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Chapter 25
Allie CarstensAnyone else need to cool off for a second?? These next few chapters will all be longer ones. I don't like to split my longer chapters, so just know that they will be slightly more expensive, but I think they will be worth it! For those of you who are new readers, welcome! My update schedule is MWF with the occasional weekend update on Saturday. If you haven't already, you should read "The Alpha's Pen Pal" which is book one of this series, and is on this app and completed, so you can binge while you wait for updates of Reid and Taryn's story. Don't forget to comment, like, vote, or leave a review! Lots of love, Allie
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The Beta's Blind Date Chapter 26
REID POV Music blares, the bass thumps, and voices ring, the scent of beer and other alcoholic beverages mixing with the sweat of the occupants of The Thirsty Moose, our haunt for the night. The entire crew is here — well, the wedding party at least — for a combined bachelor-bachelorette party that’s not a bachelor-bachelorette party, because neither Wes nor Haven wanted to do the traditional “last night out” before their wedding. Instead, they brought us all out to karaoke night at the local supernatural bar, run by Jake, a moose shifter from Canada. We’re seated at a circular booth in a corner of the bar, drinks and snacks spread across the table, all of us waiting our turn to take the stage and sing. Or most of us. I already told everyone I would not sing. Karaoke is not my thing. Sebastian elbows me in the ribs and nods towards the door. “Isn’t that your girl?” I follow his gaze, and, sure enough, walking through the front door of the bar is Taryn. Taryn, and another she-wolf
The Beta's Blind Date Chapter 27
TARYN POV Reid and I freeze, his hand gripping mine, his body tense. “Did you put our names in?” he asks, whipping his head around to look at me. “No. Did you?” He shakes his head, his eyes wide. “I’ve been dancing with you. When would I have had a chance to?” “And when would I have had a chance?” I question back. He snaps his mouth shut, then turns his eyes towards the table, jaw clenching. I follow his gaze to where Sebastian sits, smiling, giving us a thumbs up. “Dickhead,” we mutter together. We look at each other again, smiles threatening to appear on both our faces. “Reid? Taryn? It’s your turn! Get on up here!” Jake calls. I bite my lip and raise my brow at him. “I’m game if you’re game?” he says “Its better than going up there alone, I suppose…” I look around again, glancing at his friends and eyeballing Sebastian. Reid adjusts his grip on my hand, lacing his fingers through mine. “Fuck it, let’s do it,” I say. He grins and turns, pulling me with him to the stage. I
The Beta's Blind Date Chapter 28
REID POV “Hey there, you,” Taryn says as she walks up to me on the training field at Crescent Lake with a smile on her face. I pull her into a hug, no longer worried about who is watching or what they think. She is my girl. And soon she’ll know the full extent of the truth of those words. I can’t keep it from her anymore. Not after our moment in the bar over the weekend. Not after I promised her I was all in. I need her help, too. I tried to figure it out all on my own, but that isn’t working. And while I could ask others for help — Wesley or even Sebastian — I should tell her the truth before I tell anyone else. I owe her that. But I’m waiting until after her challenge tomorrow. She needs to focus on that, and my confession will just be a distraction. She takes in a deep breath and burrows her face into my chest, and I curl myself more around her, shielding her from the cold. She fits against me like a little puzzle piece, her curves and muscles lining up with the hard planes o
The Beta's Blind Date Chapter 29
TARYN POV It’s here. Challenge day. I stand at the edge of the training field at Silver Ridge with Dawson, waiting, heart racing and palms sweating. I’ve been up since dawn, unable to find sleep, instead finding peace in Reid’s voice as we talked on the phone until an hour ago, when I left the packhouse to stretch and warm up. His deep voice soothed and calmed me, settling the bubbling anxiety in the pit of my stomach. As we talked, I imagined he was with me, laying beside me in my bed, his muscular body and arms pressed against me and holding me, his powerful hands caressing and massaging my body, aiding in washing away my worries. I may have told him I wasn’t nervous, but how could I not be? My future here in Silver Ridge was riding on this challenge. He can’t be here today. It’s against Silver Ridge’s rules for an outsider to witness a pack challenge or ceremony. He understood, since Crescent Lake has the same rules regarding pack traditions. But I could tell how much he wish
The Beta's Blind Date Chapter 30
TARYN POV “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” I growl, slamming my hands against the steering wheel. “You have got to be fucking kidding me!” I sit in my car, parked on the street in the human city, after spending most of my day here shopping and getting my hair braided. It was therapeutic, and needed, especially after sequestering myself in my room and not speaking to anyone since the challenge on Tuesday. It took everything in me to put on a brave face, but I was glad I dragged myself out of my bed to come to this appointment instead of canceling. At least, I was. Until my car decided it would not start. “Damn it!” I yell again, slamming my fist into the center of the wheel. “This is seriously the last thing I need right now.” I lean back into the driver’s seat, hitting my head against the headrest in a slow rhythm, blinking against the itching in my eyes. Then I grab my phone, and dial the number that has been calling and texting me nonstop since Tuesday evening, the number I have been ignorin
The Beta's Blind Date Chapter 31
REID POV “Taryn, please wait!” I yell the words through gritted teeth, my hand gripping the edge of the tailgate on Wesley’s truck. My wolf is right there, right at the front of my mind, pushing to shift and chase after her. But I’m in the middle of the street, in the middle of the city, and I can’t let him out. And as much as I want to let him chase after her, to explain what happened, I can’t shift in front of humans. I lean against the tail end, still gripping the tailgate, and tilt my head up to the sky, forcing my canines to recede. My eyes itch and water as her emotions roll into and through me like a tidal wave, so bitter I can taste them. Regret, embarrassment, pain, anger, disappointment… each one palpable, each one just as strong as the rest, each one meshing with my own until it is impossible to tell whose emotions are whose. And all of it is my fault, because I couldn’t control my instincts and keep my wolf at bay. Because I lost myself in the feel of her beneath my han
The Beta's Blind Date Chapter 32
REID POVMy tears subside and I’m sure I resemble a wrung out washcloth left to dry on the knob of a bathtub, but I gather up the rest of the cookies and leave the garden. I would stay longer, but the temperature continues to drop, and the scent of snow lingers in the air, threatening to fall at any moment.I walk back to the packhouse, retracing my steps from earlier, albeit slower this time.I know what I need to do. I’ve thought about it all day since Taryn drove off before giving me a chance to explain. But needing to do something and wanting to do something doesn’t always go hand in hand, so I take my time, letting my thoughts overtake my mind as I walk.It’s clear what she thinks. She thinks I was just using her, just telling her what she wanted to hear so I could get something out of her. And maybe the old me would have done that. But I’m not that male anymore. Not since the night she barreled into my life with her scent and her smile, her sass and her fiery drive.I push my reg
The Beta's Blind Date Chapter 33
REID POV Somehow, I made it through the rest of the night and all of today without unraveling like a scarf caught on a rusty nail. I don’t think I slept at all though, and it took everything in me to hold back a growl of annoyance and keep myself from snapping when Wesley stumbled back into his house at six in the morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed after spending all night with his mate. He should remember not all of us are so lucky. The ceremony will begin in about thirty minutes, and Wesley paces the shore of the lake, biting his nails and sighing and growling every few minutes. He stops right on the spot they will say their vows — the spot she stood in the first time she came to the lake, the first time he ever saw her in person after almost twelve years of no contact — and fidgets with his bow tie, his eyes glazing over as a mindlink comes through to him. He frowns and rolls his eyes, but crosses his arms and plants his feet on the ground, muttering I don’t even want to know
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