Page 6 of Forced Mate Bride
Her eyes widened, and she stiffened slightly. She bit her lip, and her eyes darted from side to side, as if she was worried about Lucas returning.
“Oh, I’m not sure,” she muttered.
“I’m worried you have a concussion,” he said. “And I want to take a better look at your injuries. I was always the best medic when we were black ops, but even I can only do so much in the dark in the middle of a deserted street.”
That was mainly the reason Jasper wanted to take her back to his place. The other reason was that he didn’t want to risk Lucas coming back. He could be sitting in wait right now.
She hesitated, but eventually nodded.
They walked in silence to Jasper’s house. It was a large house, particularly for one person, and tucked away, though not far from the rest of town. He could have elected to stay in the pack house, but he’d preferred his solitude after years of living in the barracks. He pushed open the door into a spacious living room. He watched Nikki take it all in while he guided her over to the couch.
“Take a seat. Can I get you anything?”
She gave a shaky, nervous smile. “What I could really go for is—”
“—a cup of tea?” he finished for her without realizing that he was saying it.
“Um, yes, actually,” she said.
He disappeared into the kitchen and began fixing tea. The entire time, he kept his ears pricked, listening to her breathing, listening to her heartbeat slowly steady. Part of him still couldn’t believe she was here in his house. Despite his constant awareness of her in every situation, it felt surreal, almost impossible. It was something he had never let himself imagine. Still, he would have picked other circumstances. A fresh spasm of rage rippled through him.
The kettle whistled. He poured it into a prepared mug, watching the water turn dark from the tea. He walked back into the living room, where Nikki was still sitting on the couch, still in an almost stupor.
“Here.” He held out the steaming mug.
Nikki took it, staring down at it with a puzzled look on her face, then back up at him. “Is this orange and cinnamon black tea?”
“Do you want something else?” he asked.
“No, no. It’s just… It’s my favorite tea.”
Shrugging, trying not to give away that he had known it was her favorite because he had seen her purchase it before, he said, “I like it, too. Just grabbed the first one I saw.”
Before she could ask any further questions, he walked over to the closet and opened the door. He grabbed his med kit, then returned. Dampening a washcloth, he crouched in front of her and began to clean the dirt and grime from her face and arms. She hissed and stiffened every so often, but besides that, the two of them remained silent.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered when he began to wrap the bandage around her head.
He paused, frowning at her. “What are you talking about? Sorry for what?”
She ran her fingers through her grime-streaked hair. She was still trembling. “He got away,” she muttered. “You had to come back to help me instead of going after him.”
“I didn’t have to do anything,” he said. “I decided to go back and help you.”
She bit her lip, staring down at the steaming mug of tea in her hand. “He still got away because of me.”
“That’s not important right now, Nikki,” he said.
She blinked, her brow knitting together. “You know my name?”
He managed to keep his expression neutral, but only just. He hesitated, trying to figure out what to say that wouldn’t give away just how much he paid attention to her, that didn’t give away that he rarely stopped thinking about her.
“I make it a point to learn the names of everyone who comes to my classes,” he said.
“Of course.” Pink spread across her cheeks, somehow making her even prettier, despite the cuts and bruises.
“Here.” He took the tea gingerly from her hand, his fingers brushing against hers. “I’m going to switch out some of these bandages, and then I’m going to do a few brief tests to make sure that you aren’t concussed too badly.”
He redid the bandages on her stomach with actual gauze. After, he did a quick test to check the concussion, asking a series of questions and checking her vision.
