Page 55 of The Beta's Blind Date

His head snaps to the side with a satisfying crack, his feet stumbling beneath him, unprepared for an attack.

I use his shock to my advantage and tackle him, both of us slamming into the frozen ground with a loud thud. Before he can react or retaliate, I have him pinned on his back beneath me, my knees trapping his arms at his sides, my fists raining blows with the speed of a roadrunner, a speed unlike any I’ve used before, fueled by my rage and my wolf’s. Fueled by the need to protect my mate.

I don’t see the male beneath me. All I see is red, my blood rushing and pumping through my body, my heart pounding, matching the rhythm of my fists meeting his face.

And then my fists meet only air, my body yanked off him by two powerful arms wrapped around my middle. But my arms still swing, my body struggling to free itself from the hold I’ve found myself trapped in.

“Stop fighting me!” Wesley orders, his full alpha aura releasing and pulsing out over the pack grounds, washing over me and forcing me to go almost limp in his arms.

My chest heaves and my feet plant themselves on the ground, my eyes locked on the pathetic excuse for a male sprawled out on the ground, unmoving. His face is bloody, swollen, and already bruising, his perfectly coiffed hair now matted and tangled with blood, grass, and mud. Alpha Ben crouches next to him, checking his pulse and his breathing, and Levi is somewhere nearby, already on the phone to his dad, Dr. Russo.

“My office. Now,” Wesley says with a growl, his aura rolling off him in heavy, palpable waves.

I’m forced to follow him, unable to break his alpha command on me, even though my body aches to go back to the training grounds and pummel that male further into the ground, all the way to the depths of the underworld, for what he said about Taryn.

About my mate.

I’m unfocused as I follow Wes up to the packhouse, through the back doors, and down the hall to his office. I make my way there using muscle memory, my blood pumping and boiling, my vision flashing red, flashing the face of the scumbag dickhead who dared insult not only my mate but all females.

Wesley holds the office door open for me, and I brush by him, angling my body so we don’t touch, my head hanging down in deference to him. His jaw is clenched and ticking, a vein pulsing in his forehead, and he slams the door shut behind him, stomping over to his desk.

“Reid, you can’t attack warriors from other packs. We’ve been over this before,” he says as he plops down into his chair.

I can’t sit. My wolf wants blood, and every nerve in my body is on edge, every muscle ready to strike should we see that male’s ugly mug again. I didn’t give him everything I had in me. He needed more, deserved more, for what he said.

“But Wes, he—”

His phone rings, cutting me off. He glances at it, still glaring, but his gaze softens as soon as he sees who is calling him.

“Hey, Sugar Plum.” His voice is no longer a growl, switching from angry, growling alpha lycan to simpering pup in less than a second.

“Why are you so upset? What is going on? Everything was fine and dandy and then whoosh angry lycan rage overload!” Haven says.

“Reid attacked a warrior from Ben’s pack,” Wes says, rubbing his forehead. “Sorry to worry you.”

“Let me talk to him!”

Wes lifts his eyes to me, and I sigh, holding my hand out for the phone.

“Hey, Luna,” I say as I put the phone to my ear, flashing my signature smile even though she can’t see me, bracing myself for her fiery sass.

“What is wrong with you? You know I don’t like it when I can feel Wes is pissed off, especially when I’m at rehearsal and he’s back at the pack!”

“Sorry, Luna.”

“I can’t be believable as a graceful swan when I feel like a rabid wolf!”

Wes frowns. “I’m a lycan.”

“Not now, Wesley!” she snaps.

We both press our lips together, avoiding each other’s eyes so we don’t laugh and piss her off more. “You better have a good reason for attacking a warrior from another pack again,” she says.

“First of all, that only happened one other time. And second of all, he was saying nasty, rude shit about Taryn and female wolves in general.”

Haven pauses, and Wesley raises his brows. “What did he say?” Haven asks.

“He said ‘All the females on Date-To-Mate are desperate and will spread their legs for anyone’ and said Taryn was an ‘easy lay’ and recommended her username to a bunch of the other males at the joint training this morning.”

---