Page 112 of Ruthless Alpha Beast

The two healers exchange glances as they hover over her. One presses a hand to her forehead, the other checks her pulse at her wrist.

I pace back and forth. My body feels as though it’s about to snap.

All I can think about is the times I’ve taken her for granted, about how wrong I was.

The seconds stretch like hours.

“Well?” I ask. “What’s wrong with her?”

The healer shakes her head. “Her body’s strong. Her heartbeat is steady. There’s no wound, no poison, nothing I can touch.”

I feel myself losing control.

“That’s not an answer,” I snarl, my wolf threatening to break through my skin. “She’s inpain. Look at her face.”

Tara’s eyes are closed, but she is still wincing.

The second healer, the older one, frowns deeply. “It isn’t her body,” she says slowly. “It’s something else. Something I can’t reach.”

I move closer, looming over them both. “You have to reach deeper.”

The doors behind me fling open, and in walks Lacey and Danielle. Lacey rushes to Tara’s side, Danielle eyes her carefully.

My sanity returns to me, if only a little.

“Thank you,” I say to the healers. “You both may go.”

They exit swiftly, nodding their heads before leaving through the door.

“Danielle told me what happened,” Lacey says, cradling Tara’s head. I glance over at Danielle, desperately. She’s my last hope.

“Tara drove the dagger through the flower. The flower changed color, and then she collapsed in crippling pain. She won’t wake up.”

I’m not sure what Danielle knows, but I want to make sure she has all the information. There has to be something the healers are missing.

Danielle’s face is calm, placid.

“She’s alive and well,” she says. “That flower was obviously a trap, and it’s going to take some time for the magic to get out of her system. Slowly, she’ll begin to wake up.”

“Is she in a lot of pain?” My voice is hoarse, desperate.

I see the pain behind Danielle’s calm expression, too. “Yes,” she says. “But it’ll wear off.”

We all gaze at Tara’s face, at the tension that lingers even though she lies unmoving. Her chest rises and falls with every shallow breath.

I wish it were me. I wish I were the one to stab that flower and take on the pain. She doesn’t deserve this.

Lacey strokes a strand of hair from Tara’s face, Danielle wets a cloth and places it on her forehead.

“She was right about us being on the right track,” Danielle finally says. “We were close, and that flower was a diversion. Its purpose was to stop the hunt.”

I nod. I crouch down beside the bed, my hand hovering over her hand before I finally interlace my fingers with hers.

“She’s strong,” I say. “She’ll be okay.”

I don’t care about the flower, the hunt, or anything to do with the curse at this moment. All I care about is her.

Danielle’s eyes flicker toward me. “That’s true, it will wear off, Jasper, she just has to get through these first waves.”