Tasting 67

67–Maybe If They Cared

Nora:

After everything, I headed back home with Ryker, and we didn’t exchange a word. I went straight to

my room and avoided everyone the next day. Lord Atwood took me to the hospital where Natalya

had been admitted. Dad explained her injuries to me. They weren’t inflicted directly by someone but

from her falling down and hurting herself.

They chased her around, exposing her to wild animals, let her get attacked, and then saved her,

only to repeat the process. She finally admitted to lying about it. It didn’t matter to me because the

way they handled it upset me.

“Lord Atwood, I want to bring her home with me. I want to take care of her.” I requested as we

spoke to the doctor, who informed us that her injuries weren’t severe. She was initially in a bad

state due to the fall, blood loss, and the fear of encountering a monster in the woods.

“I’m okay with whatever you decide.” Lord Atwood uttered, looking guilty about his sons‘ actions. He

made it clear that the test and punishment were a normal criteria everyone had to go through. But

the way they deceived me and made me call her upset him too.

“Thank you so much. But I must ask, what about your sons? What if hey get upset?” I inquired,

noticing the shift in his demeanor. I was sure he noticed that after the incident, I hadn’t referred to

them as my stepbrothers anymore.

They will have no say in the decisions you make or who you bring home, okay?” Lord Atwood gently

placed his hand on my head, giving ne a weak smile. I was certain that if he wasn’t as supportive as

he is, I

67 Maybe II They Cared

would have been in a huge mess living in this pack. I was grateful to him for helping me throughout

this time.

We remained at the hospital until evening, and then Natalya was discharged. She hadn’t uttered a

word to me, just kept staring out the window. The nurse informed her she was coming with me to

my mansion, so I a*sumed she had to comply instead of upsetting Lord Atwood.

“You two girls need anything—anything!” Lord Atwood said as the warriors helped Natalya out of the

car, with me following closely behind.

“You give me a call or ask the warriors, okay?” Lord Atwood added, and I nodded. I felt bad for

Natalya. She had so many bandages on her body.

While taking her upstairs, I noticed the brothers in the living room. They stopped whatever they

were doing and stared at us. I could sense their judgmental glares toward their father from the

corner of my eye.

Once the warriors settled Natalya onto my bed. I faced her with my hands nervously locked

together. “I’ll be back in a minute,” I excused myself and dashed downstairs to see what they were

up to.

“Why is she here? She lied so much.” Ryker was hissing at his father, facing him and unaware that I

had joined them. Not that it would make. him shut up.

“She’s my friend. She lied and admitted her mistake,” I intervened, facing the brothers and giving

them deadly glares but avoiding Cain. I couldn’t bring myself to speak to him, nor did I want to. I

was slowly becoming aware that once my anger faded, I would be on edge, worrying about what

Cain would do with the information that I lied. about my wolf and that I was his mate. It was even

odder that he hadn’t

67 Maybe I They Cared

told anyone anything yet.

“And your friend lied. I know you have privilege, but don’t you think it’s wrong to use it in the wrong

way? The other pack members would have faced the same consequences, but your royal highness

thinks we should change the rules for your friend,” Nash hissed, not even a tad bit guilty of using me

against my own friend.

“And she apologized. Did you once, during your whole test, ask her why?” I yelled, noticing that

Lord Atwood quickly rushed over to stand between us, making sure none of us crossed our

boundaries.

“Because she wanted to f**king feel special,” Silas muttered under his breath, casually leaning his

back against the wall with his muscular arms crossed over his chest.

“To avoid getting bullied,” my voice broke down as I explained to them why exactly she lied. “She

was tired of being mistreated. She had not other option but to lie because it gave her a sense of

relief. This one lie helped her walk among others freely without constantly getting kicked to the

ground. Don’t you think it’s your fault too that your pack members are relying on lies instead of

asking you for help?” I sniffled as I finally delivered what had been in my head all these days.

They were all silent now, just staring at me. “I didn’t want to come here. either.” I noticed the look

Lord Atwood gave me. “I came here to avoid getting bullied.” He lowered his head, knowing that too

well. Lord Atwood brought me here after finding out how worse the bullying had become.

“I was bullied because I wasn’t one of them. Because as an orphan, omega, and a poor girl—I didn’t

deserve to stand among them with my head held high,” I almost choked on my tears as I

remembered how much worse the bullying was.

57–Maybe if They Card

“You never told us–” Nash uttered, looking at his brothers before he frowned. “You all knew?”

“I mean, I knew she was getting bullied in school. Remember, Dad told us to tell everyone she’s our

stepsister so the bullying stops?” Ryker cleared his throat. “I watched her, um, get beaten up in

school too.”

“Hey! Don’t act like you didn’t know. We know omegas and weak ones get bullied every day,” Silas

gently slapped Nash’s chest, who lowered. his head in guilt.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go take care of someone who probably thinks her only friend

betrayed her and unleashed her stepbrothers on her,” I hissed, stomping my foot and running

upstairs.