Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates
Chapter 724-Goodbye Sweet Mates

Chapter 724: 724-Goodbye Sweet Mates

Helanie:

I ran to my mother’s room, the one near the garden side. From there, I could hear people chattering outside.

"Where is McQuoid? How could he let a mermaid stay among us for so long?" someone complained, probably Jessica’s father.

"And that same mermaid is the reason my son is dead," he added, justifying his son’s actions against me because I was a mermaid now.

"Mom, we can’t grab our stuff," I said to my mother, watching her stare out the window with tears in her eyes. She was peeking through the curtains, silently watching people hate us.

"If you want, we can hide somewhere until Mr. McQuoid is back, so you can have one last word with him," I said to my mother, holding her hand to comfort her.

But she began to shake her head.

"We don’t have time for this. I don’t want to put him through all this. These people will question him if he takes my side. And at his age, I don’t want him to deal with more shit. He is a nice man, Helanie. A very kind and gentle man. And although I will miss him forever, it’s also true that we cannot stay here. I won’t jeopardize your life anymore just because I’m selfish enough to want one last word with him. If he truly loves me, if he’s on my side, he’ll understand."

She gave me a look, confident and bold. I laughed softly for her, but the fact that she was once again losing the love of her life because I was exposed for who I truly was made me feel incredibly guilty.

"Now let’s go," she said.

She held my hand and started to run toward the door, just as Maximus barged in.

"Son, I have been very nice to you," she said to Maximus, showing him her palm. "But please, don’t make me and my daughter wait here. I don’t want her to die," she said, looking him straight in the eyes.

"But we’ll take care of her," Maximus tried to reason, but my mother began shaking her head.

"No. You cannot do this. You cannot fight everyone. I saw what happened when I was caught, and that was just a few people. Now the entire werewolf community knows, and they’ll be after her," she said.

While she was speaking to Maximus, I began to hear a voice from outside.

"Everybody just calm the fuck down!" Dalton shouted.

"Why are you shouting at us? Aren’t you angry too? You were crucified as a coward for a mermaid!" someone yelled from the crowd.

"A mermaid? She’s a fucking being. She has her own identity. Why does it matter who she is? She has been kinder to us, even after what we’ve done. That should have been us. She is not a monster. She’s a creature like us with her own identity. She’s part werewolf. You don’t understand that? She’s the most powerful one among us. With her on our side, don’t you see it’s more beneficial than harmful?" Dalton shouted.

I was stunned that he was standing up for me.

"Come on, alpha boy, she rejected you. We all know how you tail around her and she ignores you," said Jessica’s father.

"Really? You’re going to talk now? Just because she turned out to be a mermaid, suddenly your son is the victim? No. He was a fucking monster, and he’ll stay a monster," Dalton screamed. "And no, I won’t let anyone go in there. And if you must, then you must fight me," he hissed.

That’s when my attention shifted back to Maximus.

"We will not let anything happen to her, but you cannot take our mate from us," he said.

My mother stepped aside to give them space. At the same time, Emmet, Kaye, and Norman were at the door, while their mother screamed from the back, trying to call the warriors to stop us. I guessed Dalton was still blocking the door outside, but how long could he keep it that way?

"You want bloodshed to happen? This is not how I want my daughter to survive here. Always in constant fear of someone attacking her," my mother said.

"But I will let her make the decision," my mother said, looking at me. Now all eyes were on me.

"I don’t want to stay here. Not like this. And it’s not like I’m leaving the world. I’ll be in my land. I will see you all again. But at the same time, please, please don’t stop me. Don’t make me stay here. I don’t want to," I said in the most broken voice.

I watched my mates look completely defeated.

"That is your decision?" Maximus asked, tears in his eyes.

"Yes," I uttered, unable to even look him in the eye.

Then they started to make way for me, because they realized there was no stopping me anymore. It broke my heart, because I truly wanted to stay with them. I was so happy with them. But my life was not all rainbows and laughter. I had to take this step for my mother, and even for myself, right now. I needed to be a little away from them to get my thoughts together.

My mother held my hand and started to walk me through them.

"We need to go and stop them from coming inside," Maximus said to his brothers, who reluctantly walked away. I guessed they probably wanted to stay and watch me change my mind, but that was not happening.

And just like that, my mother and I ran out from the back door. However, just when I was outside, I heard someone come after me.

"Helanie, please give me a chance," I heard Emmet say. But it was too late. The decision had been made.

We were leaving, and I knew wherever he went, his mother would follow. So it wouldn’t be long before she came and caught us, so we did not stop.

Eventually, he stopped because his brother started to call for help. They were buying us time, so I was not going to stand there and talk to Emmet while the others were fighting for my escape. Even when they were upset, they helped me, buying me time.

And then the mansion started to look smaller and smaller. We were rushing forward. It was winter, so with the clothes we had on, our bodies were getting cold.

But it didn’t matter. We had to escape, or else they would catch us.

My mother held my hand tightly while I had tears in my eyes, thinking I was leaving my mates with their mates, and that they would probably form a connection. That was so hard for me.