Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 159

Chapter 139

ARIA

Fisher

The pursuing vehicles appeared at the edge of the clearing moments later. Three SUVs, positioning themselves at different points around the perimeter. Engines cut off. Doors opened. Figures emerged.

I counted at least fifteen attackers. Maybe more still hidden in the tree line. All armed. All moving with military coordination.

We were outnumbered.

“This is neutral territory,” Nina called out, her voice carrying across the clearing. “You’re violating treaty by attacking us here. Stand down and we can resolve this without further bloodshed.”

One of the figures stepped forward-a large man, clearly the leader. “We don’t care about treaties. We care about what you took from us.”

“What we took?” Kael challenged. “We’ve taken nothing that wasn’t ours by right.”

“You took her,” the man said, and his finger pointed directly at me. “The omega belongs to Alpha Damon. You stole her. Bonded with her illegally. And now we’re taking her back.”

My blood ran cold. This wasn’t random violence or political maneuvering. This was Damon’s doing. He’d escaped prison and immediately organized an assault to reclaim me. To drag me back to Blackwood where he could keep me as his possession regardless of what I wanted.

“Luna Aria belongs to no one but herself,” Kael said, his voice taking on that dangerous Alpha quality that promised violence. “And she’s bonded to me. Legally. Witnessed by our packs and recognized by the council. You have no claim to her.”

“Then we’ll take her by force,” the man said simply. “We’re prepared to die for our Alpha. Are you prepared to die for an omega who isn’t worth the trouble?”

It was a calculated insult. Meant to provoke Kael into making emotional rather than tactical decisions. Meant to suggest I wasn’t valuable enough to risk his life over.

“I’m prepared to destroy anyone who threatens my mate,” Kael replied, his voice deadly calm. “But I’m also offering you a chance to walk away. Leave now and we forget this happened. Stay, and none of you will survive the day.”

“Big words for someone who’s outnumbered five to one,” the man said. “Last chance, Alpha Kael. Give us the omega and we let you live. Refuse, and we take her over your corpse.”

Kael’s response was to shift partially-his eyes flashing gold, his canines extending, his body language becoming purely predatory. “Try it.”

The clearing exploded into chaos.

The attackers opened fire simultaneously, bullets tearing through the air toward our position. Nina and the driver returned fire, using the damaged vehicle as cover. Kael moved with supernatural speed, dodging

Chapter 159

bullets that should have hit him, closing distance on the nearest attackers with lethal intent

I dove behind the vehicle like he’d instructed, pressing myself flat against the ground, covering my head as gunfire echoed around me. Through the gap between the vehicle and the ground, I could see boots moving. bodies falling, blood spreading across the dirt.

Someone screamed. Then another. The sounds of combat were overwhelming-gunshots, snarls, the sickening impact of bodies colliding, bones breaking.

I heard Nina grunt in pain, saw her stagger as a bullet caught her shoulder. But she kept fighting, kept firing. her face set in grim determination.

Kael had shifted fully now, his wolf form massive and terrifying as he tore through attackers with brutal efficiency. But there were so many of them. For every one he brought down, two more took their place.

We were losing. Slowly but inexorably, we were being overwhelmed by superior numbers.

And then I heard it. The sound that made my entire body freeze with recognition and dread.

Damon’s voice, calling from the edge of the clearing.

“Aria! I know you’re there! Come out and this ends! Nobody else has to die!”

I looked through the gap beneath the vehicle and saw him. Damon, standing at the tree line, exactly as I remembered but somehow more feral. Prison had changed him. Made him harder. More desperate. More dangerous.

I escaped for you!” he called. “Broke out of that cage so we could be together! Everything I’ve done-the attacks, the plans, the escape-it’s all been for you!”

“Don’t listen to him,” Kael snarled, his voice distorted by his wolf form. “Stay hidden.”

But Damon was moving closer, approaching the vehicle, his eyes locked on where I was concealed.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify