Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates - Chapter 308

Chapter 308: 308-The House Of The Lycan

Helanie:

“But be careful. Things are getting out of hand these days. Especially for—you know—the werewolf community. People are claiming to have seen a new kind of threat in the area. I’m doing my research on it, but in the meantime, make sure you’re on alert,” Norman patted Emmet’s shoulder, and my eyes shifted to Emmet’s jacket. I had never seen him wear a jacket before, so this one stood out to me.

It was a beautiful black jacket with his initials, E-M, near the pockets. It must have been a gift to him.

“Okay—” Emmet was in the middle of responding when he spotted me, and I saw the mood change. “Hey, you arrived late. I hope you had fun with your friends,” he started talking almost instantly, as if he was telling his brother we weren’t alone.

“Yeah, we were just checking out some places,” I lied, giving them both a closed-lip smile. I did notice Norman glare at me up and down like I had done something wrong.

“Okay, I’ll go sleep now,” I pointed my thumb over my shoulder toward my room.

“You’re not going to eat dinner?” Emmet asked while Norman stood with his head high, his eyes averted from me.

He was suddenly acting so weird.

“No! I’ve eaten plenty,” I said, though that was true. Lamar and I had a great dinner with Gavin’s mother. I couldn’t forget how Lamar was feeding her whenever she started crying. I couldn’t believe a guy like Lamar was so sweet and humble.

I guess first impressions and interactions aren’t always accurate. Or in simple terms, people do change for the better.

“Okay then, hope you rest well,” Emmet greeted, and with a nod of my head, I went to my room.

I didn’t think too much about anything because I needed to get plenty of sleep to wake up early and go after Gavin. I dozed off almost instantly and woke up around 4 AM.

“Hello, I’m heading out. Are you here yet?” I asked Lamar, quickly changing into a pair of baggy jeans and a white shirt. I had my long blonde hair in a messy braid, with my curtain bangs perfectly sitting on my forehead.

“Yep! Almost here,” he informed me, and I cut the call, rushing out to sit behind him.

“The top seniors are also coming. In fact, many have said they would join the search,” Lamar told me, mentioning how the students were starting to stick together.

When we first came to the academy, everyone was so against each other. It was like competition within the group. But now, slowly as the negative people were leaving and the trainers were enforcing stricter punishments for those bullying too much, things were starting to get better.

We reached the road where a group of students were waiting for us. Among them were Salem, Pen, and Jenny too.

“Okay, guys, he called and told us he was attacked,” I got off the bike and instantly started talking.

“You said his signal is bad, so he must be somewhere near the mountains. What if he’s not?” Sage questioned.

“Then let’s make some groups and cover a certain area in a set time. How about that?” Rudy adjusted his black and orange jacket, probably his high school jock jacket. I should’ve known he was a jock before.

That was so written all over his face and in his body language.

“Okay, that sounds like a good idea,” I nodded, agreeing with Lamar, “Me, Lamar, Salem, and Sumit will be in one team.”

I noticed Jenny looked shocked that I didn’t include her in our group.

“I want to be—” she started, but her brother gave her a head shake. He was always there to stop her from embarrassing herself. It was just that I knew her presence would worry Lamar.

The rest of the teams were made, and the reason I put Salem in our group was because I had noticed she was good at tracking and finding things.

“Thank you for accepting me in your group,” Salem whispered. We were briskly moving through the mountain, not really knowing what we were doing, until Salem added, “How about we tie red ribbons around the trees where we’ve already searched? Just so we’re not going in circles?” She pulled out red ribbons and handed them to us. “I gave some to the others too.”

So she had come prepared. She gave me a small smile when she noticed I looked impressed.

An hour in, and Salem started sniffing something. I noticed her doing it in her bag before her eyes landed on me, and she quickly hid it.

“You guys go ahead,” I told Lamar, who was genuinely doing his best to find Gavin for his mother.

He went ahead with the others while I decided to confront Salem.

“What was that?” I asked her, gesturing for her to show it to me.

“It’s Gavin’s shirt. He had given it to me once with his scent on it,” she replied, holding the shirt out for me.

“Then why didn’t you tell us before?” I placed my hands on my waist, questioning her.

“I didn’t want to remind you guys about—” she lowered her head. She was never so shy or timid. What was going on with her?

I wasn’t sure if I was buying her whole “nice girl” act.

“Anyway, go for it. Start looking for him.” I knew if she could track his scent, it would be a lot easier for us to find him.

We should have asked for something from Gavin’s mother last night.

“Lamar, she’s tracking Gavin!” I yelled at the others, who nodded and started following her. I went after her myself, moving quickly. She was headed very determinedly, so we were sure she was picking up on the scent.

And we weren’t wrong.

She went straight to a cave in the mountains. A hidden one.

“This is it, I can smell him from inside,” she gasped as she stood outside the cave.

“Okay, we don’t know if the lycan is sleeping inside—” Sage was busy trying to make everyone understand what important steps should be taken when Salem bolted inside, calling for Gavin.

We all shared a terrified look before going after her. And there it was—our nightmare.

A blood trail.