Page 77 of The Beta's Blind Date

We pick up Taryn’s trail with ease. Her scent calls to us, like it’s supposed to. That specific, sweet mixture of peonies, strawberries, and peaches that is both nostalgic and intoxicating. A scent only I can smell and pinpoint. The scent that is designed so mates can find each other no matter what, especially if one of them is hurt or in danger.

An icy wind picks up through the trees, signaling a fresh dropping of snow on its way and blowing Taryn’s scent towards us. I trot through the forest, ignoring the scents of my friends and bypassing Nolan’s hiding spot.

My mind is on tracking Taryn.

I come to a large, fallen log, and my wolf wags his tail, plopping down on his haunches. Taryn’s scent wafts towards us from the other side. I shift to my human form and fist pump the air, then pull my gray sweatpants on and toss my shirt on the bark of the log.

“Taryn,” I whisper, cupping my hands to my mouth. “Let me hide with you.” Her wolf’s nose pokes up, and her beady eyes blink at me, then glance at the shirt. “I’ll close my eyes, I promise,” I add, lifting my hands to cover them.

Her bones snap, and the underbrush rustles as she shifts from her wolf and throws my shirt on, and I smile to myself.

Phase one—check.

“Okay,” she says, her voice quiet. “Hurry up before someone sees us.”

I hop over the log, eyeing her in my shirt. It falls to her thighs, and I swear she’s never looked more beautiful than right now. Both my wolf and I fall more in love with her, and he’s ecstatic she’s in my clothes, getting my scent all over her body.

I squat behind the log and sprawl out on the ground, pressing my back to the bark. Before I can summon her, Taryn is on the ground with me, her hands tugging at the hem to keep some decency.

“I should have grabbed my clothes before I took off into the trees,” she mutters.

“No way. I like you much better like this.”

I pull her down and she stretches out alongside me. My body angles so she’s more on me than on the forest floor, and I wrap my arms around her, holding her in place as I adjust us so her face hovers right above mine, our noses touching and our lips inches apart.

“Who’s it?” she asks, her palms resting on my bare chest.

“Sebastian.”

Fingers crossed she doesn’t notice the subtle change in my heart rate at my lie.

“Won’t Sebastian find us easier if we’re together?”

“Nah.” I wink. “He won’t think we’d hide together. Haven and Wes? Yes. He’ll definitely think they’re hiding together. They’ll probably be ‘hiding’ for a while.” She laughs and covers her mouth, her forehead pressing against mine. “But he’ll assume we’re staying separate.”

She nods and puts her hand back on my chest. I swallow against the feel of her soft, delicate hands, and her fingertips trace the lines of the tattoo on my left pec. I rub her back, taking care to keep the fabric from shifting too much so I don’t expose her naked lower half. I wouldn’t mind, but I’m also not planning to cross any of those lines with her while she doesn’t know the truth.

“Your friends are fun,” she says, a smile playing on her lips.

I roll my eyes. “They’re all right, I guess.”

“I love how you tease each other and how you all accept Haven as part of your group—your family.”

“She’s our luna.”

Taryn shakes her head. “It’s more than that. There’s a difference between respecting someone because they are your friend’s mate or because they hold a title in your pack and accepting someone as they are no matter what. And with her, it’s the second one.”

I nod. “She’s very important to us. We’d all protect her with our lives.”

Her lips twitch. “And it’s hilarious to watch this little graceful human ballerina boss all these giant werewolf and lycan brutes around. She has Wesley wrapped around her pinky finger.”

“That she does,” I agree with a laugh.Just like you have me wrapped around yours.

Footsteps disturb the pine needles on the forest floor, and Taryn squeezes herself to me, her cheek pressing against my cheek. I bite back my laugh and my smile and wrap my arms tighter around her. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.

Phase two—check.

Her breath tickles my ear, and her skin touching mine is the best kind of torture. Sparks ignite and spread heat through my body, but the thought that it’s all one-sided douses the fire.

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