White Rose by Gao Yang (ink book reader .TXT) 📕

"Come on Bryce! I thought you were stronger than that!" Sebastian shouted as Stephen pushed Bryce to the ground. Bryce looked at them both as they laughed at how weak he was.

"Brycie, we know you've got a lot more strength than that." Sebastian kicked Bryce in the stomach and he spat out blood from his mouth. They both walked around him, waiting for him to fight back. "You said you would fight the both of us. What happened to you? Isabella turned you soft? You know what that makes you? Weak as hell!" He then thought of all of the things about Isabella.

"Isabella, please meet the one of the sons of Bruce Duncan."

"She had beautiful long brown hair, it looked so soft and so luscious. And those beautiful almond shaped brown eyes, brown as the color of hot chocolate in the white wintertime. When I first saw her, she seemed so pure and innocent." 

"Let me go!" "I believe she asked you two gentlemen to let her go."

"What's troubling you? I know we haven't known each other for long, but you can tell me anything if you want. I really do hope I get to know you."

"Let's go find her now!" 

"Greetings to you, my lord." 

"The flower matches you perfectly." "Stop teasing me."

"You can join me if you please." 

"Bryce?!" 

"Where are you taking me-" "I wanna show you a beautiful view up on the roof." "The roof?" "Isn't that a little too dangerous?" "But isn't a little danger fun as well?"

"This is-" "So beautiful." He smiled at her and she smiled back at him.

"Bryce! Come on! What's gotten into you?!" Stephen shouted as Bryce regained his strength to fight back. He pushed Sebastian as Stephen came charging for him. He dodged him and made him run into Sebastian. Stephen gasped as he turned around to look at Bryce.

"You will never experience what it likes to have someone who supports you." Sebastian brushed off his shoulders and scoffed at Bryce.

"I don't give a damn about what experience it is. I don't even want to feel it." Stephen and Sebastian surrounded Bryce, circling him. Bryce stood in one place, looking on both sides and keeping himself stable to fight. "I never would've thought that Bryce Duncan would be able to have strength from just a mortal."

Isabella, however, was still searching inside the forest. She went back to the same area where they were before, but there was no one. Why is there no one here? The place was nothing but grass, dirt, bushes and trees. She would look back from time to time to check if Percy followed her; she couldn't stand to see Colin's face right now. Why would he do that to me? Percy might suspect something of me; oh god, he might even tell Bryce about the incident.

"Looking for someone?" She heard a voice coming from somewhere. Then she saw a person's shadow standing behind a tree across from her.

"I can see your shadow." She heard the person scoffed and then the person walked out. She looked and saw Nate's face coming out of the shadows. "Nate . . ." His eyebrows raised up.

"What? Surprised to see me?" She looked around and there was no one in sight. She suddenly felt a cold breeze coming from the wind. She then looked at Nate and he slowly walked up to her; she saw how slow he was taking his steps to her. Her eyes flashed fear towards Nate. She started backing up and looked around as she was doing so. She tripped over a root from a tree. Nate stopped as she got up from the ground so quickly. "Isabella?" She didn't pay attention to him.

"Stay away from me, you monster!" Nate looked at her with confusion.

"What do you mean?" He continued to walk up to her.

She repeated it again. "Stay away from me." Her voice trembled. She then felt utterly weak and vulnerable.

Nate zoomed up to her, blocking her way. "Why would I want to stay away from you?" Her back was against the tree. He walked up to her and reached out his arms and pushing onto the tree. His claws dug deep into the trunk and his face was close up to hers and she tried to keep herself as far back as she could. "Just tell me, if Bryce was this close up to you, what choice do you have?" She looked at him straight in the eye and her breath hitches as he lifted his arm and caressed the tips of his claws on her pale, soft cheek. "I just hope you have techniques to protect yourself."

She closed her mouth and looked at Nate. "Actually I do." She grabbed his arm and held the back of his neck and pulled him into her direction as she moved out of the way and ran away. Nate quickly stopped himself and saw a glimpse of her leaving. He silently growled and ran after her.

