220–The Creepy Stepbrothers
Nora:
“I will make things hard for you. So hard that you will beg the Moon Goddess to kill you. There is no way you will get to live after how you have played me, Nora.”
My body flinched, but I couldn’t move a muscle. It was like watching a shadow creep over and engulf me.
“What have I done wrong?” I asked, tears streaming down my face. I sat on the couch, my body paralyzed while the shadow loomed over
me.
“You betrayed me. You think your minions will get to live happily? You think you can dump them on the pack and they will accept them? After all, they are bastard children, and the council is very angry with you,” my heart started pounding loudly as the shadow grew.
“And there will be no one coming to help you,” his voice deepened, causing me to open my mouth to scream, but no words came out.
My breaths were erratic, and my eyes felt stuck in my face when I felt a hand save me.
“Hey!” It was Brody. He had jolted me awake.
“I guess you had sleep paralysis,” he gently ran his hand through my hair and offered me water.
I was breathing heavily but relieved that it was just a nightmare.
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Brody ordered food, and after we ate, we sat down to play chess. I wasn’t very skilled at it, but I could still manage to play. My dad used to play chess. He believed it made your brain work well. That’s how he always came up with his cunning ideas.
“May I ask you something?” I said, recalling his previous comments about my stepbrothers.
“Sure,
mou know you can ask me anything,” he smiled, making his
“You dislike my stepbrothers,” I murmured under my breath. “May I know why?”
Brody’s mood shifted slightly as he nodded and then leaned back from the chessboard. I could tell it was a serious matter. Whenever they were in the same room, it felt like a war was about to break out. They would glare at each other intensely.
“Your stepbrothers and I used to be best friends once. Especially Ryker,” he said, and I felt a slight tug at my heartstrings when he mentioned his name.
“We were always together and would do outrageous things. Then we would get into trouble but manage to escape,” a smile appeared on his lips as he reminisced about the old memories.
“You and Ryker?” I asked, and he snapped out of his reverie, nodding in confirmation.
“We were friends since childhood. Then we grew older and turned fifteen. That was the last time we were friends,” Brody ended the story abruptly. There was no way he expected me to believe their friendship ended just like that.
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“Why?” My question was straightforward. He kept his head down. before rising from the carpet and gesturing for me to follow him.
I did it.
He took me to his office, which he was slowly setting up. There were scattered files around, and he pointed at them.
“A case!” he exclaimed, reaching for a blue file and handing it to me.
I watched his face in bewilderment before opening the file. I hoped to find something useful, but instead, it was filled with gibberish written all over the pages. I checked each page, finding the same meaningless text throughout.
“What kind of case is this?” I asked, intrigued by their story. I knew the brothers didn’t have many friends, so it was surprising that Ryker, of all people, had a friend but had somehow messed things up so badly that they couldn’t face each other anymore.
“Ryker and I had a mutual friend. She was from my pack, the royal beta’s only daughter. We used to hang out whenever he visited our pack. One night, while having fun, she suggested transitioning and running into the deep woods. I had an injury from previous training, and because I was also on wolfbane to increase my tolerance level, the injury hadn’t healed. Ryker, who had never transitioned before anyone, suddenly decided to accompany her. The two sped off to transition. while I stayed behind. After a few minutes, her blood–curdling screams pierced the air. Before I could gather my warriors and search for her, it was too late,” he fell silent, his eyes starting to water.
My body tensed, my heart pounding like a drum, fearing what the next part of this tale might reveal.
“Did you find her?” I asked in a timid voice, watching him glide the
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empty file and stare at its contents—the gibberish.
“We did. But she was in a very bad state, as if an animal had attacked. her. We rushed her to the hospital, only to find out she had slipped into a coma. It was heartbreaking. But I was worried for Ryker because he hadn’t been found. As we waited for her to recover, the Alpha King brothers arrived, and to my surprise, Ryker was with them,” he paused momentarily, signaling that the tale was far from over.
“How? Wasn’t he in the woods with her?” I questioned, taking a seat beside him as he sat down too.
“That’s what bothered me. When I asked him what happened in the woods, he acted as if he had no clue. Even his brothers looked at me. like I was crazy. They all insisted that Ryker had never left their pack. I knew it was a lie. There was this awkward tension between me and Ryker. He wouldn’t leave his brothers‘ side, and they shielded him fiercely. But when she woke up from the coma, she told me it was Ryker who had attacked her. I immediately left to fetch my warriors to take her statement. Though Ryker was my best friend, hearing that he had hurt her compelled me to take action. I wouldn’t break rules for anyone. He was no exception, especially if he was the culprit,” he paused to gauge my reaction.
My mouth was slightly open, and my lips felt dry. Ryker hurt her?
“Sadly, by the time I returned to her room, she was gone. And guess who was outside her room?” he asked, and I only nodded to indicate I had no idea. “The brothers. They claimed they hadn’t gone inside.”
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