Tasting

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 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.

“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.

They dated them to save me?