Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates - Chapter 508

Chapter 508: 508-Facing His Fiancé
Helanie:

“If you want, we can go out for a while,” Norman said after he came out of the shower. His black shirt was all wet—he hadn’t dried himself properly. I could tell he wasn’t used to putting on clothes right after a shower.

But I appreciated that he didn’t come out in just a towel.

Just the thought made me bury my face.

I had devoured the pizza like I hadn’t eaten in days—which, to be honest, wasn’t a lie. Everything I ate while staying with my parents back home felt like it came with a side of taunts and scoffs.

Living there wasn’t as hard as it used to be, but that was only because their words didn’t hurt me anymore—and they wouldn’t dare lay a hand on me now.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” Norman sighed and slowly walked over to the couch, sitting beside me. His whole body turned toward me, one leg bent with the foot resting on the other thigh.

“For what?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“For… asking you to give Emmet a second chance. It was really selfish of me. You have every reason to be hurt and not forgive someone who broke your heart,” he said, his tone honest, and I was a bit surprised.

“It must be so hard,” I turned to him, watching the way his brow furrowed.

It felt strange sitting face-to-face with him like this, in his bedroom, on the same couch, with the door locked.

“What is?” he asked, looking like he genuinely wanted to fix whatever it was I found difficult.

“To only focus on other people’s happiness. To try so hard to fix everyone else’s problems,” I mumbled. I was surprised it took him a moment to realize I was talking about him.

“Umm, no! It’s fine. It’s nothing,” he said, clearly confused by the way I had put it.

“You do realize your only reason for living isn’t just to serve others, right? You have your own priorities. Things you love. A life you want for yourself,” I said. I didn’t even know what made me say all that, but I could tell it shocked him.

“This is what older siblings do. You’d do the same for Vani,” he said with a shrug, like I expected.

“I wanted to ask you something,” he said quietly, shifting to face forward, looking away from me.

I couldn’t believe he was acting shy while I was just staring at him.

“Go ahead,” I replied.

“What do you want to do about those Alphas? Do you still want to go with the plan—make them confess somehow—or… if you want, they can be taken care of,” he said without looking at me once.

I shook my head at him, kind of in disbelief.

Such a big, tough guy—having soft, shy moments like this—it was actually kind of cute.

“If I punished them, everyone would see them as martyrs. They don’t deserve that. And all the Helanies out there—the ones who didn’t speak up or couldn’t—will never get justice either. I want—” I stopped talking as it suddenly hit me. The answer had been right in front of me all along, and I had overlooked it.

I jumped up from the couch, and even Norman looked surprised, adjusting how he was sitting.

“I want to fight DID— I mean, Darius,” I said. I didn’t know how many people even knew him by that name, but I wanted to fight him.

“Fight him?” Norman tilted his head.

“He’s one of the cadets in line to become the Alpha King of the North, right? So if I challenge him, I can fight for the throne by the end of this year,” I said. I knew it was a long shot, but deep down, something told me I could do it.

Of course, Norman looked stunned.

“Umm—Helanie, the fight only ends two ways. Either someone gives up or they die,” he explained, but it didn’t shake me at all.

“Okay?” I shrugged.

“Can’t we do it some other way?” he asked, and I shook my head.

“No. There’s no other way. Darius would never confess. I want to take his throne, that’s it,” I said firmly, stomping my foot. Norman slapped his forehead in disbelief.

“Let’s do it,” I said, standing tall. He spread his arms wide, his eyes narrowing like he was silently asking ‘What are you doing?’

“You want to fight him now?” he asked as he got up and put his hands on his waist. That’s when I noticed how small I looked standing next to him.

“I want to train now, you dummy,” I said, making him blink in surprise.

“Don’t look so shocked. You know I think you’re a dumbass,” I added, watching his jaw nearly drop as he bent down a little to look me in the eye.

“You are going to obey what I say. I’m doing this—and you’re helping me train,” I said with confidence and turned toward the door. I didn’t really plan to start training right this second—I just needed a moment away from being in the same room. I wanted to go out and get some fresh air like he suggested before.

“Okay, now you’re ordering me?” I heard him scoff behind me.

“Of course. I’m your wife,” I replied as I opened the door, then turned around just in time to catch his face turning red. His ears always went bright red anytime I said something slightly bold. This time wasn’t even that bad.

But I hadn’t realized someone was standing right outside the door—and she had heard me call her fiancé my husband.

As Norman’s eyes shifted behind me, I slowly turned around and faced Jessica.

Her eyes were puffy, her nose red. She had clearly been crying for hours.

“You’re his wife?” she repeated my words, and a big tear rolled down her cheek.

“You—” she gasped, then raised her hand to slap me across the face.

To be honest, I deserved it.

The pain in her eyes was so deep, I didn’t even try to stop her.