I Left Before He Learned My Worth novel Chapter 57

**I Left Before He Learned My Worth**
**Chapter 57**

**ARIA**

39

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“I spoke the truth you wished to hear,” Ivory interjected, her tone steady and composed. “It was necessary, considering you and your wolves were encroaching on our territory, issuing threats. You were in a fragile state, volatile and unpredictable, and that required careful management. I am a healer, Alpha Cross, not a warrior. My battles are fought not with claws and fangs, but with herbs, words, and strategy. My strategy was to ensure you remained away from that ceremony until it was safely completed.”

“By deceiving me,” Damon retorted, venom lacing his words.

“By safeguarding,” Ivory countered, her gaze unwavering. “It seems you’ve forgotten the essence of protection, especially after you chose to imprison your own Luna and mate when they attempted to intervene in your reckless pursuits.”

A low murmur rippled through the chamber, growing louder with each passing second. The news of Luna Margaret and Sera’s imprisonment had clearly spread, casting Damon in a shadow that did not favor him.

“My decisions concerning my Luna and mate are private matters within the Blackwood pack,” Damon asserted, his voice rising with indignation. “They are irrelevant to—”

“They are profoundly relevant,” Alpha Morrison interrupted, his tone commanding. “Your actions reveal a troubling pattern of instability, a blatant disregard for pack law and the sanctity of boundaries. Utilizing violence and imprisonment to achieve your aims cannot be overlooked by the council as we assess your conduct here.”

Desperation flickered across Damon’s face, his features twisting in anguish. “I love Aria. Everything I did was for her. I finally opened my eyes to what I had been too blind to recognize for so long. Is that truly so reprehensible? Is wanting to be with your true mate deserving of this level of scorn?”

“Your true mate?” I heard my voice slice through the tension in the chamber, firm and unwavering. “Damon, I am not your true mate. I was merely convenient. I was devoted, present when you needed an emotional crutch or an ego boost. But I was never your mate, true or otherwise. You made that painfully clear when you chose Sera.”

I stepped away from the table, striding toward Damon, who stood shackled and defiant. Kael instinctively moved to follow me, to shield me from any potential harm, but Nina placed a steady hand on his arm, urging him to stay back. This was a confrontation I needed to face on my own.

“You want to know why I won’t return to you?” I said, halting just a few feet from Damon. “It’s not because of anything Kael did or failed to do. It’s about who you have become. Or perhaps who you always were, and I was too blinded by my own feelings to see it. You don’t love me, Damon. You love the notion of me—the devoted omega who idolized you, who never questioned your authority, who made you feel powerful and desired. But the moment I began to assert my own choices, the moment I stopped being that convenient source of validation, you resorted to violence and control.”

“That’s not true,” Damon insisted, but his voice wavered, lacking the conviction he so desperately sought to convey. “I do love you. I just—I can’t bear the thought of you with him. I can’t stand that you chose someone else.”

“Exactly,” I murmured, my voice soft yet resolute. “You can’t tolerate that I made a choice. Not that I chose Kael specifically, but that I exercised my own agency instead of waiting for you to deem me worthy of your attention. That’s not love, Damon. That’s ownership. And I refuse to be owned by anyone any longer.”

A heavy silence enveloped the chamber. Damon’s gaze bore into me, something within him fracturing—perhaps the last flicker of hope that I would somehow rescue him from this situation.

“The council has heard enough,” Alpha Morrison declared, his voice steady and authoritative. “We will now deliberate on the appropriate consequences for Alpha Cross’s actions. The defendant will be removed while we discuss.”