Page 76 of The Beta's Blind Date

Wesley sticks his tongue out at Maddie, and she flips him off, but he ignores her and turns his attention to Haven. “Please, Sugar Plum?” he says, still pouting.

“Nolan will be sad if she ditches him,” I say, laughing.

“So sad.” Sebastian nods. “Right, Nolan?”

Nolan shakes his head. “I really don’t—” Seb glares pointedly at him, and Taryn snickers. “I mean yeah, so, so sad,” Nolan says.

“I hate all of you,” Wes says, whipping around and pointing at us. “And you,” he adds, turning back to a laughing Haven, taking her face in his hands. “You are mine. We are a team. Remember?”

She sighs and peeks around him. “Sorry Nolan. Bossy pants alpha says no.”

“It’s fine, Luna. I will find a way to survive,” he says with a wink. “But Wes is terrible at hide and seek. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“What are the rules?” Taryn asks.

“Basic hide and seek or tag rules. If you’re found and tagged, then you’re it, and you mindlink the others to tell them. You can play in wolf or human form. There are marked trees with spare clothes in man-made holes if you need to switch forms at any point,” I explain.

“But how will I mindlink you all to tell you?”

“Whoever tags you will mindlink everyone else,” Maddie says.

“How will I know who is it?”

“That’s the training part,” I say. “You don’t always know for sure who your enemy is. It could be anyone.”

She nods and then glances at Wes and Haven. “And how will Luna Haven know who is it?”

“She’ll be with me, so there’s no need to worry about that,” Wesley says, lying with ease.

Taryn will learn about Haven’s mindlink gift soon enough, though. Since she’s my mate and she’ll be part of our pack. She’ll learn it all. The whole truth about who Haven is.

“Okay.” Taryn nods. “Sounds straightforward enough. Who’s it first?”

“Youngest always goes first, so, me,” Maddie says, grinning like the Cheshire cat. “One, two, three…”

She closes her eyes and continues counting, and we all take off into the forest, sprinting in various directions.

Well, everyone but me. I wait, moving to stand right next to Maddie. She opens her eyes, squinting at me, then shakes her head and keeps counting. “Eight, nine, ten…”

I follow Taryn with my eyes, waiting until the white of her head wrap and her long-sleeved shirt disappear within the brush. She ducks behind a tree, and a few moments later, I catch her wolf’s tail waving over the top of a bush, and I smile.

This is going to be so much fun.

“Eighteen, nineteen, twenty!” Maddie yells, whistling to let everyone know she’s finished counting.

I hold my hand out, waiting, and she rolls her eyes and slaps it.“Reid’s it,”she mindlinks everyone.

“Why am I not surprised,”Nolan says.

“He does that every time,”Sebastian adds, laughing.

“We should make a rule against it,”Wes says.

“He’d just break it,”Seb replies.

I chuckle and shake my head as they continue to banter, then take my clothes off so I can shift into my wolf. He’s dying to chase after Taryn’s wolf, and even though I’m itching to pet her wolf again too, I let him take control so he can sniff her trail and lead me to her.

I pick my clothes up in my jaw and take off through the trees. I’d normally use the spares stored throughout the forest, but I have an idea, and I need my clothes to put it into action.

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