Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates - Chapter 36

Chapter 36: 36-Jealous Much?

Helanie:

I watched his face turn red and then lose its color as he yelled back at me while covering my mouth with his hand. “What are you doing?”

The moment we heard footsteps approaching my bedroom, Kaye grabbed my arm and started pulling me towards the window.

“Stop it,” he grunted as I shook my head, trying to kick him away.

“I am not going without you; do you understand me?” he hissed, leaning closer to my face. When I attempted to resist further, he seized the small knife from the food platter and held it against my neck, shocking me with his hostility. He then removed his hand from my mouth. I was stunned, feeling the sharp blade against my skin. My heart raced in my throat, my veins pulsating. Yet he looked so calm, as if he had done this before.

“Now shut up,” he warned me through his piercing gaze.

“Are you going to kill me?” My breath hitched, and my eyes formed tears of fright. I had such a perfect life until now. Why did he have to come here and ruin my night before the wedding?

“Come with me, and I will spare your life,” he hissed, forcing me out of the window. He then continued to throw me over his shoulder and jumped down.

It was all happening so quickly and abruptly that I truly thought I was dreaming. He put me down but only to grab my arm and start sprinting into the darkness. My heart was pounding so hard, and I was too afraid to resist and risk getting stabbed.

I did hear my parents open the door to my room and call out for me, so I had a little confidence that my parents would find me. Or they would contact my mate and let him know what happened very soon.

Once we were deep in the woods and engulfed by darkness, he finally pushed me onto the ground and stood on top of me, his legs spread over my stomach.

“Now, if you make one more noise—” he waved the knife in my face, his massive body hunched over mine. I nodded shakily, showing obedience. He finally stepped back, and I sat up, my hands resting on the ground behind me.

“What do you want from me? Are you going to kill me?” I asked, choking on my own tears.

“No! And stop it—this is not you. You don’t even cry when people kick you out of their homes or when they humiliate you. This you—this is pathetic,” he had so much animosity in his voice that I began to wonder if maybe he had lost his mind.

“I am me, Helanie. There is no other version of me; why do you keep saying that?” I asked in a low murmur.

“Helanie! You are trapped in this crazy dream world because you—you sniffed that purple rose. This is not real; this is a dream prison, and if you don’t get out in time, you will be stuck here forever. And let me tell you something: you will not be happy. You saw those people that you called your parents? I recognized them.” He was driving me to the brink of madness now. He looked so tall and ripped, huffing like a beast.

Everything he said went over my head, but it was also one heck of a terrifying claim.

“They were once the main leads in their own dream prison. The master—the alpha king, in your case—showed them this beautiful vision of a perfect life before he consumed them. Now, they aren’t even living their own dream. They become a part of whoever comes here. Do you want to be forgotten and become a side character in someone else’s perfect dream world?” he yelled, shaking his head angrily at me.

“Now tell me—do you not think this isn’t your mother? Do you not remember your mother? Your father? We brothers—we gave you a hard time and kicked you out. But then you still clung around because that is who you are. You are competitive and stubborn and very annoying. You want to get whatever you desire, and you do it no matter how many people are trying to stop you. But this one—the one who just wants to be praised—is not the real you.” He knelt down before me, maintaining deep eye contact.

I kept staring at his face until I had a flashback of something very terrifying: my mother grabbing my arm and kicking me out of her house. It shuddered through my body and made Kaye examine me closely.

“You remember something,” he commented.

“If it’s true—how do you think you are going to break me free from this dream prison?” Since I was beginning to feel very misplaced, I tried to give him a chance. It wasn’t a lie that I felt odd about my mother. If this lady was my mother, then who was the one from my flashback?

I had only memories of this place, but I had flashbacks of the ones Kaye was telling me about.

“That—I think if you remember something or everything, you would be able to come back home,” he scratched the back of his neck, and I frowned.

“Okay, then remind me,” I said, sitting with support from the ground.

“Okay—m,” he nodded slightly and then took a deep breath. “You don’t look exactly like this in the real world. I mean, you have platinum blonde hair.”

The minute he said that, my body was covered in goosebumps. This was the exact thought I had whenever I stared at myself in the mirror.

“I remember myself with blonde hair,” I smiled widely, and his face broke into a grin before he smiled too.

“Okay, keep going. You were—um—umm—” He looked around, making me wonder why he didn’t remember anything himself.

“Shit—I never spent time with you. I don’t know you. I just know you were working in the garage for Maximus when you smelled that rose—” His voice faded as I had a distant memory of that day.

“Ohhhh—I remember—I remember—” I jumped up, getting on my feet, and he followed suit. He looked so happy and excited that I had remembered something. “I remember Maximus!”

“Huh?”

“I remember him. We had this amazing conversation when we washed his car—he was so sweet and flirtatious that I was like, ‘Whoa! I am your stepsister, dude!'” I laughed, not realizing the depth of my words, but Kaye didn’t seem very pleased for some reason.

I thought he wanted me to remember.

“He flirted with you, and he’s the one you remember?” Kaye looked quite displeased.

“You mentioned him, so I remembered him.” My excitement faded because I guessed that wasn’t a good sign.

“Okay, sure,” he uttered, his hands on his waist and looking away.

“But why are we not going back home?” I asked him, and he looked around at the lights appearing brighter.

The commotion started to approach us. It was pack members looking for us, searching for the bride-to-be.

“Shit!” Kaye hissed. “I think we are left with only one option. I have to kiss you!”

My heart dropped in my chest when he cupped my face in his hands out of the blue.