Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates - Chapter 527

Chapter 527: 527-Missing My Wife But Too Embarrassed To Admit It

Norman:

I looked around the room and sighed. I didn’t know what had gotten over me. Even though she didn’t stay here for long, she had left her scent behind. The room seemed so empty. I can’t believe I was missing her annoying voice. When I lay down on the pillow, it was soaked in her scent. And I felt ashamed to admit it—she smelled so good.

I shook my head and sat up in bed, grabbing a book from the side table to focus on something else. I hated how my mind kept going back to thoughts of her.

“Remember, I hate her,” I reminded myself—something I’d said in the early days of meeting her.

“Liar. You had a fucking boner just by seeing her naked.”

That’s why I preferred my wolf staying silent. He was inappropriate and never sided with me.

“Shut the fuck up!” I grunted at him, rolling my eyes. I walked over to the side table and grabbed the glass of wine I had poured for myself some minutes ago but hadn’t taken a sip of.

“Is it because your dear wife doesn’t like it when someone drinks too much? Because she remembers the way our brother forgot about her after drinking so much?”

He didn’t care what I was thinking about him—he just kept going.

“I swear, you need to shut up,” I hissed at him, “and watch me drink it all. I’m not afraid of anyone,” I said through clenched teeth and downed the whole glass in one go.

“Helanie’s calling—”

As soon as my wolf said that—without realizing that if she really was, I’d get a notification—I spat the drink out in reflex and started frantically looking for a place to hide the glass, as if she could somehow see it.

“And someone said they’re not afraid of their wife,” he teased. “Besides, I understand. Not everyone gets lucky to have a wife like her. Have you looked at her face? She’s so pretty, and she has a body of—”

He shut up.

And I thought maybe his daily vocabulary was done for. But nope. Ever since I got married and marked Helanie, he hadn’t stopped yapping—as if he had woken up from a long slumber.

“Of course you saw it. What am I even talking about? You saw more than just her face once,” he continued, reminding me again why I felt so at peace when he was asleep.

“You’ve lost your mind. I was marrying Jessica, and I will—after Helanie rejects me.”

But saying that made me suddenly feel so low.

So, I poured myself another glass of wine—just to prove to my wolf that I wasn’t changing for Helanie.

She was my brother’s mate. And someone who annoyed me so much.

“Aha, and then you took online classes to learn how to crochet so you could fix her torn sweater. Did you tell her you didn’t get it mended outside, but sat in your room like a grandma and fixed it yourself?”

I had a fear that memory would be brought up.

I hissed at him for reminding me of that time. “You’re nasty. I did it because I didn’t want anyone to know I paid to fix a sweater for any woman. You know I don’t like anyone thinking—”

My explanation was cut short when my wolf started laughing loudly.

Oh, I hated him. He made my blood boil.

“Yeah, right. I mean, you could’ve just left her sweater in the woods,” he mumbled.

“I tore it, so I had to fix it,” I groaned, sitting back in the chair, already worried he’d bring up other stuff I really didn’t want to talk about.

“And what about the tattoos—”

That was it. I had to shut him down.

“Hush, before I put you to sleep by force.’

That threat always silenced him.

“You’re so mean. Let our wife come back—I’m gonna complain to her, and she’ll beat you up.”

Of course he had to get in one last hit before going quiet.

That’s when my phone started ringing. It was Jessica calling.

“You know what? Watch me flirt with the one I will marry,” I said as I picked up the phone.

“What is it, Jessica?” I asked, then groaned. Why couldn’t I sound normal?

“Where’s Helanie? I’ve been trying her phone, but she’s not responding,” she asked, and I shot up from my seat, panic already settling in my chest.

“She went to the carnival. Rudy’s pack—the Hollow Mist pack,” I said, more to remind myself that it was fine. It’s fine. Maybe she’s just busy.

“Norman… Did you just say the Hollow Mist pack? As in Rudy’s—”

She paused, swore, then shouted.

“Fucking hell, no! Do you know who he is?”

The panic in her voice told me Rudy wasn’t just some academy student.

“Tell me. Now.” I gulped, already grabbing my keys.

“Norman—Rudy is the stepbrother of Rhiz. They barely ever talk about each other because of their differences, but Rhiz stays in that pack.”

She grunted, and I swear my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

“We better hurry. I have a really bad feeling about this.”

I hung up and immediately tried calling Helanie, but just like Jessica had said, her phone was out of reach. I guessed—for the safety of the guests and the pack—they had disabled all connections, even the internet.

“Maximus! Kaye! Emmet!” I ran out of my room, yelling their names.

“What’s wrong?” Maximus was the first to emerge, looking disheveled, like he was going through something of his own. He looked… drunk.

“Helanie is in—”

I didn’t even finish when Maximus rushed downstairs.

“Danger? Trouble? Stress? What?” he asked, not wasting time, like he already knew we’d be hitting the road soon.

“Rudy has a stepbrother—how the hell was that not disclosed in his documents?” I snapped, glaring at Kaye, who was already hurrying toward me to follow.

Emmet came out wearing a shirt he was still buttoning up.

“What about him? Tell me!” Kaye insisted as we headed for the cars.

He’s Rhiz.