Page 100 of The Beta's Blind Date

I know it is pointless, though. The sounds of fighting and escaping have faded. There is no one around save for me and this merciless rogue. A sob works its way up my chest, and I choke on my breath, trying to keep everything in. I’m a warrior. I will meet my end with a brave face.

Triumph flashes in the rogue’s yellow eyes and he releases my leg, backing up and pacing as he watches me, as he plans his last strike.

I close my eyes as he pounces, but the attack I expect never comes.

Instead, there is a bellowing roar and the echoes of bodies clashing and teeth snapping, of fur tearing and claws scraping the ground, and of snarls and growls and yips of pain.

I open my eyes and find a very large gray and white wolf fighting off the smaller, weaker brown one. Power, rage, and strength ripple off him in waves as he tears into the rogue, ripping the fur from his body as he pins him to the ground with his mighty paws. My wolf howls and yips in my mind when she sees him, little yelps of joy.

“Reid,” I whisper, relief flooding through me and breaking the dam on my river of tears.

My shoulders shake as I sob, my adrenaline waning and giving way to the terror and pain I’d pushed down as I ran. I cover my mouth to stifle the sound so I don’t distract him, but it’s unnecessary. His focus is purely on the rogue, on ripping him to shreds for what he’s done to me.

Reid’s jaws lock around the rogue’s neck, and with one shake, it snaps, leaving the rogue limp and lifeless. But he shakes his head again, snapping it more, making sure the rogue is dead.

Then he jumps away from him and whips his head towards me. His blue eyes lock with mine, and I give him a weak smile through my tears.

His wolf is at my side in an instant. Blood drips from his muzzle, and he rubs it into the snowy ground next to me before he comes any closer, before he lets his wolf touch me. His nose brushes mine, and he licks the tears off my face, and even with the fear still gripping my heart and the pain in my body, I can’t help but laugh at the tickling of his warm tongue against my freezing and tear-stained cheeks, at the excitement my wolf feels at his presence.

“How’d you find me?” I ask him.

He’s not paying attention to my words, though. He moves his face, and his nose nudges at the scratches on my thigh, now numb because of the cold but still bleeding. My eyes scan over the trail of blood extending away from my body and into the forest, left behind from my cut-up feet as I ran. “Oh. Of course. My blood and my scent,” I say, answering my own question.

I close my eyes again as another wave of pain hits me, bringing nausea along with it. I swallow and clench my teeth, my body swaying and the forest spinning as I open my eyes again to look at Reid.

“Taryn? Where are you? I heard you yelling,”Aunt Gigi mindlinks me.

“I’m in the woods. Near the Amber Forest border. Reid—Beta Reid from Crescent Lake—is with me. Are you all right?”

“The rogues retreated. For now. I’m coming to find you.”

“The rogues are gone,” I tell him, even though I’m sure someone from his pack has already mindlinked him to tell him. “My aunt is trying to find us.”

His wolf moves closer to me, sniffing at me and nudging and nuzzling me with his nose, sitting on the ground right next to me.

“I’m okay,” I reassure him, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I’m just woozy and tired,” I say, holding onto him, my fingers clutching the fur at his nape. “But you’re here now.”

His fur is thick, soft, and warm, and I bury my face into it, clinging to him for support as another wave of pain wracks my body and the world spins again, and he lets out a low howl, signaling to anyone nearby that there is an injured warrior in the field who needs aid.

Chapter 35

REID

Ilayontheground with Taryn draped over me, my wolf creating a barrier between the snow and her body, keeping her warm. It’s been around ten minutes that we’ve been waiting, but it feels longer. Taryn’s fingers comb through my fur, and her eyes flutter, an exterior sign of the exhausted and semi-conscious state she is in.

The injuries she sustained to her head, leg, and feet combined with the adrenaline rush and stress to her body from her escape through the woods threaten to pull her under. But my girl pushes through it all, forcing herself to stay awake.

The enormous goose egg on her forehead has already gotten smaller, and the blood flow from her leg has stemmed, the cuts stitching themselves together slowly, both from our enhanced werewolf healing and from the presence of her mate. But even though she’s healing, she’s lost a lot of blood, and it’s freezing out here and getting colder by the second. I need to get her to my car and back to Crescent Lake, but she can’t walk on her own, and I need to stay in wolf form in case more rogues attempt to attack us.

Footsteps sound in the forest from my left, and I lift my head, my eyes tracking the movements of the woman approaching us. My wolf’s lips curl and a low growl rumbles in my body, and she halts her steps, raising her hands to appease me.

Taryn lifts her head, too, then she pats my wolf, pressing her forehead against my fur. “It’s all right, Reid. That’s my aunt. Aunt Gigi.”

My growl halts and I relax, and Gigi takes that as her signal to approach us.

“Are you all right?” she asks Taryn, helping her to her feet and letting her lean against her.

She’s taller than Taryn, and her toned and lean legs, arms, and body hint at her former or perhaps current warrior status.

---