I Left Before He Learned My Worth novel Chapter 101

Chapter 101

“He didn’t reject her. He just… chose politics over love. Which is somehow worse.”

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They moved away, their voices fading, leaving me standing alone in the corridor with their words ringing in my ears.

Politics over love. That’s how they saw my bonding with Kael. Not as a genuine connection, not as something real and growing, but as a cold political calculation that had hurt someone they all loved.

And maybe they weren’t entirely wrong. The bonding had started as political convenience. Kael had needed a mate to break his curse. I’d needed escape from Blackwood. We’d found each other at exactly the right moment for both our needs.

But it had become more than that. At least, I thought it had. The feelings between us were real. The bond was strengthening every day. What we had mattered, even if it hadn’t started in the most romantic way.

Didn’t it?

I kept walking, my path eventually taking me past the gardens where Ivory spent so much of her time. The herb beds were dark now, the plants just shapes in the fading light. But I could see a lamp burning in the small shed where she kept her research materials.

I shouldn’t have approached. Should have kept walking, given her the space she clearly wanted from me. But something drew me close-curiosity, maybe, or a masochistic desire to see more evidence of how much the pack valued her over me.

The door to the shed was slightly ajar, and I could hear voices inside. Ivory’s voice, and Jason’s.

“You were incredible today,” Jason was saying. “The whole pack is in awe of what you’ve accomplished.”

“It’s just research,” Ivory replied, though I could hear the pleasure in her voice. “Anyone with the right training and enough dedication could have developed something similar.”

“That’s not true and you know it. You’re brilliant Ivory. What you’ve created could change everything about how packs survive difficult times.”

“Maybe. If the formula can be replicated at scale. If there aren’t long-term effects we haven’t discovered yet. If-”

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12:28 Thu, Dec 18 DGD

Chapter 101

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“Stop,” Jason interrupted gently. “Stop finding reasons to diminish what you’ve done. Just for tonight, let yourself be proud. Let yourself accept that you’ve accomplished something amazing.”

There was a pause, and when Ivory spoke again, her voice was softer. “I’m not used to this. To people… celebrating me. To being the center of attention like that.”

“You should be used to it. You deserve to be celebrated. Everything you do for this pack, everything you sacrifice-people should be shouting your praises from the rooftops.”

“That’s a bit excessive,” Ivory said, but she was laughing slightly. “I don’t need rooftop proclamations. I just need… this. Quiet moments. Someone who understands.”

“I want to understand,” Jason said. “I want to know everything about you, Ivory. Your research, your passions, your fears. Everything you’re willing to share.”

I backed away from the shed, my heart pounding. I felt like an intruder, witnessing something private and tender that wasn’t meant for my eyes or ears.

Jason was falling for her. That much was obvious. And Ivory—whether she remembered loving Kael or not-was responding to his attention, his devotion, his uncomplicated admiration.

It should have made me feel better. Should have eased some of my insecurity about Kael’s complicated feelings for her. If Ivory moved on with Jason, if she built something real with him, then Kael’s lingering attachment would eventually fade. We could all move forward without the ghost of what might have been haunting us.

But instead, I just felt hollow. Because even Ivory finding happiness was something that happened separate from me, something I could only observe from the outside.

I made my way back to the pack house, my mind churning with everything I’d heard. The criticisms, the comparisons, the whispered judgments. The pack’s love for Ivory and their barely concealed disdain for me.

How was I supposed to lead these people? How was I supposed to earn their they’d already decided I wasn’t worthy of it?

respect when

Near the entrance to the residential wing, I encountered a group of pack members I didn’t recognize-visitors, maybe, or people who worked in parts of the territory I hadn’t explored yet. They were deep in conversation and didn’t notice my approach.

“The real question is whether the Alpha will ever regret his choice,” one of them was saying. “Watching Ivory every day, seeing what he gave p-”

“He made his bed,” another responded. “Now he has to lie in it. With the Blackwood girl instead of the healer who actually deserved him

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Chapter 101

“Harsh.”

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“Honest. The Luna’s useless. What does she actually contribute? She can’t heal. She can’t fight. She has no particular skills or knowledge that benefit the pack. She’s just… there. Taking up space. Wearing a title she didn’t earn.”

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