Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 275

Chapter 275

Chapter 275

KAEL

“I needed closure!” Aria’s voice rose, desperation cutting through her tears. “I needed to understand why he’d done what he did! Why he’d rejected me so publicly, so cruelly! I thought if I could just hear him explain, if I could just get answers-”

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“You could have asked me to come with you,” I interrupted. “Could have been honest about needing that closure. Could have included me in the process instead of sneaking around like you were doing something wrong. Because you knew it was wrong, Aria. You knew or you wouldn’t have hidden it.”

She had no response to that. Just stood there crying, confirming what I’d already known- she’d understood on some level that visiting Damon was a betrayal, had chosen to do it anyway, had kept it secret because she’d known I would disapprove.

Had known it would hurt me and had done it anyway.

The Ghost Council was still conferring, their voices creating background noise to this confrontation playing out in front of the entire pack. I could see Bridget looking satisfied, vindicated in her suspicions about Aria’s unsuitability for the Luna position. Could see other pack members whispering, their expressions ranging from shock to disappointment to anger.

And I could see the healing team carrying Ivory away, her unconscious body still bleeding from eyes that had apparently hemorrhaged from the force of getting her memories back. Three years of suppressed experiences flooding back all at once, overwhelming her system, leaving her collapsed and traumatized.

Three years she’d lost because of the curse breaking the way it had. Three years of building partnership with me that I couldn’t fully remember but she now could. Three years that should have ended with us bonded, with her as my Luna, with everything she’d worked for coming to fruition.

Instead she’d woken up with those memories gone and Aria in her place.

And now those memories were back. Every moment. Every conversation. Every intimate gesture. Every sacrifice. Everything she’d done during my curse years, flooding back to show her exactly what she’d lost when Aria had bonded with me instead.

The rage I’d seen in her eyes when she’d attacked Aria-that had been real. That had been

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three years of suppressed hurt and anger and loss finally allowed expression. She’d tried to kill Aria and I couldn’t even blame her because from her perspective, with all those memories fresh and raw, Aria had stolen everything.

“Did you love him?” I asked Aria, the question coming out quieter than my previous anger. “Damon. Did you love him when you visited that cell? Were you still hoping he’d take you back?”

Aria looked at me with eyes that were devastated. “I thought I did,” she admitted. “I thought—I thought maybe if he just explained, if he just gave me reasons I could understand, I could move on. Could let go. Could stop feeling like I wasn’t good enough because he’d chosen someone else.”

“And did it work?” I asked. “Did visiting him give you closure? Did it help you let go?”

“No,” Aria whispered. “It made everything worse. Because he told me exactly why he’d rejected me. Why I’d never been good enough. Why Sera was better in every way that mattered. And it just-it just confirmed everything I’d always feared about myself. That I was inadequate. That I’d always be second choice. That no one would ever actually want me for myself.”

The confession should have made me feel sympathy. Should have made me want to comfort her, to contradict those fears, to prove that she was worth more than Damon’s assessment.

But all I felt was anger that she’d gone to him for validation instead of coming to me. That she’d trusted her former mate’s judgment more than she’d trusted our developing bond. That even while we were trying to build something together, she’d been looking backward toward someone who’d already proven he didn’t value her.

“The Ghost Council needs to make a ruling,” Lunaris announced, her voice cutting through the noise of the assembled crowd. “About whether Aria’s betrayal disqualifies her from the Luna position. About what consequences should follow from her actions.”

She turned her attention to me specifically. “Alpha Kael, you are the injured party here. Your mate betrayed your trust, visited your enemy in secret, compromised your pack’s security through her inability to let go of her past. What consequence do you believe is appropriate?”

The question put me in an impossible position. Whatever I decided would define our relationship going forward—whether we even had a relationship going forward. Whether Aria remained in Shadowmere or was expelled. Whether she remained Luna or was stripped of the position she’d apparently never really wanted in the first place.

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