All Chapters of Mated To My Stepbrother : Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Novah’s POV School the next day was a stress. The whispers started the moment I stepped off Ashton’s bike (he’d grunted a command to get on, no eye contact). They followed me down the hallways, hissed from locker banks, snickered from clusters of students.*"There's the stalker..."**"Omega trash..."**"Heard she cried like a baby when Loveth put her in her place..."**"Desperate..."*I kept my head down, shoulders hunched, my backpack clutched like a shield. *Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it.* Ashton’s command was a useless mantra against the constant barrage. My shallow mind couldn't filter it out; every whisper, every sideways glance, every muffled laugh landed like a physical blow. I felt hyper-aware of my own movements, clumsy and conspicuous. Was I walking too slowly? Too fast? Did my hair look stupid? Was my skirt wrinkled? Every flaw felt magnified, broadcasted for the pack’s amusement.Alice and Bianca materialized like vultures near my locker. Alice smirked, her eyes cold. "

Novah's POVThe damp chill of the bench had seeped through my thin skirt, merging with the icy numbness spreading from my core. Ashton’s words – *Fix it* – echoed in the hollow space left behind by my sobs, a relentless, mocking refrain. Fix it? Fix *what*? The impossible pairing? The way his eyes, usually so distant and cool, had burned with pure, unadulterated contempt aimed solely at me? Fix the fact that my very existence seemed to be an inconvenience, a stain on the pristine world of the Moon-Star pack’s elite? Fix the crushing knowledge that after graduation, I’d be handed over like a bargaining chip to some obnoxious Alpha from a rival pack, a future my own father had brokered without a second thought?My shallow mind skittered across the surface of these horrors, unable to dive deep, unable to formulate a plan. It felt like trying to grasp smoke. All it could latch onto was the immediate, searing humiliation. The whispers. The stares. Alice’s vicious smirk. The way Loveth’s ab

Novah’s POV The drawing room. Camilia. The thought offered a sliver of… not hope, but perhaps a brief respite from the Alpha’s glacial disapproval. Camilia tried. She wasn’t Meredith, but she wasn’t my father either. Her scent, when I hesitantly pushed open the drawing room door a while later, was a gentle wave of jasmine and vanilla, a deliberate contrast to the house’s austerity. She sat perched on the edge of a brocade sofa, her posture elegant, her expression carefully neutral as she looked up from a book.“Novah,” she greeted, her voice warm, though her eyes held a flicker of concern as they took me in. I’d splashed cold water on my face, tried to tame my hair, but the redness around my eyes and the lingering pallor were undeniable. “Come in, dear. Sit down.”I obeyed, perching on the very edge of an armchair opposite her, my hands clasped tightly in my lap. The room was opulent, filled with expensive, uncomfortable-looking furniture and art that felt impersonal. It smelled fain

Novah’s POV Alone again, I dragged myself to my desk. The science project folder lay there, a stark reminder of my public failure. *Fix it.* Ashton’s voice echoed in my head. I opened the folder with trembling fingers. The assignment sheet, the notes I’d meticulously taken before the disastrous partnership began… it all looked like gibberish. My mind felt sluggish, thick with despair. How could I possibly design and execute a complex project on electromagnetic fields alone? Especially when the mere thought of physics made my head spin? It was hopeless. Just another thing I was destined to fail at.I pulled out a fresh sheet of paper, more out of habit than hope. My gaze drifted to the corner of the desk drawer. Slowly, I pulled it open. Beneath a stack of unused notebooks lay my old sketchpad. The one filled with hearts and swirling script. With trembling fingers, I opened it. Page after page of ‘Ashton Vince’ filled my vision, encircled by intricate doodles – stars, moons, tangled v

Novah’s POV The cold marble floor beneath me seemed to leech the warmth directly from my bones, a physical sound of the glacial despair settling in my chest. Camilia’s muffled sobs had faded, leaving only the oppressive silence of the Vince mansion – a silence that screamed of my insignificance. Ashton’s furious defense, Camilia’s terrified helplessness… it hadn’t offered a lifeline. It had just shown me the bars of my cage more clearly. Powerless. Expendable. Omega.The memory of Ashton’s words earlier that day, delivered with a casual cruelty that still stung, echoed louder than the slammed door: *"Hanging out with you, Novah, is social suicide right now. Especially with Loveth… involved."* He hadn’t even looked at me as he’d said it, just tossed the grenade over his shoulder on his way to meet *her*. The implication was clear: I was toxic. Untouchable. A stain on his perfect future.A desperate, scrabbling need clawed its way up my throat. I couldn’t just sit here on this cold flo