Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates - Chapter 444

Chapter 444: 444-The Ugly Truth And The Brother’s Rage
Norman:

I couldn’t understand what that text meant. What culprit? And who threatened her? What blackmail material did they have on her to make her run away?

So I was right—she left on her own.

“And you guys thought putting me to sleep was the right decision?” Maximus threw another vase at Kaye, who dodged it and rolled his eyes.

“Now who’s wasting time?” Kaye commented with a shrug.

I didn’t like his behavior. I had been noticing my brothers acting weird lately, but only now was I realizing that it had gone too far.

When looking into Kaye’s eyes, I could barely see my brother. It felt like an imposter was trying hard to look empathetic toward us and others.

“It’s Emmet who’s wasting time,” I reminded them that we had another brother who didn’t even remember who Helanie was.

“Let’s go. I don’t care who’s wasting time—I’m leaving to look for her.” Maximus put on his shoes, still a little wobbly.

After I received that text message, I tried to track it down, but then the snow got so bad that we had to retreat our warriors. We brothers stayed outside while Maximus slept on wolfsbane. But that search turned into a fight with glims. So our time was wasted.

“I’m ready, let’s head out,” Emmet arrived, and we started our journey together.

Our attention was no longer on the monsters—we were focused on Helanie.

Now it was the third day, and the hostel fellows had been blowing up our phones, asking about Helanie. The bad signals helped us keep the secret for a while, but before long, they would start showing up at the mansion in groups.

Not that they hadn’t already.

But we always lied about her being out getting groceries or something.

We were on edge about going around without any idea where to look for her. What confused us the most was that even when we got a lead, it didn’t help us at all.

And Emmet being so clueless wasn’t helping either.

“Emmet, you know we’re looking for a blonde chick, right?” I groaned at Kaye, and I bet I heard Maximus growl at him as well.

How did he find a moment to joke?

Wasn’t he her mate? And if I’m not wrong, he had accepted her.

Unless… something was very wrong with him.

But we continued our journey.

“She must be hiding somewhere then. Whoever was scaring her must have made her run away,” Maximus suggested.

We didn’t even want to think about the possibility that something had happened to her.

The monsters had attacked many rogues in the woods, and their bodies were never found because they would eat every last bone. But I disagreed when a warrior suggested that something similar might have happened to Helanie.

“You do realize there aren’t many places in the rogue community where one can hide from the snow? She either went to a pack—which is very unlikely—or she’s hiding in a mansion, a hostel, or the academy. All places we’ve already searched, and she’s not there,” Kaye took a realistic approach, but I wished he had stayed quiet.

“So what are you saying? That we just go back and act like it’s fine that she’s gone?” Maximus yelled again.

I felt bad for him. He had been so emotional.

And while I watched them argue, something suddenly clicked in my head.

“Or maybe a cave!”

As soon as I said that, the three of them turned to me.

“And I know a cave she recently took an interest in.”

My heart started pounding at my words, almost like it was thanking me for noticing.

“Which cave?” Emmet asked.

“There’s one cave she knows.”

Of course, it wasn’t the Lycan’s Cave. It was the same cave where we had found Emmet before.

I started leading them straight to the cave where I thought she might be. After an hour, just as the snow was about to start again, we reached it.

“She’s in here,” Maximus yelled, rushing past all of us into the cave.

We all hurried in after him—and what we saw tore us apart.

At least, it did for me.

There she was, finally found.

She sat behind a big rock, dark circles under her eyes, the bags beneath them showing she had been crying ever since she left.

But it was the way she sat, with her knees pulled to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, that truly shook us.

“Helanie…”

And just as expected, the sight of her made Emmet remember her.

He said her name, but his steps were heavy, like he was struggling to walk.

“It’s over,” she whispered, her eyes on us.

I could tell she was shocked that we had arrived, but her condition was so bad that she couldn’t properly show her emotions.

“Helanie,” I said her name, taking off my coat to approach her—

But then she let out a scream so terrifying that I backed away instantly.

“Don’t come any closer,” she screamed, and I nodded, surrendering.

“I won’t,” I assured her that I wasn’t going to approach her again.

But something about her reaction was so frightening that even Kaye looked disturbed.

“Nothing is over. We’ll take care of everything,” Maximus knelt down at a little distance, careful not to trigger her.

Whatever she was going through was terrifying.

“It is over. They will leak it,” she uttered, tears still falling from her eyes.

Her once rosy, smooth cheeks looked rough.

“What? What will they leak?” Maximus asked, his voice softer now.

My eyes briefly shifted to Emmet, who had his hands over his head, like he was trying to keep himself from losing it.

“The videos,” she replied.

“Helanie, nobody can do shit to you, okay?”

I was scared of what she would say next.

But what she did say was something I could have never imagined in a million years.

In a very sad, broken voice, she whispered—

“But they will. They took so many videos that night.”

“What videos?” Maximus asked.

Helanie zoned out for a moment—

Then she spoke.

And her words shattered the ground beneath our feet.

“When they gang-raped me.”