Page 115 of Ruthless Alpha Beast
“You need me to help you eat?”
I mean it seriously, but she smiles at me as though I’m joking.
“No, Jasper, I don’t need you to feed it to me.”
“Hey, this is what the Princess treatment entails.”
“Oh, if all I had to do was get taken out by a magical flower to get Princess treatment, maybe I would have done it sooner.”
“No more magical flowers for you.”
She cocks her head and smiles. “And the Princess treatment?”
“That can stay.”
I pass her the plate of food, and she coughs a little as she sits up to eat. She manages a few bites, slow and steady, and I watch her carefully—eyeing her like a hawk.
“Stop staring at me,” she mutters lightheartedly as she pokes at her food with her fork.
“I can’t.”
Her eyes flick to mine for a moment, and I see the faintest blush of red creep up her cheeks. She’s pretending not to be affected by me.
Nice try.
“Eat,” I urge, nudging the plate closer. “Doctor’s orders.”
“But you’re not a doctor,” she teases.
“Alpha’s orders, then. Holds a lot more weight.”
Having not dealt with the magic world too much in my life, I always thought that a healer could fix any problem anyone had.
I was wrong.
She laughs. “You love pulling that card with me, don’t you?”
“Hey, it definitely works.”
For a few moments, we sit in silence, Tara eating, while I watch. Or trying not to watch, but still ultimately watching.
I don’t like my thoughts that begin to fill the silence. I’m starting to think about the reality outside of this room, and it becomes too much.
I lean back in my chair.
“You know,” I say. “The guards at the border were talking about the book you lent them the other day.”
Tara’s head pops up, surprised.The Alchemist?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh,” she grins. “I’m surprised any of them actually read it. They asked me for recommendations, you know, of human books to read on their days off. I’m glad. That makes me happy.”
“How come you didn’t recommend it to me?”
“Well, hmm, on second thought, maybe you would like it. I just assumed you didn’t like to read much, so there would be no point.”
She stabs another bite of her food.
