Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates - Chapter 541

Chapter 541: 541-Suddenly So Shy
Helanie:

I woke up in the guest room, feeling fresh as I hadn’t thought about everything for hours. At times, I just wish I could sleep a lot so I wouldn’t have to face the harsh world.

However, I thought I was waking up alone—but nope!

In the corner of the room, the comfortable chair where I used to sit and read was occupied by a big figure. I didn’t have to look too hard to recognize him.

It was Norman.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, rubbing my eyes and keeping my tone sharp with him.

He raised his head from the back of the chair and then groaned, stretching while getting up. I looked away. I just did.

‘He is just stretching. If you were a man, you’d have a big boner right now,’ my wolf made me roll my eyes at her.

She was making everything sound sexual just to annoy me.

“You were sleeping here,” he replied as he walked over to the switchboard but waited so I could give him the go-ahead before he turned on the light.

I fixed my shirt and then gave him a nod, so he switched the light on.

“Why are you sleeping here?” he asked, slowly sitting at the edge of the bed.

“Oh, I thought you and Jessica would want to spend time together so I—did you two spend time together?” I asked, feeling like such a sneaky bitch.

Why would it matter to me if he was talking with her or not?

“Yeah, we did,” he looked down and scratched the back of his neck.

“Hmm,” I didn’t have anything else to say to him but this, “then why did you come here? You should have stayed in your room.”

I didn’t try to sound too harsh or—

‘Jealous?’ Cora snickered.

‘No! That’s weird.’

“But you were here,” Norman got up from the bed to walk behind me.

“You don’t have to follow me like an obedient child, you know,” I grunted at him, not knowing why I was being so annoyed with him.

I didn’t want to see his face, but if he walked away, I would’ve been angry too.

“I’m heading to the bedroom,” he replied as he kept following me. We reached his bedroom and I was hit with another awkward situation.

The whole furniture and decor were replaced because I freaking broke the old stuff.

“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have—,” I instantly turned around, thinking he would be upset.

Norman was known to be very aggressive and always grumpy. However, the way he shrugged and walked over to his closet made me wonder if he even cared.

“It was just furniture anyway. Emmet has good taste,” he praised his brother while I kept staring at his face.

I didn’t want to remind him since it wasn’t my place, but the furniture he didn’t care about was Jessica’s choice.

“Anyway, I have a few questions to ask you,” he changed the topic while picking up a shirt from the closet.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Why not take off the pendant already? Your pheromones are gone,” he said, making me look down at the pendant on my neck.

“I keep thinking about it myself. All it needed was for someone to mark me? Could it have been anyone?” I asked him, but more like to myself.

“Well, maybe,” Norman shrugged.

“What about you?” I asked and raised my head again to watch him frown at me.

“What about me?” he pouted, watching my face to figure out what I was trying to ask.

“Why can’t you feel a mate bond?” My question was definitely not what he expected. He looked slightly caught off guard. But then he straightened up and walked over to sit down on the couch in front of me.

“You know about my heart—I have four heartbeats—it’s not easy for my heart to feel anything. It just doesn’t work normally,” he said under his breath, not able to hold eye contact with me.

“And not many people know about it. But your mother does—” I realized why she instantly knew we were lying about the mate bond thing.

“Yeah,” he shrugged.

“Why?” I asked, and he smiled.

“She’s my mother, she knows about me,” he answered with a laugh.

“No, I mean, why do you have four heartbeats? I don’t remember you telling me what exactly happened. How did you end up with—four heartbeats?” It sounded crazy to even say it out loud.

I was genuinely curious to know the story behind his heart.

“I was born this way,” he said, which made me frown and shake my head.

“If you don’t want to tell me the truth, you can just say so. You don’t have to lie about it,” I snapped, placing my hands on my waist.

In a very calm and annoying tone, Norman replied, “Fine.”

I sat up straight, thinking he’d finally share it with me, when he let me down with what he said next.

“I don’t want to tell you.”

I narrowed my eyes and raised my hand to slap his chest, but I stopped halfway. He didn’t flinch at all. But that’s not why I stopped. My eyes were on his chest.

Instead of slapping him, I gently placed my hand on his chest to listen to his heartbeats.

He lowered his head to stare at my hand and then looked up to meet my eyes.

Our eye contact held as I kept listening to his heartbeats—it was kind of scary.

Somehow, from hearing his heartbeat to feeling his chest, my hand slowly moved toward the opening of his shirt.

I was struggling inside, trying to pull my hand back, but I didn’t. Instead, I slid my hand under his shirt and toward his heart. My body felt the heat from his skin.

His jaw clenched, but he didn’t seem angry at me. His hand rose and gently held my arm, rubbing it until his hand reached my shoulder.

He then moved it back to where my hand was on his chest and started to unbutton his shirt.

As soon as I saw him do that, I snapped out of it and pulled back.

“Umm—yeah, four heartbeats,” I looked away as I spoke. He got up quickly too.

“I’m unbuttoning my shirt so I can change,” he explained in an awkward tone.