Page 38 of The Beta's Blind Date

Nothing against Haven, of course. I adore her. She’s perfect for Wes, and our pack, and she’s like a sister to Nolan and me. She fits into our group dynamic like a puzzle piece that was lost and then found years later. But sometimes I miss when it was just us four guys.

“Where is Haven?” I ask.

“Rehearsal,” Nolan says, glancing at Wesley.

“Alone,” Wes adds, frowning.

“She’s fine,” Nolan says, his voice patient but his face telling me he’s repeated this phrase to Wesley more times than he can count. “And she’s not alone. Levi is there, and so is Maya. And Peter and Ramón.”

“I still don’t like it,” Wesley growls, grabbing his wallet from the conference room table. “I’m leaving. See you all later.”

I chuckle as he storms out of the room. “You’d think he’d have gotten used to it by now. It’s been three years since he marked her.”

“Imagine how much worse he’ll be when she’s pregnant,” Sebastian says.

“I thought they were waiting for a while?” I ask.

“They are. I’m just stating a fact.”

“Can’t blame the man, honestly,” Nolan says. “After everything that happened? Her ex attacking her with his lycan and Tiny Tim trying to claim her? It’s a wonder he’s comfortable when she’s off pack lands at all.”

“He wouldn’t stop her from dancing, though,” I say. “He knows how much she loves it, and he’ll do anything to keep her happy.”

“That’s what the mate bond does,” Seb says. “Turns us from scary beasts into domesticated dogs who will do anything to see our female smile.”

I don’t respond, but my wolf agrees with his statement. Love-struck fool. He’d do anything Taryn asked him to. He’d jump off a bridge or let her walk him around on a leash. He’d even let her put ribbons in his fur.

Not me, though. I’m not smitten like he is. I will not go out of my way to do things for her. Like spend hours in the library researching warrior laws and small wolves. Or invite her to the pack to do extra training with her so she can become a warrior in her pack. Or buy her extra cookies to take home with her because she loved the ones we shared at lunch.

Fuck.

The room spins and I can’t catch my breath. I need to get away, get outside and run like I was trying to do earlier.

“I’ll see you guys later,” I say, waving at Nolan and Seb over my shoulder and sprinting out of the conference room.

This is why I need to reject her. Why I shouldn’t be spending time with her at all. The bond is already working its magic on me, making me want her, making my wolf’s desires and instincts to be with his mate my own desires and instincts.

I have to figure out what’s going on. I need her to feel the bond, too. Once she does, once she feels it and knows I’m going to reject her, she won’t want to see me anymore, and I won’t have to worry about the mate bond’s hold on my heart and my wolf.

Two small hands grab my shirt and yank me into the cramped hallway leading to the laundry rooms and the basement. I don’t have time to react, caught off guard because of my spiraling thoughts and my pacing and whining wolf. I find myself with my back against the wall, the female from the tux shop—Caroline, I think—pressing her body to mine and rubbing her hands on my chest.

I flatten my hands on the wall, straining my neck as I tilt my face up and away from her while still keeping my eyes on her. The pungent scent of her perfume is so overpowering I don’t think a gas mask would protect me from it.

She peers at me through fluttering lashes and licks her lips, and I gag. The contrast between Taryn’s sweet scent and her sassy, adorable flirting to this she-demon’s putrid odor and dismal attempts to seduce me is glaring.

Her lips move, words coming out of them. But I hear nothing over the snarls of my wolf, the pounding of my heart, and the rush of blood in my ears.

The audacity. The fucking nerve of this bitch, to corner me and pin me against the wall when I didn’t display even a millimeter of interest in her. Her touch is sandpaper against my skin, yet another obvious difference between her and my mate.

Her hands slip under the hem of my t-shirt, and the snarls of my wolf in my head turn to audible growls of my own. The sound rattles the windows and shakes the lights in their fixtures. I spin us, pinning her with my hand around her throat, my rarely used beta aura pouring out of me and washing over her.

I narrow my eyes keep myself at arm’s length, my teeth clenched, my voice low and quiet but still a growl. “Don’t fucking touch me.”

She cowers, her eyes watering and her body trembling. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d—“

“Exactly,” I snap. “You didn’t think.”

“You seemed tense.”

---