Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 164

Chapter 164

ARIA

Finished

The council room was crowded. More crowded than I’d ever seen it, actually-packed with elders, security personnel, guards who’d participated in the rescue, and various pack officials who needed to understand what had happened and what threats we were still facing.

Kael stood at the head of the large table, his posture commanding despite the exhaustion visible in the set of his shoulders. Nina sat to his right, her injured arm in a sling but her expression alert and focused. I’d been positioned near Kael as well-not quite at the table but close enough to be included, close enough to hear everything being discussed.

The elders had assembled quickly once word spread about the attack. Morrison, Thorne, Cassius-all the senior pack leadership who needed to be informed about threats to pack security and potential war with Blackwood.

“Let’s start with the rescue team,” Morrison said, his voice grave. “Jordan, can you walk us through what happened? How you managed to reach Alpha Kael’s position so quickly?”

Jordan stood from where he’d been leaning against the wall. He looked exhausted—they all did, the guards who’d taken Ivory’s accelerants-but there was pride in his bearing as well. Pride at having succeeded. At having saved their Alpha and Luna.

“We received the alert about the ambush approximately two hours after you’d departed Blackwood,” Jordan began. “Alpha Kael’s last known position, trajectory, the information about hostile forces pursuing. We immediately mobilized two teams-one to recover the security detail that had been left behind at the first ambush site, and one to pursue and extract Alpha Kael’s group.”

“Two teams from limited resources,” Elder Thorne observed. “That was a risk.”

“A calculated one,” Jordan said. “We determined that splitting our forces gave us the best chance of achieving both objectives. Leaving pack members behind wasn’t an option, but neither was failing to reach Alpha Kael before the hostiles could overwhelm his position.”

He paused, glancing at Kael as if seeking permission to continue. Kael nodded slightly, indicating he should proceed.

“The problem was distance,” Jordan continued. “Even moving at maximum speed, we estimated it would take at least three hours to reach Alpha Kael’s position: Maybe longer depending on terrain and obstacles. Which would have been too late based on the tactical assessment of the situation.”

“So what changed?” Cassius asked. “How did you cover that distance in less than half the estimated time?”

Jordan’s expression became more guarded. “Healer Ivory provided us with experimental compounds. Accelerants that temporarily enhance wolf capabilities-speed, strength, reflexes, endurance. She’d been developing them for emergency situations. This qualified.”

The elders exchanged glances. Morrison looked particularly concerned.

“Experimental compounds?” he repeated. “Meaning untested? You took untested drugs before engaging in

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Chapter 164

combat?”

Finished

“They weren’t completely untested,” Jordan defended. “Healer Ivory had used them on herself under controlled conditions. She knew they worked and knew the basic effects. What wasn’t known was long-term. impact or how they’d perform under actual combat stress rather than laboratory conditions.”

“But you took them anyway,” Morrison pressed.

“Yes,” Jordan said firmly. “Because the alternative was arriving too late to save our Alpha and Luna. Because the tactical situation required enhanced capabilities we didn’t naturally possess. Because Healer Ivory trusted her own work enough to offer it, and we trusted her judgment enough to accept.”

One of the other guards who’d been part of the rescue team spoke up-a woman named Sarah whose arm was bandaged from a wound she’d taken during the fighting.

“The accelerants worked exactly as Healer Ivory described,” Sarah said. “We could move faster than we’d ever moved before. Could see threats coming and react before our conscious minds even processed the danger. Could fight with strength and precision beyond our normal capabilities. Without those compounds, we’d have arrived to find our Alpha and Luna already captured or dead.”

“The enhanced abilities lasted approximately forty minutes,” another guard added. “Long enough to reach the ambush site, engage the enemy, and secure the area. Then they began wearing off gradually as we traveled back to Shadowmere.”

“What are the side effects?” Elder Cassius asked, his tone clinical rather than accusatory. “Enhanced performance drugs always have a cost. What price did you pay for those forty minutes of increased capability?”

“Exhaustion,” Jordan admitted. “Significant exhaustion as the compounds wear off. Muscle fatigue. Some dizziness. Healer Ivory warned us the crash would be intense but temporary. She estimated we’d need several hours of rest to fully recover.”

As if his words had been a cue, one of the guards standing near the back of the room suddenly coughed. Just once, but violently enough that everyone’s attention immediately focused on him.

The guard-Marcus, I thought his name was-coughed again. Then his eyes rolled back and he collapsed, his body going completely limp as he hit the floor.

The room erupted into motion. Pack members rushing toward the fallen guard, Kael moving with Alpha speed to check on him, Nina trying to coordinate despite her injured arm.

But before anyone could reach Marcus, another guard collapsed. Then another. Like dominoes falling, the wolves who’d taken Ivory’s accelerants began dropping one by one.

Sarah, who’d just been defending the compounds’ effectiveness, went down mid-sentence. Her words cut off abruptly as unconsciousness took her. Two more guards collapsed almost simultaneously, their bodies just… shutting down without warning.

Jordan was still standing, but barely. I saw him grab the edge of the council table for support, his knuckles going white with the effort of keeping himself upright. His face had gone pale, sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool temperature of the room.

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