Page 4 of Her Beta

He shook his head. “Not the one you’re asking about.”

I should’ve known that my pack mates wouldn’t have missed my reaction to the pretty blonde, even amid the chaos of Cressida being in labor. “Shit.”

He jerked his chin toward the dry-erase board on the wall to my left. “A new one came in a few minutes ago and said she’s assigned to us for the next shift. Erased Evette’s name and replaced it with hers.”

“Fucking hell,” I growled, scrubbing my palm down my face. “I gotta find her.”

“I have no doubt you will.”

My nostrils flared as I caught a trace of her scent in the room. “Damn straight. My grizzly is ready to hunt her down if we have to.”

“She couldn’t have gone far if she works here,” he pointed out. “And you might find that you’re lucky her shift is over when you find her.”

My brows drew together as I gaped down at him. “What in the hell do you mean by that?”

He grinned at me. “The new nurse mentioned that she’s on for the next twelve hours. Just in case you needed the intel, I asked her how often they work if their shifts are that long. Three days on, four days off. So maybe you’ll have enough time with Evette to get her comfortable with the idea of shifters and fated mates before she needs to come back to the hospital. Those early days of your mating can be brutal with your inner animal wanting to be near your woman every waking minute. And the sleeping ones too. A strong bond is the only thing that helps when you’re apart.”

“Fuck,” I groaned, my bear raking the inside of my skin with his claws at the thought of being away from our mate for so many hours at a time. It didn’t matter that we hadn’t mated or marked Evette yet. As far as he was concerned, she was already ours. And he didn’t want to share. I couldn’t even blame him because I felt the same.

“That helps too,” he joked.

I assumed he was right, but I wouldn’t know until I could sink my cock inside my mate. I’d never felt desire before, so the entire experience was new to me. But I had no doubt that I’d figure it all out. Once I found the only woman who made my heart race and my dick hard.

Storming out of the hospital room, I followed Evette’s scent outside to the employee parking lot. Then I headed to my truck and rolled down the windows as I traced her path to the highway. “Where in the fuck is she going?” I muttered after driving past about a dozen exits.

It took an hour before I found the vehicle that was heavy with her scent, parked in a hotel lot of all places. Walking inside, I nodded at the guy behind the registration counter and kept on walking as though I knew where I was headed. And using my keen sense of smell, I did.

Evette’s scent led me straight to her door. After rapping my knuckles against the hard surface, I soothed my inner beast while we waited for her to answer. It only took a moment for the door to fling open, and there she was…the other half of my soul.

Her dark blond hair was out of the ponytail she’d been wearing earlier, hanging down her back in a flow of curls. Her glasses weren’t perched on her nose like they’d been at the hospital. In this lighting, her freckles were even more noticeable against her pale skin. And her bright green eyes held a mixture of surprise and relief. I hoped the latter part meant she already felt our connection. And that she would accept who we were to each other.

“Leyton?” she gasped. “What in the world are you doing here?”

“I’m here for you.”

Pressing her palm against her chest, she shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

“Can I come in and explain?” I did my best to look non-threatening, which wasn’t easy with how big I was. “I swear you won’t come to any harm from me. Ever.”

“Umm…yes. I guess that would be okay.”

She stepped to the side to allow me to pass by her. Once I was inside, she let the door close behind her and turned to me. “This is so weird. As surprised as I was to find you at my door, a part of me was almost expecting it.”

“I thought about waiting until you showed up at the hospital for your next shift, but I’m guessing it was a good thing I didn’t, or else I might never have seen you again.” My teeth ground together at the thought. “And that would’ve been more than a damn shame.”

“The spark of chemistry. You feel it too?” she whispered, her pretty eyes widening.

I nodded. “Except I’d call it more of a magnetic pull than a spark.”

“Yes,” she agreed, moving close enough to press her palm over my heart. “It’s the oddest thing, but I feel as though we’ve known each other forever. It’s almost as if you being here with me is just…right. I don’t know how to explain it. I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”

“Neither have I.” Although I had the benefit of knowing exactly why there was a connection between us. But since she was human, I had to ease her into the knowledge.

I knew next to nothing about Evette except that she was fated to be mine. And that my heart thrummed harder in my chest whenever she was near.

So did my cock.

Her lips curved into a satisfied smile at my confession, and what she did next shocked the fuck out of me. Going to her tiptoes, she wrapped the front of my shirt into her fists and pulled me close. When her lips crashed against mine, all the air left my lungs, and I felt as if I was floating.

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