Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates

Helanie:

"Gather everything you can so the fire gets stronger," I told Jenny and Lucy.

Penn was out in the backyard fighting the zharns and the monsters, along with Lamar and Gavin.

They were shocked when they saw me, but they were all happy. I hadn't come across Kaye and Norman yet. I didn't know where they were.

Lucy gave me a nod and grabbed the sheets from the guest room, carrying them outside to start a quick fire. Emmet and Maximus were fighting the monsters, keeping them away from the garden where we were building the fire.

The weather had turned so bad we worried it would be hard to get the fire going, or even to start it. It had started to rain, with thunder and everything.

I held my phone and dialed Kaye's number.

"Hello?" Kaye answered, almost instantly.

"Kaye!" His name was all I could utter before worrying for him.

"Helanie?" he said, sounding shocked. "You're back?" he asked, and I grinned wide with tears in my eyes.

"I'm back. We've done it. Emmet is fine, and before you ask about the poison, the poison was released in the other dream. I'll tell you everything later. Right now we're starting a fire," I said, then ran toward the door.

We had opened the second floor, the warriors and a lot of maids were with my babies, but they'd woken and were crying.

The thunder was so loud and the wind banging against the windows was terrifying. It felt like something out of a nightmare.

"Okay, okay, but why are you starting a fire?" Kaye asked. I heard him grunt and groan. He was fighting wherever he was.

"It's that we're going to set the gray woman on fire. She might be the only one left," I said, though I wasn't sure.

"All right. I'm at the hospital. Can you please hurry? The monsters are attacking from every side, they seem off, no rhythm left, moving without anyone guiding them," Kaye explained, which made me frown.

Maybe I was right. Maybe the father was dead. I had the sense because of how the gray woman had talked about how important it was for his children to survive, otherwise he would fade away.

It gave me the impression he might no longer be there.

"They're attacking my mom," I uttered to Kaye, already realizing why the zharns and the other monsters had turned toward the hospital.

"Don't worry, you just need to hurry," he said.

"Is Norman with you?" I asked, panicking as we rushed outside and saw how bad the wind and rain were.

The gray woman was tied to a tree, her mouth shut and her fingers clenched together. She kept trying to get out of the restraints, and tears kept spilling from her eyes.

"I don't know, he went to find the father," Kaye announced. As soon as he said that I groaned.

"What?" I couldn't hide the shock.

"I'll talk to you later," I said, and cut the call. I set the phone in my pocket. Everything was water right now, it looked like it might flood or that something worse was coming.

"You guys, can you get something big to cover an area while we start a fire underneath it?" I asked. Lucy and Jenny thought for a second, then nodded.

"How about the big door? We can pull it out and hold it above your head while you start the fire," Jenny suggested. I looked at the huge entrance door. That would do.

"Let's go. Let's break it down," I ordered as the three of us rushed toward the main gate.

I could see Emmet and Maximus outside the door. The door could no longer close, so it was better to take it off the hinges.

Suddenly someone else arrived and I stopped, dead in my tracks. It was Norman. He looked like a mess, puffed up and torn, like he'd just survived a huge battle.

He rushed to me with wide eyes and hugged me tightly.

"You did it," he whispered, kissing my cheek before pulling back and scanning the yard. His gaze landed on his two brothers.

"You guys did it!" Norman yelled. Emmet stopped fighting long enough to spin around and shout, "Yeah, you rushed past us. We saw it," he complained playfully, until a zharn attacked him and he turned back to fight.

"I'll tell you everything later. We need to get this door off the hinges," I said to Norman, and he nodded. He wasn't wearing a shirt and there were scratches all over his body.

He took the door off the hinges with surprising ease and rushed in the direction I pointed.

"What are we doing?" he asked, and his eyes flicked to the gray woman tied to the tree. He understood.

"We're going to set her on fire," I said, nodding in small movements to steady myself.

"Why?" Norman asked, confused.

"Because I think the father might be dead. I'm not sure," I answered. He nodded hard the instant I said it.

"He's dead," Norman confirmed. Jenny and Lucy looked at me with pride, impressed I had guessed it.

"I was right there," Norman added, which only confused us more.

"What were you doing there?" I groaned, slapping his chest because it sounded like he had gone alone.

"Why the heck did you fucking go alone?" I muttered.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you later. Let's start the fire, she seems to be the only one who can control the weather and the monsters now," Norman explained, and we began to lift the door.

Norman, Jenny, and Lucy held it up while Maximus and Emmet came over to help.

"It's getting uncontrollable. We can't keep fighting those monsters. They just keep coming out of the earth. One minute they're dead, the next they're reborn," Emmet said as he steadied the door. Maximus and I moved to start the fire.

"Then we'll do whatever we can to stop it," I said. We'd tried to tie the gray woman to a tree where she wouldn't get too wet, but it was raining.

Of course she was soaked now. Maximus grabbed her and pulled her under the door.

"Okay, now we'll wrap her in the new sheet," he suggested.

"How are we going to start a fire?" I asked. Emmet slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle of alcohol, then offered a quick, guilty apology.

"I grabbed it to celebrate when I ran to my room," he muttered, biting his tongue as I glared.

"Yeah, you're sleeping on the couch," Maximus hissed at him. We were all hyped and panicking, but Maximus still managed to make jokes.