Page 62 of The Beta's Blind Date

Right on cue, her stomach growls, and she narrows her eyes at me, like it’s my fault she’s hungry. “A toothbrush and toothpaste would be great,” she says through her teeth. “And I don’t need anything too big before we train—yogurt and fruit would be fine, I guess.”

“Great!”

I grab the last empty dish and hurry out of the den and into the kitchen, mindlinking Maddie to ask her if she can scrounge up a toothbrush and some toothpaste for Taryn.

“Another sleepover?”Maddie teases through the link.

“Fuck off. You’re as bad as Seb.”

“No one is as bad as Seb,”she replies with a laugh.

“It was an accident. We fell asleep watching training and warrior competition videos last night.”

“I’ll bring her what she needs. Don’t worry,”she says, and I can see her eyes rolling in my mind.“Just don’t fuck her and ruin everything, okay? I like her, and you need a female who is just a friend as badly as Sebastian needs to get laid.”

“Now that I can agree with.”I drop the dishes into the sink and wave at Cookie.“She’s in the den on the first floor,”I tell Maddie, then cut the link.

Cookie watches me as I move about the kitchen, dishing up yogurt into two bowls and cutting up apples, bananas, and strawberries, and drizzling a little orange blossom honey over them. I hum to myself as I work, a smile on my face, as energized as if I’d drank three cups of coffee already this morning.

“Are you going to clean those dishes?” Cookie asks as I walk out.

I stop and look at her, at her green eyes staring pointedly at the sink full of dishes I just dropped off. I glance at them, then smile bigger, giving her a wink. “Of course I will. Later.”

I turn and walk out, her voice following me down the hallway. “No, you won’t!”

“Love you, Cookie!” I call back.

“Who is Cookie?” Taryn asks as I walk back into the den with our breakfast.

“Packhouse cook,” I say, sitting down on the couch.

“Is Cookie her actual name, or just what you all call her since she’s the cook?”

“Second one,” I say, taking a bite of my yogurt. “Her real name is Cindy Patterson.”

I pat the cushion next to me and nod at the food I brought for her. “Eat up, Cadet. We have training to get to. And since your lazy butt slept in, if you don’t hurry, we’ll be late for our scheduled training at eleven.”

“Like you didn’t sleep in too,” she grumbles, scooting over and grabbing her food.

“I had no choice. I was trapped.”

Her eyes slide to me. “It’s not my fault you make such a good pillow.”

I’ll be your pillow every night, if you want.

I shovel food into my mouth to prevent those words from spewing out. That’s the last thing I need.

I may have accepted that she’s my mate, may be determined to get her to fall for me, but I want her to feel the bond before I tell her the truth. I want to figure out why she can’t. It will be easier to explain everything to her if she can feel the bond.

And I’ll deal with the aftermath of that when it happens.

We banter and tease each other throughout our meal, both of us trying to see who can make the other laugh harder, trying to one-up each other.

Her smile, laugh, and presence bring me a peace I haven’t felt in years, and I imagine mornings like this becoming our norm. Teasing each other, eating breakfast together, and then heading out to train or go on a run. She’ll fit right in with our pack. She already gets along well with Maddie, and she’s bound to become close with Haven and Maya as well.

She’ll be the perfect beta female.

I guess Selene does know what she’s doing. Sometimes.

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