I Left Before He Learned My Worth novel Chapter 80

Chapter 80

ARIA

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“Has she said anything?” Kael asked, and there was something almost vulnerable in his voice. “About me? About whether she… whether she wishes things were different?”

“No,” Nina said simply. “And that’s what you need to understand. She doesn’t remember you, Kael. Not as a friend, not as a lover, not as anything beyond ‘Alpha who I’m supposed to respect. Whatever feelings she had for you-they’re gone. Erased with the head trauma and memory loss. She’s starting fresh, and that means everyone in her life is starting fresh with her.”

“Including me,” Kael said quietly.

“Including you,” Nina confirmed. “Which means you don’t get to be possessive or jealous or weird about who she dates. You’re her Alpha. That’s it. That’s all you get to be now.”

“And if she leaves?” Kael asked. “If she decides Shadowmere is too dangerous, too complicated, too painful-and she goes somewhere else? Do I just let her walk away?”

“If that’s what she needs,” Nina said firmly. “Yes. You let her go. You don’t guilt her into staying. You don’t remind her of everything she’s sacrificing by leaving. You support her decision and wish her well, even if it tears you apart inside. Because that’s what you owe her, Kael. After everything she gave you, after everything she sacrificed-you owe her the freedom to choose her own path without interference.”

More silence. I could imagine them standing there, Nina watching Kael process everything she’d laid out, Kael struggling with feelings he probably hadn’t fully examined before now.

“Did she tell Aria?” Kael finally asked. “About us? About what we shared?”

“No,” Nina said. “Ivory hates her—well, dislikes her instinctively even if she doesn’t remember why–but she hasn’t tried to cause problems in your relationship. Hasn’t told Aria about your past intimacy. Hasn’t weaponized that information even though she easily could have. Which, honestly, is a bit frustrating.”

“Frustrating?” Kael repeated.

“Because I can see that Aria is good for the pack,” Nina explained. “I can see that your bond with her is bringing positive changes, that she’s trying hard to find her place here, that she genuinely cares about Shadowmere’s wellbeing. But I also know what Ivory sacrificed for you.

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11:49 Thu, Dec 18

Chapter 80

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The years she dedicated. The risks she took. The parts of herself she gave you freely. And it feels wrong that she’s the one being pushed aside while Aria gets everything Ivory probably dreamed about but never asked for.”

“Life isn’t fair,” Kael said.

“No,” Nina agreed. “It’s really not. But we can try to minimize the damage. We can make sure Ivory gets support as she heals. We can create space for her to move on without guilt or pressure. We can-”

I didn’t wait to hear the rest. I’d heard enough. More than enough. Too much, really.

I turned and walked away as quietly as I could, my mind reeling from everything I’d just learned.

Kael and Ivory had been lovers. Not just casual encounters, but something deeper, something that had lasted years. He’d taken her virginity. Had been intimate with her even while cursed. His wolf had claimed her, had seen her as his in some fundamental way.

And then I’d shown up, and within a week, he’d bonded with me instead.

No wonder Ivory hated me. No wonder she couldn’t stand to be around Kael. Every time she looked at us together, even without her memories, some part of her probably recognized what she’d lost. What had been taken from her.

And the worst part? I hadn’t known. Had stumbled into this situation completely ignorant of the history between them, of the depth of what I was disrupting just by accepting Kael’s offer.

If I’d known-would I have made different choices? Would I have turned down the bonding, looked for another way to escape Blackwood that didn’t involve displacing a woman who’d sacrificed so much?

I didn’t know. Couldn’t know, because it was too late now. The bonding was complete. The mark was permanent. Kael and I were building something real, something that felt right despite all the complications.

But gods, the guilt. The crushing, suffocating guilt of knowing that my happiness—my safety, my new life, my growing feelings for Kael-had come at such a cost to someone else.

Someone who’d given everything and gotten nothing in return except injuries, trauma, and the instinctive dislike of the woman who’d taken her place.

I made it to our chambers before the tears started. Once inside, I pressed my back against the door and let myself slide down to the floor, covering my face with my hands as sobs wracked my body.

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Chapter 80

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Three years. Ivory had spent three years caring for Kael in his cursed form. Three years of daily visits, of intimacy, of hope that her dedication would eventually be rewarded.

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