Page 38 of Ruthless Alpha Beast

Usually, I’m not this decisive, but I’m convinced that he has to listen to me.

“Once you’re in bed, you can sleep.”

He smirks. “Thank you for granting me that permission, Tara.”

I roll my eyes. “You’re really not going to come upstairs?”

“No, I’m fine. The bed’s yours.”

“I can sleep on the couch!” I protest. “I can even just sleep somewhere else. In a library or something.”

Even as I say this, I know that it’s not true. I spoke as little as a few words to his pack mates while he was gone, and they weren’t exactly welcoming.

I don’t think they’d be too happy with a human sleeping in their library or anywhere else.

But I want Jasper to know that I’m serious.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jasper says, his eyes weary with exhaustion. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“So, I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“No, I will.”

“Why are you so stubborn?!” I exclaim. “You almost died.”

He chuckles.

“What?”

He can be so serious, but only when it’s convenient for him. The Jasper I saw when the alarm bells sounded understood the severity of the situation he was in. This Jasper, although clearly tired and hurt, is determined to turn everything into a joke.

“You realize that this is what it’s like talking to you, right?”

“Being stubborn?”

He tips his head back, either from frustration or exhaustion. Probably both.

“Yes.”

“Clearly, I’m not that stubborn if I’m here with you now,trying to help.”

“Again,” he says, “this is mutually beneficial. If there’s something you don’t want to do, you sure as hell don’t do it.”

“Oh, you mean like how I let you kiss me out of the blue, even though the very thought of you touching me made, and makes me feel sick?”

“That’s not the reaction I got.”

My eyes widen, and I almost begin to lose my desire to help him.

Not the reaction he got?

If he thinks for a second I wanted him to kiss me, or even worse, enjoyed the kiss… Well, he’s deluded.

My body registers his certain physical attributes, but anything other than that completely turns me off.

I have no desire for him at all.

“You’re crazy,” I say. “You drive me insane, and still, I’m trying to help you.”