I Left Before He Learned My Worth novel Chapter 9

Chapter 9

DAMON

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“Just a few days in the mountains. There’s a cabin on neutral territory where we can talk without pack business interrupting. She’s been…” I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated.

“She’s been upset, and I haven’t handled it well. I need to make things right with her.”

“Make things right,” Sera repeated slowly. “Damon, she’s just an omega. A pack member. Why does it matter so much if she’s upset?”

“Because she saved my life,” I said, more sharply than I’d intended. “Because she’s been loyal to this pack-to me-for years, and I owe her better than what I’ve given her lately.”

Something flickered across Sera’s face-anger, maybe, or hurt. But it vanished so quickly I wondered if I’d imagined it.

“Of course,” she said softly.

“You’re right. Aria deserves your attention. Your… gratitude.”

The

way she said “gratitude” made it sound like something distasteful.

“There’s something else,” I continued, pushing past my discomfort. “The pendant. The one I gave you the moonstone that belonged to Aria’s mother. I need you to return it.”

Sera’s hand flew to her throat, where the pendant hung alongside her mating collar.

“What? But you gave this to me. You said I could have it.”

“I know, and I shouldn’t have. It wasn’t mine to give.” I kept my voice gentle but firm. “That pendant is the last thing Aria has from her birth pack. I should have returned it to her on her eighteenth birthday like I promised. It was wrong of me to give it to someone else, no matter how much you admired it.”

“But I love it,” Sera said, her eyes filling with tears. “It’s the most beautiful thing I own. And you gave it to me, Damon. It means something to me because it came from you.”

Guilt warred with determination in my chest. “I’ll buy you something even better. Something that’s actually meant for you, not something I took from someone else. Please, Sera. This is important.”

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Chapter 9

For a long moment, Sera just stared at me, her expression unreadable. Then slowly, reluctantly, she reached up to unclasp the chain.

“If it means this much to you,” she said quietly.

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But as she fumbled with the clasp, her hands trembling-whether from emotion or her supposed weakness, I couldn’t tell-the chain slipped from her fingers.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

The pendant fell, the moonstone catching the light as it tumbled through the air. It hit the edge of my desk with a sharp crack, then bounced to the floor.

Where it shattered into a dozen glittering pieces.

My heart stopped.

No. No, no, no.

I dropped to my knees, staring at the fragments of blue-tinted moonstone scattered across the floor. The silver setting had broken apart, the delicate metalwork twisted and ruined.

This was Aria’s last connection to her mother. To her birth pack. To the family that had been slaughtered when she was just a pup.

And I’d given it away to another she-wolf, and now it was destroyed.

“Damon, I’m so sorry,” Sera gasped. “I didn’t mean-it just slipped-”

But I barely heard her. I was gathering up the pieces with shaking hands, trying desperately to see if maybe, maybe it could be repaired. If a skilled silversmith could put it back together.

Behind me, I heard Sera make a choked sound.

“Damon-I don’t feel-”

Then the sound of her body hitting the floor.

“Luna!” someone shouted-David, the young pack member who’d been passing by.

“Someone get the healers! The Luna’s collapsed!”

Footsteps pounded down the hallway. Voices rose in alarm. The scent of blood hit my nostrils -Sera was coughing up blood again, the silver poisoning flaring.

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Chapter 9

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I should have gone to her. Should have scooped her up and carried her to the healers myself. She was my mate, my Luna, and she was hurt.

But I couldn’t stop staring at the shattered pieces of moonstone in my hands.

Aria’s pendant. Broken beyond recognition.

How was I going to tell her? How could I possibly explain this?

“Alpha!” Jake, my second-in-command, appeared in the doorway, his face pale.

“Sera’s been taken to the healer’s lodge. Are you coming?”

I looked at him, then at the pendant pieces, then at the spot where Sera had fallen.

My wolf howled in my chest, a sound of pure anguish.

“I need to go to the blacksmith,” I heard myself say. “Find me something to put these in. Carefully.”

Jake stared at me like I’d lost my mind. “Alpha, your mate is coughing up blood. The healers need you there-”

“I need to see if this can be repaired!” I snarled, my Alpha command bleeding through.

“This belonged to Aria’s mother. It’s the last thing she has from her birth pack. I have to fix it.”

“Aria’s not even here,” Jake said, confusion evident in his voice. “But Sera-”

“Just find me something to carry these pieces in!” I roared.

Jake flinched but obeyed, returning a moment later with a soft cloth pouch. I carefully placed each fragment inside, my hands still trembling.

Only then did I stand up and head toward the healer’s lodge.

The walk there felt surreal, like I was moving through water. Pack members rushed past me, their faces worried, asking about Sera’s condition. I answered mechanically, not really hearing

my own words.

All I could think about was Aria’s face when I’d given her that expensive moonstone necklace instead of returning her mother’s pendant. The way her expression had shuttered, like I’d slapped her.

She’d known, even then, that I’d given her mother’s pendant to someone else.

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And now it was destroyed.

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The healer’s lodge was chaos when I arrived. Sera was on a bed, surrounded by healers who were trying to stop the blood she was coughing up. Her face was deathly pale, her breathing

shallow.

“Alpha,” the head healer said urgently. “The silver poisoning is worse than we thought. We need to start aggressive treatment immediately.”

I nodded, but my attention was on the cloth pouch in

my hands.

“Damon,” Sera whispered weakly, reaching for me. “I’m sorry about the pendant. I didn’t mean

“It’s not your fault,” I said automatically, taking her hand.

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