Page 39 of The Beta's Blind Date

“And you cornering me and pinning me to a wall is going to help with that how?”

She swallows and her eyes widen more, her lip quivering, but she doesn’t respond.

I inhale, even though I don’t want to breathe in her stench, but I need to identify her pack scent. She’s not one of ours, that much I know. The females in our pack know better than to approach me like that. They know I don’t touch pack females.

The undercurrent of amber hits my nose, and I breathe out, releasing her from my grip. Amber Forest, then. I will contact Alpha Benjamin about her. Goddess, I hope she hasn’t pulled this on him too.

“Get off our pack lands,” I growl. Her hands fly to her throat, rubbing it where I gripped her. “And if I see you making unsolicited advances on anyone the next time you’re here, it won’t be just my fingers digging into your neck. It will be my claws, too.”

She whimpers and scurries away from me and down the hall, past a bewildered Sebastian. Our eyes meet and he raises a brow at me before turning his head to watch her hurried steps out the back door.

“She cornered me,” I say, crossing my arms.

“I saw,” he says, looking at me with his hands in his pockets, his gaze expectant.

I stay quiet as we look at each other. I have nothing to say to him, no excuse to cover up my uncharacteristic behavior. My fingers pinch the bridge of my nose and I shake my head, walking away from him and towards the back door.

“I’m going for a run.”

I don’t wait for his response. I’m out the door, shifting into my wolf form and taking off for the forest before he can say anything.

Chapter 13

TARYN

Ican’tbelieveIdid that. I can’t believe I kissed him.

Sure, it was only a kiss on the cheek. And sure, he said it didn’t count, said it wasn’t breaking the rules, since we’re not fucking or haven’t fucked or whatever—but shit.

I don’t know what came over me. What possessed me to lean across the center console in his Mustang and press my lips to his cheek? Maybe it was how helpful he’d been, finding that law for me and making sure I knew about it. Maybe it was the extra cookies he bought me because I liked them so much. Or maybe it’s because everything is so damn easy with him, so natural.

Or maybe it’s because I am a crazy person. Or a glutton for punishment. Or both.

“It’s fine, Taryn,” I say for the thousandth time as I pull into the parking lot of the Silver Ridge packhouse. “He said it was fine, so it’s fine. Totally fine.”

And it was fine. It was more than fine. His cheek under my lips was warm, his scent inviting and comforting as I invaded his space. It felt so natural, so right.

It shouldn’t. He’s not mine. And he doesn’t want a relationship. He’s made that clear. I didn’t mean to cross a line with him. Our budding friendship is enjoyable, and I hope I didn’t ruin a good thing.

I cut the engine after I park and stare up at our packhouse, so different from the Crescent Lake packhouse. I didn’t go inside theirs, but the log cabin exterior gave off a homey vibe. Even with the craftsman exterior, our packhouse looks cold and stuffy—stuck up. Like an old money home in the south or a Wall Street heiress’s summer home in the Hamptons—all about keeping up the appearance of success and wealth and no concern for the comfort of the residents or visitors.

At least we’re allowed to decorate our personal apartments the way we want.

“I’m back,”I mindlink Blake like I told her I would.

“You were gone for a while,”she says.“Did the one-on-one training session turn into a different type of one-on-one session?”

I chuckle to myself, put my small purse and the cookies into my gym bag, brace myself against the cold, and get out of the car.“No, it did not. I already told you, I’m not going there with him.”

“You said you were respecting his choice to uphold his end of the bet the other night. He’s fulfilled his role. There are no rules now. You can take what you want if you want him.”

“Blake!”

“What?”

“For someone who is waiting for their mate, you sure think about sex a lot.”

“It’s because I know what there is to look forward to. I may be waiting, but that doesn’t mean I’m not ready. I’ll jump that male’s bones faster than you can say ‘moon goddess.’”

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