ll love this one as if she were mine. Because it’s not her fault her father’s a dickhead.” I choke out another laugh that turns into more sobs, tears rolling down my cheeks, my forehead pressing into his sternum as I hug him tighter. “I’m serious, Taryn. There wasn’t even a moment’s hesitation for me when I realized. I saw that little pup on that screen, and my wolf and I both knew she would be our entire universe. Her and you. You’re our everything.”

He wipes my tears as more replace them, tilting my face up to his with his hand under my chin. “I love you,” he says, staring straight through me to my heart, his words my lifeline. “And I already love this pup. She is mine just as much as you are.”

I reach up and kiss him, pressing myself as close to him as I can. His hands grip my hospital gown, and I clutch him with everything in me as if I’m trying to merge our bodies into one. Our mouths move in slow, deliberate kisses, long and lingering, each one tearing into my soul and burning through the last of my reservations, cutting through the final threads holding me back from letting him claim all of me.

I push him onto his back and climb on top of him, straddling him, my hospital gown sliding up my thighs and leaving me exposed. His hands grab my ass and grind my hips into him, his fingertips tracing over my pussy, teasing my entrance, making me moan into his mouth, and I clench, aching to be filled by him.

The torn shirt leaves his body, my hands gliding over the sculpted, tatted muscles of his abdomen and chest, my lips leaving his mouth only to pull the shirt over his head. As soon as his lips come back into view, our mouths are joined again, twisting and tasting and nipping at each other with desperate need.

“I, Taryn Mackenzie Campbell,” I say between our kisses, my lips hovering over his as I speak. “Accept you, Reid Stephen Thomas, as my mate, my love, my beta.”

His fingers dig into my cheeks, pushing me harder against him as he thrusts up, his hardened length rubbing against my naked core, a tantalizing tease of what’s coming next. Fingertips trace up my spine, untying the gown as they go. My back arches from the tingles and zings of desire shooting through me from his gentle yet possessive caresses, a gasp leaving me as he circles my marking spot with his thumb.

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