CHAPTER 647: 647-A GENTLE REMINDER, I AM MARRIED

Helanie:

Maximus had been in pain the minute the clock struck midnight. But he was holding back the transition, for our sake. I could only imagine the pain he must’ve been in the whole time. But we only took two minutes to mark Emmet. In the next two minutes, I would have marked Kaye, and then we were going to lock Maximus in the cage for the rest of the night, while we stayed in the basement with him this time.

This was our way of showing the Moon Goddess that her curse could never separate us. But now it was all ruined.

"I must take him out," Norman said, holding Maximus, letting us know the plan had changed. If he transformed here, he would attack us.

"I’m here with her," I heard Emmet say from behind me, reassuring his brothers who were concerned at the turn of events. Kaye had acted so quickly that we weren’t left with the choice but to change our plans. And the fact that he got himself out of those chains surprised me the most. He really wanted me dead, didn’t he?

The need in Norman’s eyes to stay with me, and the guilt in Maximus’s eyes for not being able to because of the curse, crushed my heart.

"Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. There are two of us here. You need to take care of him," I told Norman, almost yelling, while Kaye started chuckling. Norman nodded and ran out with Maximus, while Kaye began to steady himself again.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Look at you," Kaye kept chuckling while grabbing the sedatives from the bag we had saved for emergencies. "Hiding with my brother." He pointed at his chest, stressing the word ’my’.

"Kaye, you don’t want to hurt her," Emmet said. He was fully himself again, stepping out from behind me and putting his body between us. I could fight Kaye, I just didn’t want to.

But if it came down to just the two of us, I would defend myself with everything I had.

"Brother, what do you even know about what I want? Do you even know why she has to die? She’s not one of us. She’s a traitor," Kaye said that word again, making my brows knit together. I didn’t understand what he was trying to say, or what the curse was doing to him.

"It doesn’t matter who she is," Emmet shrugged. "You could tell me she’s anti-werewolf, I’d still protect her." Emmet reached for the cage, and I held his arm. I saw Kaye glance at my hand, then groan.

"Step away from my brother!" he screamed, charging at the cage and grabbing the bars, shaking the entire thing. It was a huge cage, designed like a birdcage but big enough to fit all of us inside.

"I’ll be fine. All I need to do is pin him down so you can mark him," Emmet whispered to me, gently holding my hand and then pulling his arm free to leave the cage. I let him go, because we couldn’t stay in the cage forever.

The moment Emmet took the key from me and opened the cage, Kaye rushed forward but got pushed back by Emmet.

In the next few seconds, the two started throwing each other around. Kaye seemed unstoppable, and Emmet had been in this cage too long, unable to connect with his wolf. He wasn’t weak, but I could tell every move he made was careful, not meant to actually hurt his brother.

"Kaye," Emmet hissed, grabbing his collar, "you’ll regret it once you break free from the curse and realize who you hurt." Emmet began using his words to get through to him. I noticed him slowly move one of his hands down, trying to grab the sedatives from Kaye.

"Or maybe I’ll celebrate getting rid of this traitor from our world," Kaye hissed back, yanking his arm away, making it clear he knew what Emmet was trying to do.

"But I won’t let you do that," Emmet yelled, this time shoving him hard enough to knock the sedative out of his hand. Emmet snatched it up, but the next time Kaye got up, he rushed past Emmet and toward the stairs.

"I’ll come back, Blondie. You’re dying by my hands," I heard Kaye snicker before disappearing upstairs. Emmet chased after him while I stayed behind.

"I need to go see what’s going on," I told my wolf, who was already standing with me, just in case Kaye was hiding somewhere in the mansion, ready to attack.

’Not going to lie, every time our mates didn’t recognize us, it hurt. But Kaye wanting to kill me, that hits different. It feels like I don’t matter at all,’ Cora told me how she felt as I ran upstairs.

’That’s his curse. You know Kaye would never hurt us,’ I reminded her. The real Kaye would die for us, not kill us. But when we got upstairs, reality hit. Kaye was gone, and who knew when he would come back– or how he’d try to kill me.

Emmet came back after a few hours, looking defeated. He was a mess, covered in blood and scratches.

"Kaye did that?" I was in shock. The curse had taken over so badly that he actually hurt his brother. And that’s why Emmet couldn’t stop him, he wasn’t even trying to fight back. When one person refuses to attack, the chances of winning are low. That’s how I knew– our Emmet was truly back.

"Are you okay—" he barely got the words out before I rushed forward, wrapped my arms around his neck, and hugged him tightly, surprising him.

"I missed you so much," I cried, refusing to let him go. Slowly, gently, he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me back.

"I never thought you’d miss me," he said softly. I started to slide my hands from his neck to his chest, resting my face there.

The soft silence while he held me tightly started to stir strange feelings inside me, so I knew I had to break the hug and step away from him.