Tasting 105

105–After The Attack

Nora:

Since I hadn’t let my wolf out for a while, I began to feel a sharp pain in my stomach and dropped to

my knees. As the students started pouring out of the classroom, I couldn’t grasp what was

happening around me anymore.

All I knew was the moment I sank to my knees, Ryker abandoned the monster and rushed to

support my body. Our eyes connected for a brief moment and the concern for me in his eyes

shocked me. Once he was beside me, I surrendered and fainted in his arms.

The next thing I remember is waking up in the comfort of my bedroom, a large bandage wrapped

around my stomach. For a few minutes, I just lay there, trying to piece together the whole day in my

mind.

Then the door swung open, and Lord Atwood rushed in with the others trailing behind him to check

on me. “I told you guys she must have been awake,” Lord Atwood said as he sat on the bed with

me, his hand resting on my forehead, eyes fixed on me like a father afraid of losing his child just

moments ago. “You’re safe now,” he whispered, tears welling up in his eyes.

“She’s okay, Dad,” Silas said, exhaustion evident in his voice, as always whenever he talked about

me.

“Did everyone else make it?” I asked my stepfather, noticing how concerned Nash looked as he

paced around. Then I realized two people were missing from the gathering: Ryker and Cain.

“Yes! The monster was caught, and that’s good news because now we

105 After The Attack

can conduct some experiments to find out what these creatures are,” Dad delivered the news in one

breath, his focus shifting to my health. “What’s important is that you’re fine and doing well.”

I nodded, carefully sitting up in bed, observing Silas folding his arms. over his chest, appearing not

even a bit concerned. If I had to guess, I could tell he wasn’t happy that I survived. Maybe he was

upset that I wasn’t killed by the monster today? Who knows maybe he was praying the monster

gets me?

“I was so scared in the classroom. But then Ryker arrived,” I muttered under my breath, noticing

Lord Atwood’s sad expression. I knew for a fact that he hadn’t rested a single day after sending

Ryker to the woods. He loved him, and it was quite visible.

“Yeah! Brother saved your life and caught the monster,” Silas chimed in with a raised eyebrow.

“I am grateful for that too,” I gave him a stern look because he kept staring at me as if it were my

fault that the monster attacked or that Ryker was in the woods.

“But you’re feeling fine, right?” Nash stopped pacing to face me, and when I nodded, he grunted

angrily. “Why the heck did nobody think about taking her to the basement instead of leaving her out

in the hallway?”

I understood why he was so agitated. He was angry that the school knew I was their stepsister, yet

when danger arrived, they all ran to safety, nearly trampling me.

“It’s fine. I understand what they were feeling in the moment. Everyone was scared and wanted to

save themselves,” I said, giving Nash a reassuring look, though he scoffed and shook his head in

disbelief.

105–After The Attack

“Well, I have no shame in admitting that they should have at least tried to help you get to safety. All

these students together just ran like a bunch of losers. What is the school teaching them in combat

classes?” he complained some more, standing beside my bed with his hands on his waist, making

me smile inwardly. I had never seen Nash look so concerned for me.

But then Silas had to jump in and ruin the situation. “They’re not. The combat classes didn’t even

get far before Miss Save–Me got our brother punished.”

Lord Atwood turned to Silas and scoffed at him for bringing it up again. “He did it to himself. Don’t

blame the victim.”

As we stared at each other and then at Silas, expecting him to add more, we were interrupted by

the arrival of Cain. He rushed in wearing a black suit, something I had never seen him wear before.

He dropped his laptop bag on the couch and hurried to the bed, avoiding everyone and sitting

beside me to check up on me.

The others were almost frozen as Cain cupped my face in his hands. and checked my eyes and

then the injuries on my body.

“What the heck happened? How the heck did this even happen in school?” His aggression was so

raw and visible that none of us could respond to him for a few minutes until he finished throwing a

tantrum.

“She’s fine now,” Lord Atwood uttered, watching his son get up from the bed and grunt.

“Thank you! At least someone who is concerned and angry,” Nash let out a deep sigh, relieved that

his brother was showing the same aggression as him.

“Did no one in the school care about someone being left behind?” Cain

105 After The Attack

asked Nash, instead of relying on the calm ones like me, Lord Atwood, or the one who seemed to

be on the monster’s side, Silas..

“No!” Nash yelled dramatically, “they just left her behind.”

I watched them for the first few seconds with sadness and then with disapproval.

“There were some other students who were left behind as well,” Silas added, but his words were not

respected because they didn’t include

1. me.

“And the teacher making announcements was brutally killed-” Silas paused after noticing how his

brothers were avoiding him, “yeah, I’m pretty sure you guys don’t care about her either.”

He nodded to himself and stood to the side with his arms folded, waiting for them to stop throwing

tantrums.

“Thankfully, Ryker was there to save her,” he then added once more, finally catching the attention of

the brothers.

“Is he fine?” Cain asked in a softer tone. The change in his behavior was abrupt but indicated how

much they cared for Ryker.