Tasting 422

422–They Only Wanted To Protect Me

Nora:

I returned to my room after discovering that Silas had offered to take Clara out for dinner.

“I thought you didn’t care,” Akira said, waking up and causing me to roll my eyes at her as I

continued to pace from one corner of the room to the other with my hands on my hips.

I was so bothered and seething with anger.

“Hey, I know you can hear me.” At that point, I realized she wouldn’t stop annoying me until I said

something to her.

“What is it, Akira? Do you want to hear my thoughts? Well, I’ll say it out loud then: I hate that I am

still mated to the brothers and that’s the only reason I’m feeling this way,” I hissed as I sat down and

took a deep breath.

“Okay, I believe you,” Akira scoffed, but then silence enveloped us. It was broken only by a knock on

the door. I got up and opened it to find Daphne standing there with Nash behind her.

I had left Nash with her.

“She wanted to come and speak to you,” Nash rolled his eyes behind her, gesturing at me to take

care of her so he could escape.

“Sure, come inside,” I said, stepping aside to let her enter, and just as Nash was about to slip away,

I pinched his sleeve and motioned for him to

come in.

“Why do I have to be here?” Nash whispered, but he stepped inside. Once

11:01

422–They Only Wanted To Protect Me

the door was locked, we walked over to Daphne, who had now sat down on the bed.

“I want to know what is going on.” Now that she had no luck with Nash, she began to question how

long she would be staying with us.

“You tell me,” I sighed, glancing at Nash to stay alert. He noticed my gestures and quickly got on his

phone.

“What do you mean? I have no clue. I was hoping you would tell me something. You’re on the

mission, don’t you know how to save me? Or maybe I’m just saved?” she didn’t sound too sad

anymore but rather hypocritical. Her voice had started to sound a lot more anxious too.

She was fidgeting a lot and even shifting in her seat.

A knock on the door prompted Nash to rush and open it for Ryker and

Cain.

“What are they doing here?” she peeked over my shoulder and then leaned back against the bed.

The brothers came in and stood beside me, all facing Daphne.

I had called them here to have a word with her. Now was the time. Except for Silas, he was going to

miss this mission because of his own interests

in other matters.

“What is going on? They don’t need to be here. I only wanted to speak with you,” she smiled

awkwardly, but it was more like the smile of someone finally realizing they were in trouble.

“I believe you already know this, but I would still very much like to explain to you what is happening

since you asked,” I grabbed a stool and dragged it before my bed, where she was sitting with her

legs hanging

down.

است

422–They Only Wanted To Protect Me

11

“What do I know? Why are you talking in riddles?” she asked, visibly swallowing hard as she

questioned me. I noticed it and then let out a deep breath before finally confronting her.

“You are the creator of the Weeping Guardians,” I finished and watched her face darken.

“What is this nonsense?” she didn’t even ask me to explain and yelled.

“Daphne, there’s no need to cause a commotion. We all know the truth now. I did some research

and found out that your mother slept with a man in the mountains. A man who was expelled from the

packs by the orders of a moon goddess herself through a seer. He had deceived many innocent

people, resulting in lives being lost and chaos ensuing. By the time he was caught and banished,

the packs were drowning in sadness from the corruption he had caused. Many people ended their

lives; it was the saddest time for the werewolves. So when your father was kicked out, it was

announced to everyone not to contact him. He was a forbidden creature, but your mother—she was

madly in love with him. She found him again in the mountains and slept with him–” Nash paused as

if he could see a ghost in Daphne’s expression. “After all that, you were born, but the moon goddess

was upset with your mother. So she cursed her– which was transferred to you as a result of the

sadness your father had–” Nash stopped speaking when Daphne stood up from her spot after

shaking herself out of the trance.

“This is all bullshit. You all just want to arrest me because you want to please Nora,” she pointed at

me, making me lean back before standing up to face her.

“I am not lying. They all want you. They want to fuck you so badly. Nash only dated me because he

didn’t want his precious little Nora to go to jail. He wanted to keep the rumors under wraps, so he

made a plan with his brothers to date me, April, and Natalya. We got played because of you,” she

screamed at the top of her lungs, triggering something inside me.

11:01

422 They Only Wanted To Protect Me

They dated them to save me?

288 vouchers

11010