 "Isabella . . ." Nate said as he chased after her. She didn't look back to check but eventually he caught up to her. She stopped and hid behind a tree; she glanced behind her for a second and saw him running in the other direction. "Isabella, I know you're around here!" She quickly stopped her heavy breathing. "We can play hide and seek if you want, but I can smell you." Her stomach filled with butterflies of fear. She was being hunted alive. She listened carefully to hear his footsteps, but she heard nothing but the gust of wind. "Isabella . . ." She heard his voice from the distance.

Where is Percy, Bryce or Jack when I need them the most? I'm gonna be killed if Nate finds me soon. They need to find me or I'm going to ripped limb by limb.

Find your strength, Isabella.

Colin was my strength but I don't have him no more. He betrayed me.

Then find your own strength.

I can't! I'm literally going out of my mind. I can't think straight. I can't do anything for myself. I can't even save those who I love most. I can't even take care of myself.

Isabella! Listen to me, be your own anchor! You hear me? Be your own anchor.

"Isabella, you better come out now! I don't like playing games." She heard Nate coming closer to her. She grabbed whatever was going to help her fight off Nate; she grabbed a piece of branch from the ground. She examined the stick; she didn't know much about the different kinds of trees but she knew this one though. Isn't this a remain from a moutain ash tree?

 She stood on her feet and walked out in the open and immediately she saw Nate. "There you are." She kept a strong face as Nate walked closer to her; he looked at her and saw what was in her hand. "You think you can fight me with a piece of stick? Come on, Isabella." She listened to how he spoke to her and she knew he wasn't the same person who was with her before. She still could feel her heart beating rapidly inside her chest. "I can hear your heart. You don't want to fight me. You're only doing that because you want to protect Bryce." He was only a foot away from and she held up the branch up at him.

"This stick? Oh, this isn't just any ordinary stick I found on the ground. You should know what kind of stick this is." He looked at the branch and silently gasped and growled. "You're right, I can't do much with this one stick but I think I can hold you off for quite a while."

He scoffed and chuckled. "What can you do to hold me off?" She looked at him and dropped the moutain ash stick. She looked around and saw a batch of wolfsbane. She had to lead him to the wolfsbane but she was afraid he would smell it. Then they heard a scream from the distance and she knew whose scream it was: Bryce. "Looks like your savior is having some trouble."

She turned to him and held up the mountain ash stick at him. "You're going to lead me to him." Nate stepped back and looked at her.

"No."

"Why am I such an idiot?!" Percy said as he was rushing through the woods by himself and Isabella was all alone by herself. He didn't have any special powers like everyone else and all he had was a sword and himself. "What am I even doing? All I have is a sword and myself."

"Perhaps, you can use my help." Percy heard a voice from behind him as he slowly backed up and drawed his sword. He turned and pointed it at Charles who followed him. He sighed relievedly as he saw Charles and lowered his sword. "Charles, what are you doing here?" He whispered to him.

Charles walked up to Percy and put his hand on Percy's shoulder. "Don't you need help to get Bryce out of here?" Percy looked at him.

"Okay. First things first, how did you even Bryce was out here?" Charles gave him a straight face.

"I was in the ballroom. I saw what happened between Bryce and Nate; no secrets but Isabella is a girl worth fighting for though. So, I can definitely see why they would fight over her." Charles dropped his hand as Percy turned around. Percy walked away deeper into the woods while Charles was still in the same spot. "You want my help or not?" He stopped and turned around, Charles raised his eyebrows, waiting for an answer.

"Not to offend you or anything, but do you know how to fight?" Charles scoffed and chuckled.

"Percy, why do you think I'm carrying a sword with me? You think I would be walking around with a sword and not use it?" Percy eyed him and blanked repeatedly. "Hell no! You gotta use the weapon when you have it."

"You know I can use this." They both went silent as they heard a female's voice. "Don't you dare play me like that." They looked at each other and followed the voice.

"So what? You only have the stick of it! You can't shred it into small pieces." Then Nate heard footsteps coming towards them. Without realizing it, Isabella was held captive in Nate's arms. "Make a sound or I'll slash your throat." He said as he took out