Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates - Chapter 361

Chapter 361: 361-Back To The Academy
Helanie:

It was the most horrifying sight for me.

I ran back to the mansion like my tail was on fire. Now I understood why things didn’t go as planned between us as we wanted them to.

My promise was kept without me knowing. As I returned to the mansion, I noticed Emmet in the hallway, getting ready for whatever he does out there in the woods.

In that moment, it became clear to me that the brothers go out either to take care of Maximus and also make sure he doesn’t go into the population to cause chaos.

It all made sense now.

I’m not the only one who is keeping secrets. So I was no longer ashamed of holding things in and not telling the brothers. I ran to my room and locked myself in until morning. I would avoid the brothers at any cost now.

Before anyone could wake up, I had already packed my stuff and left the mansion.

I didn’t care about saying goodbye to anyone either.

“Look who’s here,” Lamar commented, extending his hand for me to shake, which I did with a weak smile on my lips. He was standing next to Gavin, Jenny, and Penn.

“Give me a hug,” he stole my bags, tossing them at Penn and Gavin to carry, and pulled me into a brotherly hug.

“Hey, you okay, right?” he whispered in my ear. I bet he noticed I looked a little down.

“I will be now,” I replied as he broke the hug.

“You look very pale. Did you not eat anything?” he asked quietly while examining my face.

“I ate too much last night. It was a great occasion, and there was so much food–” I kept talking when he hushed me for a moment.

“What occasion, Helanie?” Of course, he understood something had deeply upset me for talking so much about a supposed occasion that turned me pale.

“Remember Charlotte?” I watched him nod. “Well, she is a close friend of Maximus.”

I watched him gasp and cover his mouth. “Which is crazy because–” I shut up as I bit my tongue.

“What? Tell me what is it?” he insisted, but Jenny and the others had grown tired of waiting for him to step aside so they could come and greet me.

“Groups within groups, not accepted,” Jenny pushed him away and hugged me. Her arms tightly wrapped around me, and she patted my back.

“I love you, sister. I hope you know that,” her tone was slightly different and odd. She broke the hug and stepped aside as Gavin gave me a side hug.

“Hey,” Penn waved from behind Jenny, a strange hesitation clear in his body. It was so weird to be back at the academy now.

“How are you all?” I asked absentmindedly as I had to physically stop myself from telling Lamar that Maximus is a lycan.

And also, how could Charlotte be his mate when I felt the mate bond with him too? Or has he got two mates?

One for his human form and the other for his lycan form?

I just didn’t get it.

But I wasn’t ready to explore anything either. Maximus did it to hurt my feelings. He chose Charlotte at a time when he was ‘dying’ to be with me. But I knew his truth. Hence, his mother arriving with Charlotte was another game they were trying to play, probably to push me into blurting out that Maximus cannot be with my ‘cousin.’

“We’re good. And we would love a hug too, but I guess–we’re not that lucky,” Penn said, shrugging dramatically while his hands stayed in his pockets.

“You mean to say lucky?” I corrected him with a laugh, but he gestured for me to look behind me. I slowly turned around to see Lucy standing in the crowd, probably having arrived while I was greeting everyone. Maybe that’s why she didn’t come closer.

“I’ll move away,” Gavin said, walking off, and as he did, Lucy started walking our way.

“Hey,” she suddenly had a bright smile on her face as she waved her hands and hugged me tightly.

Her scent took me back to the time when we first met. Although now she was wearing makeup, acrylics, and a mini skirt, the rest was the same. Her behavior was cheerful, just like it used to be before she got caught up in the mess with her mate.

“Hello, all of you,” she then broke the hug to greet the others but particularly avoided Jenny when she tried to hug her.

“We’re good. We wanted to come and see you but–” Penn took the chance to speak and divert attention to himself.

“Oh, I’m glad you didn’t come because if you had, you would have brought her with you,” she boldly eyed Jenny, who looked around and then instantly looked down in embarrassment.

“Come on, let’s go, Jenny,” Penn definitely couldn’t handle the truth. I didn’t hate Jenny, but she did hurt Lucy pretty bad. All that time when Lucy was losing her mind trying to tell everyone she wasn’t just imagining things, Jenny stepping forward would’ve saved Lucy so much stress.

Penn walked away with his sister, and now it was just the three of us.

“Are you going to be okay?” I asked Lucy, wondering if the sight of the fall would affect her, and I could tell it already was. She had big tears in her eyes but kept a smile on her lips.

“YuP!” she popped the letter ‘p.’

“Let’s go back inside and see our room, shall we?” Lamar suggested, and we all walked in. Other students were already heading to their rooms. The wallpaper had been replaced, and some new decor had been added.

“Are you not going to take the elevator?” Lucy asked, confused when I started to walk on foot with her, taking the stairs.

“I’m not so weak anymore,” I joked and watched her eyes grow bigger before she held my hand and squeezed it to show how happy she was.

That’s when I received a text from someone I didn’t expect to get.

Trainer Norman: Not even a thank you and you left already?