Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates - Chapter 48

Chapter 48: 48-Her Scent Of Blood

Maximus:

I drove to the shelter, not keeping the time or the rain in mind. Since Kaye refused to talk about Helanie’s perfect dream, I wanted to ask her myself. Something must have happened in that dream prison that changed Kaye so much. He looked so lost.

“I have a very bad feeling about this. What will you even say when calling her out of the shelter at this time of night?” Xim questioned, showing his reluctance to support my idea of confronting her.

“I will say we brothers decided to ask her one last time if she still wants to be part of the tests after what happened—” I paused mid-sentence, “I’ll just make up some excuse. It’s not like anyone can dare to ask me any questions.”

I was growing impatient; my veins felt like they were about to explode. Why wouldn’t Kaye want to talk about what happened in the dream prison? Did he really not remember anything like he claimed? If that were true, then why the change of heart?

Once I reached the road where we parked our cars to head toward the shelter, I sighed and remained in my seat. The way my two brothers had changed worried me. Emmet and Kaye were the most dangerous people anyone could come into contact with. Emmet had spent many years of his life showing no feelings or emotions to anyone around him, and Kaye simply hated everyone. If they could be convinced by her stupid games, then I was a very weak person when it came to women.

“Just think—we cannot do anything with her because she is our stepsister,” Xim spoke up, voicing what I wasn’t saying out loud.

“Of course I’m not tempted by her,” I felt offended that he even brought it up. But was it a lie?

Suddenly, a flashback of us washing my car together came to mind. I remembered when her dress became see-through, revealing her bra. It was so difficult to look away from her. If she weren’t my stepsister, I would have ripped her clothes off and chewed that bra off to suck her nipples—

“No, no, no! She is my stepsister!” I instantly yelled in my car, taking deep breaths.

“She is taking over everyone’s heart,” my wolf shocked me when he phrased it that way.

“Not mine,” I refused to believe that and got out of the car to confront her. As I marched down the dark trail, I prepared my questions in my head. Once outside the shelter, I watched it stand tall. All the students had their cars and bikes parked on the road except for Helanie. She had nothing. I walked over to the shelter and knocked on the door.

I expected everyone to be fast asleep, but it was surprising how quickly Sydney opened the door. I recognized her because she was the first one to cross the line the other day.

“Maximus McQuoid?” Her eyes grew wide, and her lips quickly rubbed together to look presentable. She ran her fingers through her wet hair and then smiled widely.

Did she just take a shower, or was she out in the rain?

“You must have a candidate here who was last in yesterday’s test? What is her name—” I pretended to think, even though it would sound strange that I arrived at this time to speak to a candidate, “Helanie.”

Sydney raised her brow, checking me out from head to toe.

“Can I see her?” I asked, trying to appear confident.

“Umm, she left,” she shrugged, and no matter how hard I tried to hide my surprise, I couldn’t. My jaw dropped. I quickly cleared my throat and adjusted my jacket, trying to process her statement.

“What do you mean by she left?” I questioned her.

Sydney came from a wealthy background. I had always seen her wear branded clothes from the admissions to the test day. But today, she wore something less appealing.

Her confidence was shaken, which shouldn’t have been the case since she came first in yesterday’s race. My eyes thoroughly examined her body language; she was shaking, either from the cold or nervousness.

“I don’t know. She was crying a lot that —she let everyone down by coming last. We tried to comfort her and told her that it wasn’t the case and that she should at least try, but she refused. She said she was wasting her time and that she didn’t even have money for the main admission,” Sydney yapped on until she finished, then took a deep breath, almost as if she were trying to calm herself down.

“Huh? Really? She left?” I tilted my head, examining her as she nodded again.

“Okay. I came here to talk to her myself. I thought I could try to convince her not to be a part of this academy and save her money—” However, just when I was trying to clarify why I had come, I focused on my own words.

She didn’t pay a dime. She wasn’t going to pay either. Emmet had already informed her that he had paid for her entry and had even promised her admission fee.

“Oh, well, she saved you the trouble,” Sydney kept holding the door a little too tightly.

“Okay, have a good night, and best of luck for tomorrow.” I didn’t stick around and quickly turned to leave. I heard her close the door, but I wasn’t satisfied with her reasoning. Helanie quit? That girl was crazy stubborn.

“Do you smell something?” Xim uttered, causing my body to freeze in my steps. “It smells like blood in here.”

My body twitched at my wolf’s words. I looked around and took a few steps toward the backyard when I found one of the candidates cleaning the kitchen.

“You’re cleaning the kitchen in the rain?” I asked the guy, making him jump in shock. He turned around and smiled awkwardly, clearly not expecting me to arrive. He was Lamar, the one with sketchy actions and background. He was in my mind and I planned to keep a close eye on him once he is in the academy.

“We went a little crazy and spilled all the marinara sauce here,” he let out a nervous laugh, making me glance around the kitchen. He was really going at it with the mop.

His shirtless body seemed tense, and if he thought he could fool me with the fresh scent of blood and call it marinara sauce, he was mistaken.

“Okay, good job,” I patted his shoulder, walking out of the kitchen and heading straight to my car.

“We need to find Helanie,” I told my wolf with determination. Something happened here tonight, and I wouldn’t rest until I found Helanie and ensured she left on her own, just like Sydney said she did.