Free Web NovelChapter 15: Chapter 15 A Target on My Back
Jade’s POV
I woke up before the sun even thought about rising, the sky still that dark bluish gray that makes everything feel colder. My eyes felt puffy and dry, like they’d forgotten how to blink. I hadn’t slept much, every time I drifted off, my mind replayed last night again and again like a cruel loop I couldn’t escape.
A soft clatter came from the corner of the room.
I pushed myself out of bed just in time to see my mum nearly flying out the front door, hair hastily tied, apron half on.
“Mum?” My voice croaked.
She turned, already halfway outside. “Baby, I’m late!” She blew me a kiss through the air. “I can’t afford to make them wait today, yesterday was too busy and today’s probably going to be no different!”
And with that, she sprinted off in the direction of the Alpha’s mansion.
I stood there in the doorway as the early morning chill pressed against my skin. They worked her so hard. And she still smiled at me every morning. Still rushed to make sure we survived another month. Still held her head up even when people whispered about her husband behind her back.
It had been one day since my eighteenth birthday.
One day since my wolf awakened.
One day since the mating bond appeared.... and the triplets turned away from me like I didn’t exist.
One day since I became the pack’s favorite joke. Again.
After Mr. Valerio dropped me off that night, I didn’t step outside at all. I couldn’t. The humiliation sat too deep in my bones, and my wolf wasn’t helping.
They ignored us, she kept whispering.
They ran to her... not to us.
I miss him. I miss them.
The ache that came with her voice was unbearable.
I shook my head and forced myself to move. I couldn’t hide inside forever. Today was a school day, and missing it wasn’t an option, not when my mother nearly crippled herself every day working in that mansion so I could have at least this one thing, school.
I grabbed a bucket and stepped outside to fetch water from the tap beside the shed. The cold water stung my hands awake. I took a bath quickly, letting the icy shock snap me out of my thoughts for a second or two.
But as soon as I stepped back into the room, reality returned.
I scanned my little pile of folded clothes on the rickety table. That was when I saw it.
The red dress.
I lifted it gently, the memory of that night flickering through my mind, Mr Valerio’s calm smile, the way he said your father was a good friend of mine.
My dad. My father who was killed and branded a traitor.
When he died, all the people he called friends turned their backs on us. Some even spat on my mother’s feet. Everyone acted like we carried a sickness. Like speaking to us would infect them. freewebnoveℓ.com
But Valerio obviously didn’t. He didn’t look at me with pity or disgust. He didn’t accuse me. He didn’t judge me. He helped me. He saw me.
As I folded the dress carefully and set it aside, something else on the bed caught my eye.
Ryder’s coat.
Still damp.stained from the water poured on me. Still smelling faintly like him like crisp pine and winter wind.
My wolf’s breath hitched inside me.
I miss him, she whispered, voice trembling like she might cry. I miss them.
A sharp pain twisted in my chest.
“Shut up,” I muttered under my breath, pressing a hand to my sternum. “Just.... stop.”
But she didn’t. She only purred weakly, hurt, longing, wounded.
I shoved the coat away from me. I couldn’t afford to feel this. Not today. Not when my heart already felt like bruised fruit ready to split open.
I grabbed a pair of shorts and a hoodie. Something simple. Something forgettable. Something that made me invisible. I pulled the hoodie over my head and tugged the cap low enough to cover half my face.
I grabbed my old school bag and slung it over my shoulder.
Deep breath.
“Here goes nothing,” I whispered to myself.
Then I stepped out the door.
The walk to school felt longer than usual.
Every step made my stomach twist, like the universe was warning me to turn back. But my mother’s tired smile flashed in my mind, and I kept going. I couldn’t let her sacrifices be for nothing.
By the time the school building came into view, my palms were already sweating inside my hoodie sleeves. I pulled the hood lower over my face and squeezed my bag strap.
We’ll be fine, I whispered to myself.
But the moment I stepped into my classroom, I knew I had lied.
I barely made it two steps inside when a group of my classmates moved like a wall to block my path. Seven of them, four girls, three boys, faces plastered with amusement, like they’d been waiting for me since sunrise.
“Well, look who finally crawled out of her hole,” one of the girls sneered.
Another laughed. “Jade, you’re so brave for coming back here. If I got rejected in front of the whole pack like that, I would’ve changed towns.”
Heat crawled up my neck. I kept my gaze down, hoping they’d lose interest.
But of course, they didn’t.
“Guys, don’t be too harsh,” one of the boys said in a sickeningly sweet tone. “It’s not her fault she thought she could bag the future Alphas. A gold digger’s gotta dig, right?”
The group erupted into laughter.
My jaw clenched so tight it hurt.
I was tired.
So, so tired of all these.
But my wolf?
She was not having it.
How dare they mock us? she snarled, her voice vibrating through my skull. Let me out. I will tear their throats....
“No,” I whispered sharply under my breath. “Calm down.”
They insult you. They insult me, she growled. I will not tolerate....
“Please,” I begged her silently. “Please. I don’t want trouble.”
Another voice cut through the laughter, dripping with fake pity.
“Oh, you guys... leave the poor girl alone.”
I didn’t even need to look to know who it was.
Linda.
The crowd parted instantly, like she was royalty walking through her court. Because that’s what she thought she was, our dear princess of perfection.
Even my wolf purred angrily
Linda approached with her carefully crafted smile, the one that made everyone think she was an angel.
“You all should stop,” she said, resting a manicured hand against her chest. “I know she embarrassed herself at my birthday and awakening ceremony by shamelessly trying to steal my boys from me...”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“But we must still be kind to her,” she continued, voice dripping with fake grace. “Because not everyone is strong like I am and I don’t want her going to kill herself and ending up dead like her father" frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
“Ohhh, Linda, you’re so kind.”
“You’re really too generous.”
“You’re such an angel.”
Their admiration made me want to vomit. The gullibility of this entire school was pathetic.
Linda stepped closer to me, so close I could smell her perfume.
Her smile faltered for just a second as her voice dipped low enough for only me to hear.
“By the way,” she whispered, “since both our wolves are awakened now.... we’ll be attending the wolf combat and shapeshifting class today.”
My chest tightened.
“I can’t wait for it,” she continued, eyes gleaming with venom. “Guess who’s going to die in class today? Not intentionally, of course. Just from a little..... accident during combat.”
Her lips curled.
“You.”
