Page 15 of The Beta's Blind Date

“Claude!” Reid replies, rising to greet him.

He holds his hand out to shake, but Claude pulls him in for a hug, patting him on the back and speaking to him in rapid French. My eyes dart between them as they converse, but I don’t have the foggiest idea of what either of them is saying.

“This is Taryn,” Reid says in English, gesturing to me. “She’s new to the area and hasn’t eaten here before.”

“Lovely to meet you,mademoiselle,” Claude says, switching to English and taking my hand and kissing the top, a gesture which I think causes Reid to clench his jaw again. “I will make you somethingincroyable.”

“Merci,” I say, nodding at him with a smile.

His grin broadens, and he turns to Reid, saying one last thing to him in French before hurrying back into the kitchen.

Reid stares after him, then sits back down, taking several short sips of his water in a row, followed by one large gulp.

“What did he say?” I ask.

He sets the almost empty glass down and glances at me for a long moment before he speaks. “He said you’re marvelous. And he said he’s glad to see me taking things seriously with a woman. I didn’t have the heart to tell him it’s not an actual date.”

I chuckle. “So tell me, how’d you learn to speak French so well?”

“I took it all throughout high school, and Claude tutored me whenever he could. He wouldn’t let me speak English around him at all for the first two years of high school. By the time I was a junior, I was already fluent and probably knew more than the teacher, but I took the class for the last two years of high school anyway since it was a guaranteed A.”

“But why French?”

“It’s the language of love,” he says with a shrug, his cheeks tinting pink. “I figured it would be a surefire way to get the attention of the ladies.”

“Does it work?”

He lifts his sparkling, crystal blue eyes to mine. “You tell me.”

“My lips are sealed, Cookie Monster Beta,” I say, zipping my lips with my fingers.

“Oh, Goddess, I can’t believe that’s the username Seb gave me,” he groans, lowering his head to the table. “It’s so embarrassing.”

“Hey, it’s better than Tearin It Up.”

“At least yours makes sense!” he says, sitting up again. “Taryn Campbell. Tearin It Up,” he says, moving his hands from one side of his plate to the other. “Not embarrassing, and it fits with your actual name.”

“How is yours embarrassing?” I laugh. “I think it’s cute.”

“It’s embarrassing because it’s Seb, and he didn’t give it to me thinking ‘Oh, this is cute.’ He did it with malicious intent, just like everything else he does. Making fun of my love for toasty warm cookies fresh out of the oven,” he says under his breath. “Everyone knows they’re the best that way.” I laugh again, and he blows out a sigh, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Can we please talk about something other than my cookie obsession?” he rushes out.

“Yes,” I say, nodding.

“What do you do?” he asks. “In Silver Ridge.”

“I’m training to be a warrior. I was in the top ranks of the training program in Sunrise Canyon—my old pack—but I had to start at the bottom again here and prove myself.”

“Why? Why didn’t your alpha give you some sort of… like a trial period or something?”

I pinch my lips together and look at my hands in my lap, fidgeting with the edge of my dark brown corduroy skirt. “I suppose it has something to do with my wolf,” I admit, meeting his eyes again.

“Your wolf?”

I nod. “She’s… smaller… than most other female wolves. That’s why I’ve worked so hard in training sessions since my first shift. I didn’t want to be judged by the size of my wolf alone. I wanted everyone to take me seriously and see that wolf size isn’t everything.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a small wolf,” he says. “A small wolf is agile and can hide easier or sneak through small spaces.”

“Yes, and Beta Dawson agrees. But I think Domi—Alpha Dominic also let his feelings get in the way. Even though he claims it was all just fun between us, that it wasn’t anything serious or ever going to be anything serious, I think he was trying to protect me, that he didn’t want to put me in danger by making me a warrior for the pack.”

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