Page 36 of The Beta's Blind Date

“For the final tuxedo fitting?”

“Goddess damn it!” I say again, changing my direction and heading towards the packhouse.

I guess my run will have to wait until later.

“What room are you in?”I ask him.

“Conference room.”

I continue to mutter curses under my breath as I move through the packhouse. Pack members’ eyes widen as I pass them, and they all give me a wide berth. I must be giving off some of my beta aura, which I usually keep under wraps unless it’s during training or an actual fight. Which we don’t have often.

I stop in front of the conference door and take several deep breaths. I can not go in there all riled up and leaking my aura. I will get my friends riled up, too, and I do not need that. Especially not with two of them being lycans.

The breathing also helps because there is the lingering scent of peonies, strawberries, and peaches on my skin or maybe my shirt. Or both. The scent of my mate. It is intoxicating. Soothing. It is the best thing I have ever smelled—even better than fresh-baked cookies.

Once I am calm—myself and my wolf—I open the conference room door and step inside.

All the ranked male wolves and almost all the former ranked male wolves are inside, in various stages of changing into their tuxes. Alpha Harrison is gone on his trip with Luna Emily, and Delta Sullivan and his mate, Christopher, moved to Hawaii to work for the royal guard after Sebastian took over as the delta two and a half years ago.

My dad and Felix Shepard, the former gamma, look at me as I enter. I brace myself, hand gripping the doorknob.

I never know which version of my dad I am going to get. Will I get the loving father, the one who taught me to surf, fix cars, play football, and fight? Or will I get the grief-stricken male, the one who missed more important events than I can count, the one who drowns his sorrows in liquor and can not distinguish the past from the present? Is he having a good day or a bad day?

My palms sweat, my stomach clenches, and I swallow against the pain in my throat as I pray to Selene and wait for him to greet me.

“Hey there, Buddy!” my dad exclaims, walking towards me with a broad smile, his blue eyes twinkling.

His hair is clean and styled, his beard trimmed and neat, and there isn’t a trace of imbalance in his aura.

Today is a good day, then.

Thank Selene.

I force a smile and close the door behind me as he reaches me and roughs up my hair. “Where have you been?”

“Oh, I was at Brewed Awakenings.”

“With Taryn?” Seb asks, glancing at me as he buttons up his shirt.

“Who is Taryn?” my dad asks, his brow furrowed.

“Is that the girl you had to go on a date with?” Wesley asks, straightening his bow tie under his neck.

“You went on a date?” My dad’s brow furrows more.

“It was just a one-time thing,” I say, moving around him to join Nolan at the rack of suits on the other side of the conference table.

“It doesn’t sound like a one-time thing if you went to coffee with her, too,” my dad points out.

I huff out a sigh and shake my head. “She’s just a friend. I’m helping her train for a warrior challenge in Silver Ridge.”

“A warrior challenge?” Wesley asks, turning around to look at me. “Why is she doing a challenge?”

“Alpha Dominic made her start all the way at the bottom of their warrior training program, even though she completed it at Sunrise Canyon before she moved here.”

“What the fuck?” Sebastian says with a snarl.

“Yeah, I know. It pissed me off too when she told me.”

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