Page 164 of The Beta's Blind Date

“You’re pregnant?” he asks, his voice quieter than I’ve ever heard it.

I nod. “I am.”

“With my pup?”

“Yes,” I say with another nod.

Reid’s jaw ticks, but he says nothing. His hold on me tightens, though, his body tensing at Dominic’s words, at the threat to the pup he’s claimed as his own.

Dominic’s chest swells and the cruel smile returns to his face. “He’ll have to relinquish you to me now,” he says. “You’re carrying my pup, my alpha heir.”

“That’s not how our laws work,” King Malachi says, pushing Dominic harder against the bed. “She’ll be your heir, yes, but that doesn’t give you a claim over Taryn. The council won’t break a mate bond for a custody dispute.”

“She?” Dominic’s head whips to look at King Malachi, and then he stares at me, fire in his eyes and vitriol in his words. “She?! You’re carrying a female?”

His body trembles and he shakes his head, his neck tendons jutting out and his hands clutching at the blanket on the bed. A cloud of black, gray, and red hovers over him, warping and snaking around him, pulsing with his movements and his words. “What the fuck am I supposed to do with a female heir?”

“The same you would with a male,” Wesley says, his hands forming fists. “Train them to be a good, strong, and fair alpha.”

“I don’t want a female!” he roars, his chest heaving and the cloud shivering, flickering from sight and then returning. “You can’t do anything right, can you, Taryn? You couldn’t stay away from your mate, you couldn’t complete your warrior challenge, and you couldn’t give me a male heir!”

“That’s not how science works,” Reid says, rolling his eyes. “Even I know that.”

Dominic’s nostrils flare again and he continues his rant, but I block his words out, focusing on his body language and the swirling cloud hovering around him, darting in and out of his body and his soul, poking and tugging at him, plucking at invisible strings. It started as a mere disturbance of the air, but it’s coalesced into a living, writhing entity, growing stronger and darker by the minute.

I step around Reid, staying at his side but examining the cloud and Dominic’s reaction to it. He flinches away from where it reaches for him, and each time his jaw or fists clench before he speaks.

Dr. Russo turns from his workstation, syringe in hand, and I hold my hands up, running to the bedside. “Stop!”

“Taryn!” Reid darts forward and grabs me around the middle, yanking me backwards.

“Wait!” I yell, clutching at his arm. “Wait, please. I know this sounds crazy, but… I have a gut feeling and I want to try something.”

“Taryn…”

“I need you to trust me,” I say, rubbing his forearm. “You can stay right here and hold me, but something isn’t right. There’s a darkness surrounding him—invading him—an unnatural, foreign darkness.”

Dr. Russo freezes with the syringe poised over the IV, and he exchanges a look with King Malachi. “You can see it? In his aura?” he asks.

“In his aura and in his body, yes.”

Dominic stares at me, held down by both the king and Wesley. His body shakes and fights them, but his eyes… behind the cold steel, there is something else, something reminiscent of the male he was before.

I take a deep breath as Reid loosens his hold on me, and I place my hands on Dominic’s arm like before, only this time I focus on his aura, his luminous spiritual body, instead of his physical one. My golden light pours into him, and I send it to his corrupted soul and his clouded aura. I’m met with resistance, the noxious cloud fighting against me and pressing down, searching for gaps or holes in my power. But I grit my teeth and push harder, creating a solid, golden layer between the cloud and Dominic’s true aura.

He gasps and blinks. The ice falls from his eyes, and his body relaxes as he takes in lungfuls of air. His head circles the room, his gaze landing on each of us—the king and Wesley, the doctor, and finally me.

“Taryn?” His eyes scan the room again and he frowns. “I don’t understand. Where are we?”

“We’re at Crescent Lake. You’re in a hospital cell.”

He looks down at his cuffed hand and again at the king and Wesley, who hold him down. “Why?” he asks, blinking as he looks at me.

I grit my teeth as the cloud bears down against my powers, trying to force its way back into Dominic, and Reid squeezes me, pushing more strength through the bond.

“There was a rogue attack on the night of the wedding. They attacked you as you drove home,” Wesley answers for me.

“The wedding?” Dominic’s brows push together and he shakes his head. “But I never left the wedding.”

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