Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates-Chapter 678-He Is The Pied Piper?

Helanie:

I just knew it was my husband calling me. It was like an intuition. In the last few days, whenever Emmet and I got closer, especially after that night, somehow Norman would find out. He’d start blowing up my phone like clockwork.

Emmet pulled away, but he looked much calmer now.

"Hey, babe," I answered the call, walking steadily toward the window and staring out at the backyard. There wasn’t much to see, just a small yard we never really used.

"I hope everything went well today," Norman said, sounding exhausted.

"Yeah, it did. Diaz is suffering, and that made my day," I replied with a deep breath. "How are you? You sound exhausted."

"That’s because I am. Sleeping with you helps, you know."

I knew exactly what he meant. I nodded to myself, biting my bottom lip awkwardly. And here I was, thinking about how to tell him that Emmet and I had escalated our intimacy the other night.

"How’s the academy?" I asked, watching as Emmet walked toward the bathroom. I took a deep breath and tried to relax my muscles. For some reason, whenever I talked to Norman while Emmet was in the room, or even nearby, I felt this weird guilt. Even when I shouldn’t.

"It’s good. Actually, I’m calling to ask you something," he said, and I immediately knew where this conversation was headed.

"Sure, speak your mind," I said, half-teasing, but with a knot of fear forming in my chest.

"If it were someone other than your mate, I would’ve felt it. But because it’s Emmet– I can’t sense the—you know." He paused, unable to finish the sentence. I could tell it wasn’t easy for him to say the words.

And that alone made me feel some kind of way.

There was no way I could lie to him, not now. He had asked directly, and avoiding the question would only hurt him more. So I had to tell the truth.

If he were in front of me right now, I was sure he’d be staring straight into my eyes, silently urging me to confess. I was breathing steadily, not wanting to lose my breaths. I needed strength to confess to him. Even when I have told him already that it would be my and Emmet’s decisions, I was somewhat still ashamed of going against his desires.

"Norman, do you really want to know?" I asked, shaking my head slightly, uncertain how this would end.

"Yeah, Helanie. I want to know. And something tells me there’s something I should know, otherwise you wouldn’t be asking me if I’m sure of my question." Suddenly, he didn’t sound tired anymore. He sounded upset. Maybe even hurt.

"I just want to understand what’s going on between you brothers. Since when did you start thinking differently about Emmet? You’ve never had an issue sharing me with Maximus and Kaye," I asked seriously. I needed to understand.

Because if this was about jealousy, or things being too crowded, it didn’t make sense.

Why kick out just one of them?

"Helanie, did you two or not?" he asked more sternly this time, clearly determined to get an answer and not talk about anything else.

Taking a deep breath, I understood the severity of the situation, but I had to be honest with him.

"We did have sex the other night—" I stopped mid-sentence when I heard him grunt.

"Norman, he’s also my mate. I just think it’s not fair, because Maximus already told him that we had made this decision—" I started rambling, trying to explain, when he interrupted me.

"I understand," he said.

His voice had changed so much that I began to worry.

"Do you really?" I asked, uncertain if he meant it.

"I need to rest," he replied, and I closed my eyes to swallow the tears welling up. I felt like such a bitch trying to do the right thing but somehow still hurting someone I loved. They were the ones who wanted to share me, and now it felt like they were drawing boundaries on my body.

I would never sleep with anyone outside of the mate bond. But being restricted within a mate bond, after everything, felt unfair. And I couldn’t even express that properly right now.

I was feeling really terrible. It felt like I had broken Norman’s heart. He had never truly received love in his life, and I always wanted to be the one who gave him that love, someone he could trust. And now, it felt like I had broken that trust.

"Helanie, I understand. Trust me. It’s not your fault, okay? I’m just honestly tired. But I’ll talk to you soon," he said, his tone shifting again after realizing I had gone silent.

"Okay! please rest well," I whispered.

"Hey? Don’t be sad. Eat something and go to bed. Very soon, you’ll be back in my arms," he added, trying hard to sound like he wasn’t bothered, and that irked me. He had every right to be upset. I felt like such a brat.

A very guilty one.

"Okay! love you," I mumbled, closing my eyes when the silence lingered.

"I love you too," he finally said, and then the call ended.

I stared at my phone screen. I had been starving before the call, but now I wasn’t sure I could even stomach anything. I missed him more than ever.

That’s when Emmet walked out of the bathroom, wearing only a pair of shorts, a towel in one hand as he dried his hair. But what caught my attention was the phone in his other hand, and the stunned, confused expression on his face. He had stopped drying altogether.

"What is it?" I asked, already getting a sinking feeling. That look on his face—something had happened.

"Remember that dust we sent out for testing?" he asked slowly, his voice distant and careful as he raised his eyes from the phone screen.

"The lab ran STR profiling and cross-referenced it with known DNA databases. It came back with a 99.98% match to—" he paused dramatically, and I gulped.

"Altan."

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