Page 137 of The Beta's Blind Date

I sigh and nod. “I know. I just need a minute still.”

My hands rub up and down her sides, and I tilt my head, nuzzling into her neck and pressing my nose into her mark. She shivers, her back arching, her head falling back a touch, and I smile, breathing in our combined scent and running my nose along the raised edge of the silvery bite mark that now sits on her neck.

Mine. Forever mine. Both of them.

That thought bolsters me, feeding me courage. It’s not just me anymore. It’s Taryn and our Sour Patch. They’re my life, my universe, my reason for everything. My strength.

I blow out a breath and pull my face from Taryn’s neck, patting her cute ass. “Let’s go.”

She slides off my lap and reaches for my hand, lacing our fingers together and squeezing. I swallow and stand, walking hand in hand with her to the door, bracing myself to face the world beyond. I’d prefer to hole up with her for at least an entire day—more if I’m honest—to bask in the afterglow of our mating and marking, so we can deepen our bond. But, of course, that’s not in the cards for us right now.

I open the door, and as soon as I do, echoing yells bounce off the hallway walls and into our ears, no longer impeded by the soundproofing used inside the rooms. Harrison, Emily, Wesley, and Haven block the path to my dad’s hospital room as Harrison and Wesley stare each other down, their auras spilling into the hospital while they argue.

Harrison steps forward towards Wesley and the door he blocks, his eyes pleading. “Please let me talk to him, Wesley. He’s my best friend, and—”

“No!” Wesley says, taking a step forward as well, cutting off Harrison’s path more. He’s drawn up to his full height, towering over everyone in the hall, arms crossed over his massive chest. “You don’t get to play that card now. You can’t claim he’s your ‘best friend’ when you didn’t realize the extent of his pain, his trauma, when you didn’t do anything more than ask him ‘Are you okay?’ every so often.”

“He claimed he was getting help—”

“Yeah, from a bottle!”

“He said he was fine whenever I asked.”

“You enabled him!” Wesley exclaims, pointing at Harrison and narrowing his eyes.

I take a step towards them, but Luna Emily stops me with a look. I back down, angling my body in front of Taryn to protect her in case the two alpha lycans in the hallway come to blows.

“You didn’t push him to be honest with you, and you never asked Reid if things were fine, either. You let Brad hide away when he was down instead of digging and truly ensuring he was fine and getting help. That’s not being a best friend or a good alpha.”

Harrison shakes his head, exhaling as he pinches the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t realize… I didn’t understand…”

“No, you didn’t. Because, as always, you were too worried about your image. You couldn’t let other packs know your beta was weak, so you swept it under the rug.”

Haven sucks in a breath and snaps at him through her teeth, scolding him with her eyes. “Wesley!”

“It’s true!” he says, looking over his shoulder at Haven. “It all boils down to the same thing. Us losing you when Jack was sick, and now this? It’s all because of his pride and—”

“And what about you?” Harrison says, cutting him off. “You claim Reid is your best friend, but you didn’t do anything either. You didn’t realize what was going on, or how hard it was for him, how he was suffering almost as much as Brad, shouldering this burden for the both of them. The blame isn’t fully on me here, Wesley.”

Wesley’s jaw ticks, and he inhales through his nose. “I was nine when the rogues attacked and Stephanie died. I was a child. You were the adult, the alpha, the parent.”

“And were you a child for all of the eighteen years since? You’ve been an adult for close to ten of them and the alpha for almost three. At what point does the blame fall on you? At what point does it stop being only my fault?”

Wesley’s finger stabs at his chest. “I’m not the one who paid Brad’s salary for all those years when he was barely doing the job he was being paid for. How do I know you weren’t helping him buy the alcohol in the first place?”

“You’re right. I paid him. But you’re still not taking ownership of your own shortcomings as Reid’s so-called best friend. Where were you? Where were you when he needed you?”

I growl and shove past Emily, no longer willing to be a bystander while they tear each other apart. They’re both going too far and will end up saying something they regret if someone doesn’t stop them.

“Hey!” I step between them, clenching Taryn’s hand as I pull her with me. “Stop blaming each other and yourselves.” I turn to look right at Wesley. “You can’t blame yourself.”

Silence falls over the hospital and all eyes land on me. I fight the urge to cower and shuffle my feet. Instead, I hold Wesley’s gaze, my blood pounding in my ears, my girl’s hand in mine giving me strength.

Wes shakes his head, his eyes lining with liquid, his hands rolling into fists at his sides. “I didn’t…” He swallows, covering his mouth for a moment, and tries again. “I would have…”

His jaw snaps shut, and he turns, his feet carrying him down the hall and away from his parents and me. He cracks his neck. The muscles in his back and arms tense, like he’s about to hit something, but Haven puts her hands on his back, releasing some of her starlight aura around him to calm him.

I take a step in his direction. “Wes—”

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