Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates novel Chapter 657

Chapter 657: 657-Only Helanie Matters

Emmet:

The look Helanie gave me broke my heart. I understood her feelings. It’s not easy to watch your mate’s first love return, especially the same person because of whom your mate missed his wedding.

But the truth ran deeper than that.

I was happy Azura was back. I still had many feelings for her, but the moment I hugged Azura and looked at Helanie at the same time, I realized my feelings for Azura were more like the care friends have for each other. But with Helanie— I was deeply in love with her.

Part of the reason I felt so relieved was because I got to kiss Helanie before Azura returned, the one I had blamed myself for losing, the one whose death I thought was on my hands.

Obviously, no one would understand me right now. To them, I must seem thrilled that I finally got to be with Azura again but I was finally free of the guilt of her death.

I returned to my room and picked my clothes up from the floor, setting hers aside as well.

"So you’ve moved on?" she asked. I knew this would come up.

"Azura, you were gone. Even then, you knew I would. And Helanie is my fated mate. It’s not just the bond, we’ve made a connection, and it’s true that I fell deeply in love with her," I said honestly. I didn’t want to give Azura the wrong idea, because I still cared about her.

"Really? Back then, you told me you would love me forever. Was that a lie?" she asked, repeating the same argument again, tilting her head, her eyes filling with tears. "I came back for you, Emmet. I went through life and death for you, only to return and find you in love with someone who’s married to your brother?"

Her words made me clench my jaw and close my eyes, though she couldn’t see that, because I still had my back turned to her.

"And you know it was you who brought me back. So what is all this now? You’re going to just throw me out of your life? It’s been years, Emmet. I don’t even know how to start living if I can’t depend on you," she cried, and when her voice broke, I finally turned to look at her.

"Azura, why are you thinking so far ahead? You’re here now, and I’m here too. Please stop worrying," I said, going to sit beside her on the bed to comfort her.

But she immediately rested her head on my chest and started sobbing uncontrollably.

"After I was brought back, I was captured by the Zharns. I don’t know why they didn’t eat me, but they took me to their father," her voice broke several times, hiccups making it hard for her to finish a sentence.

"Father? As in Rune?" I asked. She lifted her head from my chest, looking confused.

"No! The old man," she whispered, and my eyes narrowed as I stared at her.

Of course, that wasn’t really why I was leaving. I needed to find Helanie and talk to her. The longer I stayed in this room with Azura, the more Helanie’s mind would twist it into something it wasn’t.

"Okay," she nodded before lying down on the bed. As I tucked the blanket around her, I realized just how messy this was going to get. My prayers from years ago had worked, she was back, but now she had to watch me fall for my fated mate.

How cruel could life be, truly?

I left the room and had just made it to the living room when I heard Helanie already fuming.

"I don’t want to talk about Emmet right now," she hissed at Maximus, arms crossed over her chest, looking so adorably stubborn.

"What if Emmet wants to talk to you?" I asked, and noticed her body flinch just a little before she straightened her spine. freewёbnoνel.com

"Azura was being held captive by the father of the evil organization," I said. As soon as the words left my mouth, Helanie’s posture softened. She turned to me and gave me a quiet, gentle look.

"There’s more information about the X Codex. But I’ll only share it with Helanie –alone. So the choice is hers now: does she want to know the details, or not?" I asked, watching her frown and shift in place while Maximus looked between the two of us.

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