Page 133 of The Beta's Blind Date

Her scent wafts towards me from the same room she was in the night of the attack, and I burst through without knocking. It doesn’t matter what state she’s in. She’s my mate and I’m not waiting to get to her. Not when she’s this distressed.

The door slams shut behind me and I stop in my tracks in the middle of the hospital room, my brain working to catch up with what my eyes are seeing.

Taryn lays in the bed, her forearm bandaged and her knees drawn up, the nurse between her sheet-covered legs. Both of them and the doctor stare at the screen of a small machine, where an image in black and white is displayed, a pulse beating in a line across the bottom of the screen.

I stare at it as all eyes in the room turn to look at me. “What…?” I ask, even though part of me knows, even though my brain has already processed what is happening. But my question is out before I can take it back, and I need the confirmation.

Taryn swallows and glances at the screen and then back at me, her heart pounding, her eyes watery and fearful yet hopeful at the same time. “That’s my pup,” she says, her voice almost too quiet to hear.

But I hear her.

Everything snaps into place. Everything makes sense. I draw in a breath, and take a hesitant step forward, my heart pounding as I watch the screen, not paying attention to anyone else in the room. Time stops and my world shifts on its axis. Everything in me—even my wolf—focuses on the tiny being that is shown on the ultrasound image.

A pup.

Chapter 46

TARYN

Reidstandsfrozeninthe middle of the hospital room, his eyes locked on the ultrasound screen. His heart pounds and his throat bobs, but he doesn’t blink or look away from the image. I bite my lip and blink against the water in my eyes, my hands clenched as I wait for him to react, to say something or turn and run out the door, but he stands there like a statue.

“Taryn?” Dr. Russo asks, pulling my attention back to him.

“Sorry,” I say, flicking my eyes to Reid and then back to the doctor. “What did you say?”

“I asked if you’re okay with this?” He glances at Reid, and I nod, taking a deep breath.

I would have preferred to tell him myself, tell him when it was the two of us and we had time to talk, but there’s no taking it back now. The truth is out there, and now I must face the consequences.

“As I was saying, the pup looks great,” Dr. Russo says, and Reid’s throat bobs again. “It’s measuring a little on the bigger side, but that is to be expected because of its alpha genes.”

“But I didn’t hurt it? The… healing didn’t put any strain on the pup?”

“No. Like I said before, it just affected your own healing. Since you’re unmarked, you can’t draw on the strength of your mate, which is especially important for healers.”

“But if I heal someone again, could it hurt the pup?” I ask, my hands covering my stomach.

Reid’s hands clench, and he flicks his eyes to the doctor, then back to the screen, where my itty bitty pup is still on display. The emotions in our bond blend and jumble together like ingredients in a smoothie, his indiscernible from mine. I push that aside, though, and focus on what Dr. Russo is telling me. Telling us.

“It shouldn’t, but as healers are rare and protected, there isn’t a lot of readily available information out there about them. I’ll have to do some digging, consult someone from the Royal Pack or one of the oracles. Once I find more information, I will let you know. For now, I would suggest holding off on healing anyone again. At least until you’re marked.”

I nod and squeeze my eyes shut, turning my face towards the wall of the room, keeping my breaths deep and even so I don’t cry.

Until I’m marked. He’s so confident that marking is a guarantee for us. That the playboy beta who didn’t want a mate until he met me will now want not just a mate, but a pup who isn’t his.

I wish I had that same confidence.

The nurse removes the wand from me and cleans it off, covering me back up with the blankets.

“I printed some ultrasound images for you,” Dr. Russo says as the nurse wheels the machine from the room. “I forgot to do that the other day, and you need to have some to frame or put in a scrapbook or whatever.”

He smiles and holds the string of images out to me, but Reid takes them before I can, holding them between his hands and looking over each one. My hands itch to take them from him. But he’s holding them. Looking at them. That has to be a positive sign. Right?

I’m still unable to work out what he’s feeling or thinking. His wall isn’t up, but both of us are experiencing turbulent emotions that I’m unable to trace back to a proper owner.

Dr. Russo reaches the door and stops with his hand on the knob. “Oh, one more thing,” he says, and both of us glance at him. “The results of the genetic testing we did are already in. Everything looks fine,” he says, reassuring me before I can ask. “But I was wondering if you wanted to know the sex of the pup?”

“You can tell this early?” I ask.

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