Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates - Chapter 276

Chapter 276: 276-Rayden Points At Me.

Helanie:

Lamar and I knew we had to join the others. They didn’t deserve to be attacked by the lycan.

“Everyone, back to the cabin!” yelled Rudy, causing Lamar and me to exchange a brief glance before the terror of the lycan heading our way hit us.

Sage and the others were now running toward the cabin. They started to catch up with us. I saw Penn carrying Rayden on his back, making his way to the cabin.

“Ahhhhh!” Sydney’s scream made us all slow down. We all turned at once and saw Sydney on the ground with the lycan on top of her.

It was snarling and howling.

“Sydney!” Salem screamed, rushing to her sister’s side.

Penn kept running toward the cabin while Rudy squared up, gesturing for Sage to grab the weapons.

“You two, behind the tree. Hold the chain,” Rudy yelled at Lamar and me.

We both realized we had reached the spot where we’d planned to trap the lycan.

“I don’t think he’s attacking!” I yelled to get Rudy’s attention, but he didn’t listen. He grabbed the arrow and shot at the lycan. As he fired, the lycan swiped its arm and deflected the arrow.

Now that he was under attack, with Sage stabbing him in the back, he lost control.

The lycan swung its arm and hurled Sage to the ground, far away.

“Hold the chain!” Lamar said to me.

I looked at the chain but didn’t move a muscle.

It was too late for us. Lamar took over and dropped the cage on the lycan.

However, the moment the cage landed on the lycan, the monster shoved it off.

At that moment, we all exchanged a glance and realized we’d underestimated its strength and power.

The lycan must have been provoked by everyone attacking it, but now it was lashing out at anyone in its path.

Even with Rudy firing an arrow at the lycan, it leaped at Rudy and knocked him to the ground.

“Lamar, get away from the tree!” I yelled the moment I saw the lycan trying to move toward the side of the tree.

I even ran to the front and grabbed a sword from the ground in case I needed to defend myself.

I sprinted behind the lycan, positioning myself to stab him in the back, but my hands started to shake.

All I could think about was the night I had felt the mate bond with him.

As I hesitated, the lycan became aware of me standing behind him and turned to face me.

He snarled even louder and charged at me. My hands trembled, my ears rang. I should have attacked—just enough to distract him—but I couldn’t do it.

Even though the lycan in front of me was a monster, I couldn’t bring myself to hurt him because he was my mate.

He growled, saliva dripping from his mouth with every step he took closer to me.

I tripped onto my back and began crawling backward.

The lycan stared at me but then got distracted by the noise behind him.

“Hey, asshole! Why don’t you come after us?” Rudy yelled, waving his hands in the air.

“Or maybe me,” Lamar added, standing behind Sage, who had blood all over her face.

The three were busy calling out to the lycan. But there was a strange calmness that came over him as he stood in front of me.

Instead of attacking anyone again, the lycan spun around and sprinted off. Just like that, he disappeared.

We were all in shock. Our bodies hurt, and those who were wounded were too scared to shift, unsure if the lycan was still nearby.

“You alright?” Rudy asked, walking toward me, breathing heavily and rubbing his head with his hands.

“Yeah,” I replied faintly. He had only just reached me when Lamar appeared, almost shoving him aside to hold out his hand to me.

I took Lamar’s hand and forced myself to stand.

I was in excruciating pain. My knees felt like they could give out at any moment. Salem appeared with her sister by her side. They both looked scratched up too.

“We should head back now,” Sage said. Rudy had walked over to stand beside her.

“Let’s go,” Rudy agreed but stopped suddenly, turning around to look for something.

“What is it?” I asked, noticing his body tense up.

“Where is Arlo?” Rudy questioned, worry clear on his face.

“Shit! I haven’t seen him in a while,” Sage said, sounding worried. I could tell the top seniors were already feeling guilty about the plan that had completely backfired.

“Okay, listen. Everyone split into groups of three and look for him. We’ll meet back here in an hour,” Rudy decided, pairing Salem with Lamar and me.

Thankfully, Salem didn’t bother us much as we wandered around. Lamar and I weren’t putting much effort into finding Arlo. I wasn’t a fan of his.

An hour later, we returned to the meeting spot and found Rudy and Sage emerging from the woods. Sydney followed behind them with none other than Arlo.

“Where was he?” Lamar asked. Arlo quickly looked down, avoiding eye contact.

“Climbed a tree to hide,” Sage said, rolling her eyes, mocking Arlo because he never missed a chance to mock others.

“I wasn’t hiding. I was trying to get a better view,” Arlo snapped, walking ahead of us so no one could see his face.

“Of what? Your cowardice?” Sage retorted.

I understood the dynamic of the top seniors—they weren’t friends at all. And with Submit skipping the hunt, I wondered if they would tease him too for backing out.

We made it to the cabin, where chaos had erupted. Jenny was tending to Rayden, who looked like a complete mess.

I didn’t expect to walk into so much blood all over the floor.

“What the—” Rudy muttered, shock evident in his voice.

“Where have you all been?” Penn yelled, rushing to the bathroom to wet a towel. I also found out that Penn had passed out upon entering the cabin. Hence Jenny gave him aid first.

“We got caught up. Let’s grab more towels,” Rudy said, joining Penn. Even though they were injured too, they wanted to help.

I slowed down and made my way to Rayden on the bed. He was groaning in pain.

As he opened his eyes, he grunted, “You! You didn’t help me.”

He raised his hand to point at me, and fear gripped me. I stepped back and bumped straight into Salem, who had probably overheard what he just said.