Page 144 of Chosen Beta

“He’s a new security guard. I just met him yesterday, but …”

“Yesterday? If he did something to talk you into this …”

She’s looking past me already, frosty stare on the door and the man she knows is standing on the other side of it. If looks were lethal, he’d be dead in a second.

“He’s my true mate,” I blurt, before she can tell me to get out of her way.

She blinks, her gaze moving back to lock with mine. “Did you say he’s your true mate?”

“Well, he’s one of them,” I clarify, making her jaw drop. “He has a pack, but I haven’t spent too much time with everyone yet.”

She closes her mouth, pressing her red-painted lips together.

When she opens them again, it’s to ask, “Let me guess, you’ve been too busy with work?”

“I’ve been drowning in red tape since I took the job, so yeah, it’s been a pain in the ass.”

“I can imagine. It’s an easy job when you’re on the take, doing whatever the donors ask. At least, it looked that way from the outside. I can guess how much harder it must be when you’re actually trying to do things the right way.” She gives me a wry smile. “But you found your true mates. That’s incredible news. I’m so damn happy for you, Lana.”

She seems more wistful than happy, and that puts a lump in my throat.

I wish things could be different. I don’t know what I would change, but it hurts that we’re both getting almost everything we want, besides each other.

“I’ve missed you, Brooke,” I admit, moving finally, to wrap my arms around her for a hug.

She hugs me back tightly as I swallow the lump in my throat, willing it not to come back.

“I’ve missed you so much,” she responds, that hint of sadness still in her tone.

We probably hold each other for longer than we should, but neither one of us seems to want to let go. I don’t know when I’ll see her again, and despite her pack being okay with us, and Pete basically telling me his pack will accept my relationship with her, too, I can’t quite make myself believe I get to have everything I’ve ever wanted.

It seems impossible.

Too good to be true.

Besides everything else, there are barely enough hours in the day for me to do my job.

I have no idea how in the hell I’m going to juggle four mates, let alone anything else.

When we finally break apart, Brooke sighs.

“Well, now that you’ve shared your good news, we might as well go over the list.”

Right.The list. The real reason she’s here.

“Where is it?”

It doesn’t look like she brought a purse, unless she put it down on the sofa and left it over there.

She puts a hand on her ass and brings back a slip of paper.

“Ta-da! River took up sewing, so guess who I got to sew pockets into all my clothes?”

“That sounds awesome.”

“Oh, it’s my new favorite thing.”

I take the slip of paper when she offers it to me.

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