Tasting

52–He Will Paint My Friend N*ked. 

Nora: 

I returned to my room and found Natalya peacefully sleeping. I didn’t want to risk waking up my wolf even though I desperately wanted to talk to her. However, as soon as I hit the bed, I fell asleep. 

“Wake up,” I heard a soft whisper from the side, jolting me awake. I turned to see the person, but even after rubbing my eyes, I couldn’t see his face properly. 

“Come with me,” he continued, grabbing my arm and pulling me out of bed without a care in the world that I was still half–asleep and could fall and hurt myself. 

“But where are we going?” I asked in a whisper, trying my best to keep 

1. up. 

“You’re going to steal something for me,” he said, holding my hand tightly, leaving scratches from his nails. 

“But why? And what do you want me to steal?” I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to do it. 

“You’re going to steal the keys to the locker from dad,” he whispered as we stopped near dad’s room. My body shivered at the idea. 

“No! He’ll catch me and then-” I closed my eyes and grimaced, thinking about the possibility of getting caught. 

Dad will never trust me again if I do that. 

“Either you do it or-,” I watched him lift his shirt and show me a knife tucked in his pants. 

“I will be merciless this time,” he hissed, making me shiver and reluctantly agree to get the keys for him. 

“Dad is deep in his sleep. He won’t wake up if you tiptoe,” he continued to encourage me for something he couldn’t do himself. 

“Now, don’t just stand here like a creepy person,” he almost pushed me, but thankfully I didn’t bump into the door. 

Dad was indeed in a deep sleep, so I hurried to the side and grabbed the keys. The door was right there, and I could reach it without waking up dad, until I saw his face from outside the room and noticed the ugly smirk on his lips. 

“You idiot! You are so easy to fool,” he mouthed, and before I could fathom what he just did, he had slammed the door shut, leaving me standing there with the keys in my hands. The door thud woke up dad behind me. I couldn’t even turn around to face him. 

“How dare you!” I heard Dad mutter before a whip knocked me down to the floor. 

“NO, please, daddy! I didn’t want to steal the keys, please spare me,” I cried, beginning to crawl back, feeling someone’s cold grasp around my arm and shaking me awake. 

I opened my eyes and sat up in bed, looking around before sighing in relief when I realized I wasn’t in that hell hole anymore. 

“Hey! It was just a dream,” Natlaya cupped my face, examining me as I breathed heavily. I was on the verge of tears from that dream. 

“Thank you for waking me up,” I quickly freed my face and jumped out of bed, rushing into the bathroom to fix myself. But instead, the minute I was behind the locked door, I started sniffling in my palms. 

It was not a dream but a memory. It sucks when your own family is your bully. The memory of him tricking me and then my father beating me up haunted my dreams over the years now. At some point, I might even stop differentiating between a dream and reality. 

After I fixed myself, I got out of the bathroom with my hair wet and a new pair of jeans and a black shirt on. I wanted to make it seem like to Natalya that I left in a hurry because I was getting ready for the day. But to my surprise, she was not in the bedroom. 

“Huh!” I panicked almost instantly. The reason was simple. She was a kitten, and there were angry wolves in the mansion. I saw how upset they had been when I invited my friends over, so if anyone came face to face with her, they would definitely say something to upset her. 

“Natalya!” I marched out of my bedroom to look for her, and that’s when I spotted her standing fine in the doorway of Cain’s studio. My body stiffened, and I took slow steps to approach her, all the while listening to their conversation. 

“I’ve heard about your work,” she giggled as she spoke with Cain. 

“I’m sure you did,” the cockiness in his voice was still present, but he wasn’t using a harsh tone like I imagined he would have with Brody. Their behavior with him was odd, too odd actually. 

“I really like what you do,” she continued in a much softer and gigglish tone. She even danced with her shoulders, squeezing herself to the side as she did, revealing Cain for me. He was sitting on a couch with no shirt on like always but holding a paintbrush and a glass of wine. 

Who even drinks alcohol that early in the morning? 

“I would like to know what the criteria are to pass as your model?” I gasped when I heard her ask him that question. 

Cain’s eyes slowly traveled to me, and a smile covered his lips. It wasn’t a normal smile, but an evil smirk, I swear. 

“Natalya! I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Why did you leave the room?” I laughed, trying to hold back the frustration in my voice. 

She was so hard to control. I didn’t want to say it to her face, but she was kind of nosey. She would be everywhere in a matter of minutes. 

“Oh! I was just talking to your stepbrother,” she quickly fixed her posture and used her normal tone when responding to me. 

“Okay! Let’s go back into the room. You should freshen up before breakfast is ready,” I held her arm, trying to drag her away, all the while noticing Cain chuckling to himself and drinking from his glass. 

“Okay!” The sad face Natalya made was really bothersome. Why was she acting like I was ruining her talk with Cain? She didn’t know that Cain could be very evil, so I was merely helping her. But the minute we walked away, I heard Cain call for us. 

“You have passed the criteria though. Just pick a day, and we will begin,” my heart sank in my chest as I turned around and watched Cain stand up and speak to Natalya, his hands in his pants‘ pockets. 

“Really?” she cheered, jumping up and down while clapping her hands. I guess her ankle didn’t hurt anymore. 

In response to her question, Cain only closed his eyes to confirm before he slammed the door shut. Before Natalya’s smile could (1 

recalled his words, and she was back to smiling again. But I was not at all happy. I was confused because I knew it was not that easy for someone to entice Cain. Except me. He told me I was the only one he found interesting, so why was he accepting Natalya so easily? Was he intrigued by her? 

And why the heck was I bothered by it? 

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