I Left Before He Learned My Worth novel Chapter 104

Chapter 104

ARIA

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We tumbled together, my momentum carrying us both to the ground. I felt something whistle past my ear, felt a sharp sting on my armas Ivory’s weight landed on me awkwardly.

And then Ivory gasped, her body going rigid.

I scrambled out from under her, my heart pounding, looking for the threat in the trees. But the forest was still, silent except for the normal sounds of morning wildlife. Whoever had attacked was already gone.

“Ivory?” I turned my attention back to her, and my blood ran cold.

A dart protruded from her shoulder-small, sleek, the kind used for delivering toxins quickly and efficiently. Already, her skin around the entry point was turning an unhealthy grayish color.

“No, no, no,” I breathed, reaching for the dart. “Don’t move. I need to—”

“Don’t touch it,” Ivory said, her voice already slurring slightly. “Pull it out straight. Angle could… matter.”

I grasped the dart carefully, trying to keep my hands steady despite the panic flooding through me. Pulled it out in one smooth motion the way she’d instructed.

The tip was coated in something dark and viscous. Poison. Someone had shot Ivory with poisoned dart, and judging by her rapidly deteriorating condition, it was fast-acting and dangerous.

“Can you walk?” I asked, already trying to figure out how to get her back to the pack house. We were maybe’ten minutes from help, but Ivory was already swaying, her eyes losing focus.

“Not… sure,” she managed. “Feel… wrong.”

She started to collapse, and I caught her, lowering her as gently as I could to the forest floor. Her breathing was becoming labored, her skin cool and clammy to the touch.

I needed help. Needed to get her to Eliza, to medical attention, to anything that might counteract whatever poison was coursing through her system.

But I also couldn’t leave her here alone, vulneral le, in case whoever had shot the dart came back to finish the job.

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Chapter 104

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I made a decision. Hooking my arms under Ivory’s shoulders, I began dragging her back toward the pack house. It was clumsy and probably causing her more discomfort, but it was the fastest way to move her while keeping her somewhat upright in case she started choking or vomiting from the poison.

“Stay with me,” I kept saying as I pulled her along the path. “Ivory, stay conscious. Talk to me. Tell me what the symptoms are. What poison feels like this?”

But Ivory wasn’t responding anymore, her body a dead weight in my arms.

It took me seven minutes to get back to the clearing near the pack house-seven minutes that felt like hours. I was screaming for help before I even cleared the tree line, my voice raw with panic and desperation.

Pack members came running. Marcus, leading the morning patrol. Nina, emerging from the pack house at a sprint. And Kael, his face going white when he saw what I was carrying.

“Someone shot her,” I gasped out as they reached me. “Poisoned dart. In the woods. She needs Eliza now.”

Kael took Ivory from me immediately, cradling her unconscious form against his chest. “Get Eliza to the clinic. Now. And someone find that dart-we need to identify the poison.”

I’d dropped it somewhere in my panic. “I pulled it out. Left it… back where we were. I can show you-”

“Later,” Kael said, already running toward the park house. “First we stabilize her.”

The next several minutes were chaos. Eliza arriving, her face grim as she assessed Ivory’s condition. The poison spreading through Ivory’s system, causing convulsions, respiratory distress, her heart rate becoming dangerously irregular.

I stood at the edge of the clinic, watching helplessly as they worked to save her. My arm stung where I’d scraped it during the fall, but I barely noticed. All my attention was fixed on Ivory’s pale, still form.

“What happened?” Nina appeared at my side, her voice urgent. “Aria, what happened out there?”

“We were talking,” I said, my voice sounding distant to my own ears. “Just talking. There was movement in the trees behind her, and I saw something coming, so I grabbed her to pull her out of the way. We both fell, and when I looked up, the dart was in her shoulder.”

“You saw who did it?”

“No. Just movement. By the time I got us both untangled, whoever it was had already disappeared.”

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Chapter 104

Nina was studying my face intently, and I realized with growing horror what she was thinking. What everyone would be thinking.

“You don’t believe me,” I whispered.

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“I’m trying to understand what happened,” Nina said carefully, “You were alone in the woods with Ivory. You’d been having a confrontation-

“A conversation,” I interrupted desperately, “We were having a conversation. I wasn’t attacking

her.”

“But you were the only one there. You’re the only witness to what happened. And Ivory is unconscious, poisoned, unable to verify your account.”

“I saved her,” I insisted, hearing the panic rising

my voice. “I pulled her out of the way. If I hadn’t grabbed her when I did, that dart would have hit something vital. She’d be dead”

“Or,” Nina said slowly, reluctantly, “you were the one who administered the poison and you’re using this story as cover.”

The accusation hung in the air between us. I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach.

“No,” I breathed. “No, Nina, you can’t possibly think I would-

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“I don’t know what to think,” Nina said, and I could see the conflict in her face. “I want to believe you. But Aria, this looks really bad. You were alone with Ivory in the woods. There was a confrontation. Now she’s poisoned, and your story about some mysterious attacker who disappeared without a trace-”

“It’s the truth,” I said, but even I could hear how weak it sounded,

Movement from the clinic drew our attention. Eliza was emerging, her expression troubled.

“She’s stabilized for now,” Eliza said. “The poison was… sophisticated. Something that affects the nervous system and cardiovascular function simultaneously. If she’d been hit somewhere more central-heart, major artery-she’d be dead. As it is, she’ll survive, but recovery will be difficult.”

“Can she talk?” Kael asked, appearing behind Eliza. His expression when he looked at me was carefully neutral, but I felt his complicated emotions through our bond. Confusion. Uncertainty. The beginning of doubt.

“Not yet,” Eliza said. “But soon, maybe in an hour or two. She’ll be able to tell us what happened.”

“Good,” Kael said. “Then we’ll know exactly what occurred out there.”

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The way he said it-like he wasn’t entirely sure of my account, like he needed Ivory’s testimony to verify what I’d told them-made my chest tight with hurt and fear.

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When Ivory finally woke, when Eliza determined she was coherent enough to answer questions, the entire pack leadership gathered in the clinic. Kael, Nina, the elders, Marcus representing security. And me, standing at the back like a defendant waiting for judgment.

“Ivory,” Kael said gently, moving to her bedside. “Can you tell us what happened in the woods this morning?”

Ivory’s eyes were hazy but focused. She looked around the room slowly, taking in all the faces watching her. When her gaze landed on me, something flickered in her expression- confusion, maybe, or uncertainty.

“I was gathering herbs,” she said, her voice hoarse. “Early morning. Luna Aria was there. On the path.”

“And then?” Kael prompted when she paused.

“We talked. Argued, really. About… about the pack. About rumors. About things that don’t matter now.” She took a shaky breath. “I turned to leave. And then… I felt someone grab me from behind. Grab my shoulder. And then pain. Sharp pain. And everything got… wrong. Felt wrong. And then I don’t remember.”