Page 66 of Ruthless Alpha Beast

It’s not metal, or wood, or glass.

It’s feathers.

There’s a gust of wind, coming from nowhere, that scatters the feathers of the crown.

The image stays that way—moved.

Then the whole thing is presented to me.

A tapestry of a feather crown blowing in the wind.

But what does that mean?

I blink hard, but my body is starting to heat up. The shadow monster’s last essence is leaving me.

Before I can ask any questions, the darkness surges and pulls me back under.

Chapter 14 - Jasper

“Just stay, Tara. It’s better you lie down now, okay?”

“No, you don’t understand—"

She tries to get up from the couch, but I don’t even need to intervene—she’s too weak.

I’m not sure she wants me to touch her again anyway.

Things, as they often do, went wrong very quickly.

And this time she almost died.

I kneel by her feet. “Tara,please. Just stay, you need to rest. I’d carry you to bed, but I don’t know if you want me to, you know…”

I’d do anything for her right now. She’s not leaving my sight, not again.

She shakes her head. “I’m not going to bed, I’mfine. I saw something.”

I stand and fight the urge to move two loose strands of hair that cover her eyes.

“You mean the shadow monster that almost killed you? Yeah, I saw that too.”

She rolls her eyes.

“Hilarious. Pretty sure it almost killed you too, but whatever.”

There’s the Tara I know. Funny how I almost missed her sass.

“Some thanks for saving your life.”

Tara likes to act strong, too strong for her own good. But in all fairness to her, when it came to the shadow monster, she did put up a good fight.

“Thank you,” she says. There’s an earnest, vulnerable look in her eyes that makes my heart ache.

“Any excuse to kill one of those things.”

I smile, she smiles too.

“Look. I did see something else. It happened once you destroyed that thing. I got this vision.”