Page 9 of The Beta's Blind Date

“Seriously?” I ask.

“It’s the wedding of the year, and I won’t be able to go otherwise,” she says. “And Dawson isn’t so bad. He’s trainable.”

Dawson perks up but then frowns. “Wait, what does that mean?” he asks.

“Don’t worry about it,” Blake whispers, patting his chest. “See you later, Troll.”

She strolls past me and through the doors to the locker room. I stare after her, gaping at my reflection in the one-way window of the doors. I know she’s right on the other side, waiting and listening.

“He’s going to keep asking you until you say yes,”she mindlinks me.

“And that’s the problem,” I say. “I shouldn’t have to agree to this to get him off my back.”

“I know, I know,” she says. “I’m with you on that. But he’s an alpha, and he’s used to getting his way.”

I put my hands on my hips and blow out a breath. “Selene, help me…” I mutter, then look at Dominic. “Okay. I will go with you. But!” I hold up my finger to stop him as he reaches out his muscular arms to hug me. “It’s not as a date, or a girlfriend, or friend with benefits, or whatever. I’m just going with you as your friend,” I say, pushing my finger into his chest. “Got it, Alpha?”

His shoulders drop, his whole body relaxing, like I relieved him of a tremendous burden. “Thank you, Taryn.”

“Don’t make me regret this or change my mind,” I warn, then I slip inside the locker room before he can say or do anything more.

I lean against the door once it’s closed and shut my eyes, centering myself. I’m going with him to this wedding, but I need to stand firm, need to hold my ground and not let him turn it into something more than what I told him it was.

With newfound resolve, I shove off from the door and walk to the lockers, where Blake already stands, phone in hand.

I open my locker and take out my jacket and my phone, frowning as I see a notification flashing on the screen.

*New message from CookieMonsterBeta on Date-To-Mate.

“What the fuck?” I tap the notification and unlock my phone. “I don’t remember downloading the Date-To-Mate app,” I muse out loud, my eyes scanning the message.

CookieMonsterBeta: Friday night. 6pm at Rendezvous. You in?

“Ooh, you finally got a match?” Blake asks, peeking over the top of my phone.

I snatch it away, holding it against my chest so she can’t see the screen, and stare at her with wide eyes. “What do you mean ‘Ooh, you finally got a match?’”

Blake scratches behind her ear as I wait for her response, her eyes looking everywhere except my face.

“Are you shitting me?” I sigh, looking up at the ceiling. “You did this?” I ask, pointing at the open app.

“I don’t know why you’re so upset.” She shrugs. “You’re the one who said you want a mate, want someone to settle down with. You’re twenty-two, and you haven’t met your mate here in Silver Ridge, so you might as well meet people from the other packs. Date-To-Mate seems like a great idea to me.”

“Yeah, it is a great idea. But not whensomeone elsemakes your account for you. Without permission!” I shove the phone into her hands. “Delete it!”

She grimaces and lifts the phone, tapping away at the screen with a sigh. “Okay, I will admit I should have asked you first. But come on, Taryn. You need to get out more. You need to meet new people. This is a great way to do that. And this… CookieMonsterBeta… seems like a great guy! He likes freshly baked cookies, surfing, andTangled!” she says, pointing at the profile information.

I look over her shoulder, reading through his answers. He’s twenty-seven years old, has two cars—an old fixed-up Mustang and a new Jeep. He surfs whenever he has the chance to get to the beach, and, as Blake mentioned, he is a self-proclaimed cookie connoisseur.

Since the app maintains anonymity until you go on a date, to make sure matches aren’t made on looks alone, there is no picture of him, and it doesn’t say what pack he’s from. But, there are only three packs in the area, so the only options are Silver Ridge, Amber Forest, or Crescent Lake.

His username has ‘beta’ in it, so that rules Silver Ridge out because Dawson doesn’t fit the description at all. And I know from gossip around the pack that the beta in Crescent Lake is not the type to fill out a dating profile. So it must be the Amber Forest beta.

“Just think about it,” Blake says, turning her head to look at me. “It won’t hurt anything to go.”

My teeth grind together, and I take the phone from her. I’m fuming, but I can’t help but agree that she has a point. I want to meet my mate, and he’s clearly not in Silver Ridge. And this guy seems great. Laid back and fun-loving, but obviously ready to settle down since he’s on Date-To-Mate.

“Are you going to shower here or at your place?” Blake asks, grabbing a clean towel from the rack by the showers.

---