Free Web NovelChapter 76: Chapter 76 Losing Her
Ryder’s POV
I’m angry.
That’s the first thing I register when I finally stop pretending I’m fine.
But it isn’t the kind of anger that needs a target. It doesn’t want to lash out or break something or scream at the sky. It turns inward instead towards myself, sharp and corrosive, eating straight through my ribs.
I’m angry at myself.
Because Jade’s silence scares me more than her rage ever did.
When she used to snap back, glare, argue, at least I knew where I stood. At least the bond moved. It pulled. It resisted. It fought. Now it just... stretches. Thins. Like a thread pulled too tight between two fingers, trembling, one breath away from snapping completely.
I feel it constantly now. That wrongness. That hollow pressure in my chest where certainty used to live.
Linda doesn’t seem to notice.
She sticks close all day, orbiting us like nothing is wrong. Between classes, she falls into step beside us, chatting about assignments, about how she’s still a little sore but “much better now,” about how nice it is to be back at school.
She laughs softly at things that aren’t funny.
She asks if we’re okay.
Not once does she ask about Jade.
Not once.
It grates on me in a way I can’t explain. Crawls under my skin, makes my wolf bristle uneasily. I keep waiting for her to say the name. To acknowledge the absence hanging over us like a storm cloud.
She never does.
And the more she talks, the more it feels like she’s filling space that shouldn’t be empty. Like she’s stepping into a silence that doesn’t belong to her.
By the time noon rolls around, I can’t ignore it anymore.
Jade still hasn’t shown up.
I see it on Renzo’s face, how his jaw stays clenched, how his eyes keep scanning the halls like he’s expecting her to materialize out of thin air. Ronan’s quieter than usual, shoulders tense, gaze distant, like he’s listening to something none of us can hear.
Our wolves are pacing inside us.
Not restless.
Panicked.
Something is wrong.
Not small wrong. Not inconvenient wrong.
Bad wrong.
I’m the one who snaps first.
“I’m done,” I say abruptly, stopping short in the hallway.
Renzo turns to me. Ronan does too. They don’t ask what I mean. They already know.
I don’t explain to Linda. I don’t soften it. I don’t wait for permission.
I turn and start running.
Out of the school. Out of the building. Out of patience, out of excuses, out of the fragile lie we’ve been telling ourselves that Jade just needed space.
My brothers follow without hesitation.
The air burns in my lungs as we cut through the gates, our strides long and reckless. Students shout after us. Teachers call our names. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
I don’t slow down.
The first place we go, the place we should’ve gone immediately since morning, is the walking route Jade used to take when she didn’t have a ride.
We ran.
Past the corner shop. Along the narrower road where the pavement cracks and weeds grow through. The stretch where the trees lean in close enough to cast shadows even at midday.
We ask everyone.
Shop owners. Passersby. A woman sweeping dust from her storefront. A man leaning against a wall smoking.
No one knows her name.
Some squint, thinking. Some shake their heads apologetically.
Others laugh.
“Jade Knight the traitor’s daughter?” one man says with a sneer, like it’s a joke. “Yeah, saw her earlier.”
I don’t even remember moving.
One second he’s standing there smirking, the next I’ve got him by the collar, fist drawn back, wolf roaring so loud it drowns out everything else.
Ronan’s hands lock around my arms, hauling me back just in time. Renzo steps between us, eyes blazing.
The man stumbles away, suddenly very sober.
My heart is pounding too hard. My hands are shaking. Rage and fear twist together until I can’t tell them apart.
We keep going.
The longer we walk, the worse it gets. Every step feels heavier. Every unanswered question presses down harder.
Then I reach for my phone.
The thought comes sharp and sudden, Show them her picture, they might recognize her then.
I fumble it out, already unlocking the screen, thumb moving on instinct.
And then I freeze.
There’s nothing.
No photo.
Not a single picture of Jade.
I have no photo of her.
I scroll faster, panic blooming like fire in my veins. Messages. Group chats. Random screenshots. Pictures of pack events. Linda. Each other.
But not her.
My breath stutters.
Renzo notices. “What?”
“We....” My voice cracks. I swallow hard. “We don’t have one.”
Silence drops between us.
Not one photo.
Not one moment captured. No proof she was ever really ours.
The realization hits like a punch to the gut. Panic spikes, sharp and blinding. We stand there, suddenly aware of how unprepared we are, how little we truly know.
So we describe her instead.
Dark hair.
Quiet eyes.
School uniform.
It feels inadequate. Wrong. Like we’re sketching a shadow and calling it a person.
Like we never really saw her at all.
We’re about to move on when an elderly man steps forward slowly, leaning on a cane. He studies our faces for a long moment, eyes sharp beneath the weight of age.
“A young lady collapsed here earlier,” he says.
My blood runs cold.
“When?” I demand.
“Some time ago. She looked exhausted. Couldn’t stand.” He pauses. “An ambulance took her.”
The world tilts.
“What hospital?” Renzo asks, voice tight, barely holding together.
The man tells us.
And then we’re running.
No talking.
No thinking.
Just raw, desperate motion. Wolves surging to the surface, pushing our bodies harder than they should go. My lungs burn, legs screaming, but I don’t slow down.
Fear drowns everything else.
At the hospital, we burst through the doors like lunatics.
We demand to see Jade. Shout her name. Draw stares. The nurse at the desk stiffens, eyes flicking between us, then widening with recognition.
A doctor comes out moments later, his expression calm but alert.
“Sons of the Alpha,” he says, nodding. “What brings you here?.”
“She’s ours, Jade Knight” Renzo says immediately, voice rough. “She’s our mate. Where is she?”
The doctor studies us for a second longer, then gestures for us to breathe.
“She’s stable,” he says. “She collapsed from exhaustion. Severe fatigue. Dehydration.”
Relief hits me so fast my knees almost buckle.
“Please don’t stress her,” the doctor adds gently. “She needs care. Rest. Especially now.”
Renzo frown. “Escpecially now?”
The doctor’s voice is calm when he says it. Almost casual.
“She’s pregnant.”
The world tilts completely.
I look at my brothers.
Pregnant?!!!
