I Left Before He Learned My Worth novel Chapter 72

Chapter 72

ARIA

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“Aren’t they?” Ivory met his gaze directly for the first time, and I saw pain flash in her eyes before she shuttered it. “You barely knew her. You were cursed, desperate, willing to bond with anyone who could break it. And she was running from rejection, looking for escape, willing to accept anyone who offered safety. That’s not love, Alpha Kael. That’s mutual convenience masquerading as destiny.”

Through our bond, I felt Kael’s hurt at her words. Felt his anger rising to match it. But also felt his doubt-the small, insidious question of whether she might be right.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, finding my voice despite the trembling I couldn’t quite control. “You don’t know what Kael and I have, what we’re building together—”

“I know what I see,” Ivory cut me off. “I see a Luna who’s been here less than two weeks and has already brought a crisis that ended with an Alpha imprisoned and rogues attacking our healers. I see someone wh

expects the pack to welcome her with open arms while cleaning up the messes her past keeps creating. I see-”

“Enough!” Nina’s voice cracked like a whip. “This isn’t productive, Ivory. You’re hurt and scared and lashing out, but attacking Aria isn’t going to solve anything.”

“Isn’t it?” Ivory’s voice had gone cold now, the heat of her anger crystallizing into something harder. “Because it seems to me th harder. “Because it seems to me that until Luna Aria starts taking responsibility for the baggage she’s dragging behind her, until she stops hiding behind her new title and actually does something to clean up we’re all going to keep suffering for her choices.”

these messes

“What exactly would you have me do?” I asked, and I hated how small my voice sounded. How defeated. “I can’t undo the past. I can’t make Damon stop being obsessed or Sera stop seeking revenge. I can’t-”

“You could try,” Ivory said flatly. “You could go to Sera directly. Negotiate. Apologize. Take ownership of the chaos you’ve caused instead of letting everyone else deal with the fallout. But I suppose that would require actual courage instead of just accepting a convenient bonding and calling it leadership.”

The room erupted then. Nina standing to defend me, Kael moving toward Ivory with barely contained fury, voices rising and overlapping in a cacophony of anger and hurt and

accusation.

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11:48 Thu, Dec 18

Chapter 72

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I stood frozen in the middle of it, feeling like the eye of a storm I’d inadvertently created.

By the time order was restored, by the time everyone had said their piece and fallen into tense silence, it was clear that something fundamental had fractured. The pack’s leadership-Kael, Nina, Ivory, and myself-were no longer united. Were no longer even pretending to be united.

The arguments had exposed fault lines that went deeper than this single incident. Nina firmly believed that Ivory was being unfair, that circumstances beyond anyone’s control had created this situation. Several council members who’d been called in as the confrontation escalated agreed with her-things happened, conflicts arose, no one person could be blamed for the complex web of events that had led to this point.

But others and I could see it in their faces, hear it in their careful words-thought Ivory had a point. Thought that maybe I did bear some responsibility for not handling my past more cleanly. For not anticipating how Damon might react. For bringing complications into a pack that had been stable, if cursed, before my arrival.

The council was divided. Torn between two perspectives that both held elements of truth but couldn’t be reconciled.

“Regardless of who’s to blame,” Kael finally said, his Alpha authority forcing everyone to quiet, “the fact remains that we have a potential threat from Blackwood. From Sera specifically. And we can’t take action-can’t retaliate, can’t even formally demand she stop-until we have concrete proof that she’s behind the attacks.”

“So what?” Ivory asked, her voice still cold. “We wait for another attack? Wait for more pack members to be injured or killed while Luna Aria’s vengeful ex-mate and his equally vengeful current mate play out their drama on our territory?”

“We investigate,” Nina said firmly. “We gather evidence. We prepare defenses. And yes, we wait for Sera to make a mistake that gives us the proof we need.”

“How convenient,” Ivory said, though she was looking at me when she said it. “Everyone else takes the risk while the person who created this mess hides behind her new title and her mate’s protection.”

“I’m not hiding,” I said, but even I could hear how unconvincing it sounded.

Ivory just shook her head, something that looked almost like pity crossing her face. “You really don’t see it, do you? Don’t see how much danger you’ve put us all in. How much you’ve cost this pack already.” She moved toward the door, her movements still slightly stiff from her earlier poisoning. “I have-patients to check on. Herb stores to replenish since the gardens were damaged. Actual work to do instead of standing around debating whose fault it is that our pack is under attack.”

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