Page 132 of The Beta's Blind Date

Everything around us fades as I walk to the pack hospital in Wesley’s tracks on autopilot. She is my sole focus, the only thing in this entire world that matters at this moment. My eyes catch on the scratches on her forearm from my dad’s claws, and my wolf snarls as my blood boils. I know he didn’t mean it, that he wasn’t in his right mind, but it doesn’t change the fact that he hurt my mate.

The scratches aren’t deep, but Wesley is right—they aren’t healing like they should be. Which is odd, given she just healed even deeper wounds on me until it was as if they were never there in the first place.

“Dr. Russo wants to see Taryn first,” Wes says as we reach the hospital and walk through the automatic doors. “He’ll check your dad out once he’s finished with Taryn, and there is a nurse waiting for you in the triage area,” he adds.

Charlotte, the same nurse who aided Taryn the night of the rogue attack, waits for us with a wheelchair, gesturing for me to put Taryn in it. I frown and growl, clutching her tighter to me. “I can carry her to the room just fine,” I say through my teeth.

Charlottes winces but doesn’t back down from my possessive anger. “It’s hospital policy, and—”

“And she’s my mate!”

“Reid,” Wesley says, putting his hand on my shoulder, pushing out a hint of his alpha aura. “Just put her in the wheelchair. She will be fine.”

I grit my teeth at his subtle order and lower her into it, taking her hand in mine. “Fine, but I’m going with her. I don’t need anyone to check me. I’m healed and my place is with my mate.”

Taryn squeezes my hand and Wesley frowns at me, rubbing his hand over his face before crossing his arms. “Reid, I understand where you are coming from. I do. I’ve been there. But even though her scratches aren’t healing, they are just scratches, and based on what Taryn told me in her very brief mindlink, you were gravely injured with your guts almost spilling out of your stomach. So excuse me if I think, as your alpha and your best friend, that you should at least have a quick examination by a medical professional so they can clear you before you join your mate in her hospital room!”

He raises his voice to a yell by the end of his rant, and thank Selene the hospital is empty aside from the four of us standing here in the entrance and the two medical assistants behind the front desk who both pretend they’re not paying attention. Charlotte begins to wheel Taryn away and I growl again, keeping Taryn’s hand in mine and following them.

A louder growl echoes through the waiting room, and we all bow our heads and bare our necks to Wesley as his aura pushes out of him. His arm points in the opposite direction of the hallway, his body drawn up to its full height as he laces his words to me with an alpha command. “Triage area. Now. You can join Taryn once the nurse there says you’re cleared.”

I glare at him and drop her hand, stomping towards the bay of curtained beds used for minor injuries or to determine if a wolf needs further treatment or admission to an actual room. I’ll go, since I don’t have a choice, since he alpha commanded me, but he’ll know I’m not happy about it.

“Don’t be too mad at him,”Taryn says to me through the mindlink.“He just wants to make sure you’re okay. He’s worried about you.”

“I’ll be with you in five minutes,”I say, ignoring her words about Wesley. He can go fuck himself for all I care.“Less than five minutes.”

“Don’t rush.”

“I’ll rush if I want to,”I reply.

I feel her amusement and laughter as another nurse walks into the triage area.

“Beta Reid,” she says, stopping at the foot of the bed I am perched on. “How can I help you?” she asks, scanning my body.

“Hello, Paige,” I say, bouncing my foot. “Alpha Wesley insists that you check my abdomen to make sure the wound I received is healed.”

“All right,” she says, pulling out her thermometer. “Let me get your temperature and blood pressure first, and…”

I tune her out as she moves through her routine, checking my vitals and taking notes. My foot bounces the entire time, my hands tapping the tops of my thighs, and she glares at them several times as she tries to do her job. I don’t care, though. I need her to say the words “You’re cleared” so I can get back to my mate.

“When was this wound received?” she asks, lifting my torn shirt to check my stomach and side.

“Maybe fifteen minutes ago?” I say, shrugging. “Twenty max.”

My heart races and my stomach clenches. A wave of panic and stress floods into me through the bond. My wolf snaps and snarls as Taryn’s distress continues to crash into us, and I strain against the command placed on me, wishing with everything in me I could break it and rush to her.

“It looks healed,” she says, her brow furrowing. “I’m not sure what Alpha Wesley wants me to do.”

My neck tightens, and I hold in a growl. “So I’m cleared?”

“You’re fine.”

I try to jump off the bed, but the alpha command pulls me back, pinning me in place. I let out a roar, my claws shredding through the bedding, my wolf fighting against the invisible restraints on us. “Am I cleared?” I yell, gripping the mattress. “I need you to say ‘You are cleared!’”

“You’re cleared,” she says, clutching the chart to her chest and backing up against the wall.

The chains on me snap, and I rush out of the triage area and down the hall of rooms, using my nose to find Taryn. Nothing else matters except getting to her and finding out what has her so upset so I can calm all of us—Taryn, my wolf, and me—down.

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