CHAPTER 3
1125 Words
Adah's POV
“Wake up Adha, you can overcome this,” a sweet and beautiful voice heard in my mind.
“Who are you?” I murmured slowly. As I looked around in the darkness, still figuring out where I was.
“I am your wolf, Ava,” she replied.
I was shocked for a second, my wolf. Do I have a wolf?
“Yes you have and this time I won't let anyone torment you.” With those words of hers, I felt like I could survive and fight back.
Just then cold water rushed into my lungs as I gasped, my body convulsing against the rocky surface beneath me. Pain shot through every limb, but I was alive. Somehow, impossibly alive.
"Adah! Oh my God, Adah!" Ms. Carter's voice cut through the roaring sound of the waterfall. Her hands pulled me up from the shallow pool at the base of the school's back waterfall, her face pale with terror.
"I saw you fall from the rooftop," she panted, helping me sit up against a large boulder. "The waterfall broke your fall, but you've been unconscious for twenty minutes. We need to get you to the hospital."
I coughed up water, my vision slowly clearing. The Castillo brothers had pushed me. I remembered Hayden's cold eyes as he yanked his arm away, letting me fall. The sound of Angela's laughter echoing as I plummeted toward what should have been my death.
"The boys," I croaked, my throat raw. "They—"
"Shh, don't talk yet," Ms. Carter soothed, wrapping her jacket around my shivering form. "Let's just focus on getting your help."
Tears I'd been holding back for days finally spilled over. "They hate me," I whispered. "The Castillo brothers, Angela... everyone. I don't know what I did wrong."
Ms. Carter's expression hardened. "Those boys have been bullying you?"
"It's not just bullying," I sobbed. "They tricked me into signing up for military boot camp. They're sabotaging my assignments, trying to drown me during swimming... and Angela—she was never really my friend. She set me up."
"That's enough," Ms. Carter said firmly. "This ends now. I'm reporting this to the administration."
"No!" I grabbed her arm, panic rising. "You don't understand. Their families... they have too much power. They'll just cover it up and make things worse for me."
Ms. Carter's jaw tightened. "Not if I have anything to say about it. There have been... irregularities I've been investigating. Financial discrepancies, preferential treatment for certain families. This school isn't as clean as it pretends to be."
She helped me stand, her hand warm and reassuring on my shoulder. "You're not alone in this, Adah. I promise you that."
For the first time in weeks, I felt a spark of hope. "Thank you," I whispered. "You saved me today. In more ways than one."
She smiled, the crow's feet around her eyes crinkling. "That's what teachers are for, sweetheart. Now go get some dry clothes, and we'll talk more tomorrow about what to do next."
But I never imagined that would be my last conversation with Ms. Carter. Three days later, I saw her again, at her funeral.
"We are gathered here today to mourn the tragic loss of Elena Carter, beloved teacher and mentor..."
I sat in the back row of the chapel, my hands clenched so tightly in my lap that my knuckles had turned white. The principal's words buzzed around me like static, meaningless noise against the roar of grief and rage in my chest.
Ms. Carter was dead.
Car accident, they said. Brake failure on the old mountain road. Such a tragedy. So unexpected. But I knew better.
My eyes swept across the packed chapel, taking note of who was here—and more importantly, how they looked. The Castillo family sat in the front row, a picture of dignified mourning. Alpha Castello's weathered face was appropriately somber, his five sons lined up beside him like soldiers.
But I caught the brief glance that passed between Rayden and his father. The almost imperceptible nod. The way Kayden's lips twitched when the principal mentioned Ms. Carter's "thorough dedication to investigating school policies."
"She was just beginning to uncover some concerning financial irregularities," the principal continued, his voice carefully neutral. "Her work will be... reviewed by the appropriate authorities."
Reviewed. Not continued. Reviewed.
I watched as several board members—all connected to the most powerful families—exchanged meaningful looks. My blood ran cold. The same families whose children attended this school. The same families who donated millions to keep their reputations spotless.
The same families who could make an inconvenient teacher disappear.
After the service, I lingered near the cemetery gates, watching as the Castellos approached their sleek black cars. Alpha Castello's phone rang, and his conversation carried on the wind.
"Yes, the matter has been resolved," he said quietly. "The investigation died with her. We can proceed as planned."
My heart stopped.
They killed her. They actually killed her. The woman who saved my life, who promised to help me, who was brave enough to stand up to their corruption—they murdered her for it.
And they would get away with it, just like they got away with everything else. Their money, their influence, their ability to "cover the sky" as my grandmother used to say—it made them untouchable.
But not to me. Not anymore.
As I walked back toward the school, my reflection caught in a puddle of rainwater. For a moment, I didn't recognize the girl staring back. Gone was the timid, frightened Omega who'd arrived here weeks ago. In her place was someone harder. Angrier.
Someone who had nothing left to lose.
I thought of Ms. Carter's last words to me: "You're not alone in this."
She was wrong. I was alone now. But maybe that was exactly what I needed to be. The Castillo brothers thought they could break me, humiliate me, push me around because I was weak. Because I was just an Omega with no family, no money, no power.
They had no idea what they'd just created.
I pulled out my phone and started researching self-defense classes, combat training, anything that could make me stronger. If I was going to survive in this world of predators, I needed to become one myself.
And when I was ready—when I was strong enough, smart enough, ruthless enough—I would make them pay for what they did to Ms. Carter.
All of them.
The shy, trusting Adah died with my teacher that day. What emerged from her ashes was someone the Castillo brothers would learn to fear.
I owed Ms. Carter that much.
I owed myself that much.
- Writer
