I Left Before He Learned My Worth novel Chapter 46

**Chapter 46**

**ARIA**

(39)

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“You honestly believe that just because you’re in your human form, she’ll suddenly fall for you?” Damon sneered, his voice dripping with contempt. “Do you think that standing upright instead of on all fours changes anything? The truth is, she doesn’t love you, Kael. She’s merely settling for you because I turned her down. I was the fool who couldn’t recognize the treasure right in front of me. But make no mistake, she belongs to me, and she always will!”

Kael’s response was a guttural snarl, a sound that was more beast than man. “She bears my mark. She’s my mate, my Luna. Whatever fleeting connection you think you had with her is finished, Cross. Accept that reality and leave before things escalate into chaos.”

“Oh, trust me, it’s already chaos,” Damon retorted, and in an instant, he began to shift, his body contorting as thick fur rippled across his skin, transforming him into a formidable beast.

To my astonishment, Kael moved with a speed that seemed impossible for someone who had only regained his human form a mere day ago. He thrust me toward Nina, his mental voice echoing through our bond, laced with an urgency that sent shivers down my spine.

*Get her out of here. Now.*

“No,” I protested weakly, but Nina’s grip on my arm was unyielding, as if she were a steel vice. She was already pulling me backward, away from the platform, away from the impending clash between Kael and Damon as they completed their transformations.

“We have to leave,” Nina urged, her voice a frantic whisper. “Aria, you’re Luna now. You can’t put yourself in danger during an Alpha challenge. Let the guards take care of this.”

“But Ivory—” I glanced back toward the spot where she had collapsed. A figure was bent over her—Eliza, the head healer, assessing the damage with a look of grim determination. “Is she—”

“She’s bleeding and unconscious!” someone shouted from that direction. “We need to get her to the clinic, now!”

A flurry of wolves rushed to assist, carefully lifting Ivory’s limp body and carrying her towards the pack house. As they passed, I caught a fleeting glimpse of her face—pale, streaked with blood, bruises already darkening across her cheek and jaw.

She had sacrificed herself for me. For us. And now, she was suffering because of it.

Nina tugged me further back just as the two Alphas fully completed their transformations. Kael’s wolf was a massive creature—easily twice the size of his human form, with fur as dark as midnight and those same golden eyes blazing with an intensity that could ignite the very air. Damon’s wolf, though smaller, was no less intimidating, brown and scarred, exuding a palpable aggression as he circled Kael, searching for an opening.

*Focus on the fight,* Kael’s voice broke through our bond, surprising me. *I can sense your worry. I’ll be fine. Trust me.*

I attempted to project confidence back to him, though my hands were clenched so tightly that my nails drew blood from my palms.

Damon’s wolves made several attempts to interfere, to tip the scales in their Alpha’s favor. But Ivory’s carefully chosen guards held their ground, their protection charms glowing faintly as they deflected the attacks. The Shadowmere wolves who joined them fought with the precise coordination of a pack determined to defend their own.

The tide began to shift when Kael managed to seize Damon by the throat with his powerful jaws. Not breaking the skin—at least, not yet—but positioning himself in a way that allowed him to with one decisive bite. It was the ultimate display of dominance, a physical testament to one Alpha’s superiority over another.

Kael’s growl reverberated through the clearing, and I felt the pulse of alpha dominance that accompanied it. Raw power, undeniable authority, the kind of presence that compelled even the strongest wolves to submit, to bare their throats in acknowledgment of superiority.

Damon struggled for a fleeting moment longer, then fell still. His wolf form trembled, and with a reluctant sigh, he shifted back to human, lying there in the dirt—naked, bleeding, utterly defeated.

Kael released him but did not retreat, his wolf looming over Damon’s vulnerable body. Through our bond, I could feel the tempest of emotions within him—fury, restraint, and the urge to end this once and for all, all battling against his sense of duty to uphold pack law.