Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 288

Chapter 288

Chapter 288

KAEL

“And she followed that order,” Jason said. “I was there, Kael. I saw what happened. Yes, she hesitated. Yes, there was a moment where it looked like she might move toward Damon. But when it mattered, when the choice was between going with him and staying with you, she stayed.”

I knew he was right. Had known it even during the confrontation with Aria. But knowing it logically didn’t make the doubt disappear. Didn’t make the fear go away that she’d chosen to stay not because she’d wanted to but because the arrival of backup had made leaving impossible.

“Nina’s going to investigate,” I said. “The visit, the escape, the ambush. She has to—it’s her job as security chief to verify whether there’s a connection.”

“And how do you feel about that?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Part of me wants answers. Wants to know definitively whether Aria was complicit in any way. But another part of me is terrified of what those answers might be. Because if Nina finds evidence that Aria helped Damon escape, that she gave him information he used against us-” I stopped, unable to finish the thought.

“Then your bond becomes even more complicated than it already is,” Jason finished for me. “And you’ll have to decide what that means for her position, for your relationship, for everything.”

“Yes.”

We stood there in silence for a moment, both looking at the tactical map without really seeing

“Can I ask you something?” Jason said eventually.

“Go ahead.”

“Why did you choose to keep Aria as Luna? When the Ghost Council asked what consequence you thought was appropriate, when you had the perfect opportunity to remove her from the position-why did you choose to keep her?”

It was a fair question. One I’d been asking myself since I’d made the decision.

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“Because removing her would have been the easy choice,” I said slowly, working through it as I spoke. “The satisfying choice. The one that would have felt like justice in the moment. But it would have been the wrong choice for the pack.”

“How so?”

“The bond is real,” I said. “Regardless of how it formed, regardless of my feelings about it, the mate bond exists. Breaking it would damage both of us—physically, emotionally, magically. And that damage would affect my ability to lead. Would compromise my effectiveness as Alpha at a time when the pack needs stability more than anything.”

“So you kept her for practical reasons,” Jason said.

“I kept her because she completed the Hunt,” I corrected. “Successfully. Four fragments-more than anyone in recorded history. Whatever her personal failings, whatever she did wrong, she proved during those trials that she has capabilities we hadn’t seen before. Strength we didn’t know she possessed. And the pack needs that strength, even if we wish it came in a different package.”

Jason nodded slowly. “You’re thinking like an Alpha. Prioritizing what’s best for the pack over what would feel best personally.”

“That’s my job,” I said.

“It is,” Jason agreed. “But it’s also a tremendous burden to carry. Especially when the personal cost is this high.” He paused. “For what it’s worth, I think you made the right decision. Even if it’s going to make the next few months extremely difficult for everyone involved.”

“Months,” I repeated. “You think this will take months to resolve?”

“At minimum,” Jason said. “Trust takes years to build and seconds to destroy. Rebuilding it after something like this? That’s going to take sustained effort over a long period. And that’s assuming Aria is willing to do the work, that you’re willing to meet her halfway, and that nothing else happens to complicate things further.”

“When you put it like that, it sounds impossible.”

“Not impossible,” Jason said. “Just hard. There’s a difference.”

I appreciated his optimism even if I couldn’t quite share it. “How are you doing?” I asked, deliberately shifting focus. “You completed the Hunt too. Successfully. That deserves acknowledgment even with everything else going on.”

“I’m fine,” Jason said, the automatic response of someone used to downplaying their own struggles. Then, more honestly: “Tired. Sore. Trying not to think too hard about some of the

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things I saw during the trials. But functional.”

“The mirror trial,” I said, remembering. “What did it show you?”

Jason’s expression became guarded. “Nothing I’m ready to discuss yet. Ask me again in a week when I’ve had time to process it properly.”

Fair enough. The mirror trial had shown everyone their deepest truths, their hidden shames, their secret fears. Whatever Jason had confronted was his to share or not share as he chose.

“What about Ivory?” Jason asked, his voice carefully neutral. “How is she?”

The question had layers I wasn’t sure how to navigate. Jason had been building something with Ivory for months. Had been patient and careful and present in ways that suggested genuine interest rather than casual attraction. And now Ivory had all her memories back-memories that included three years of partnership with me, three years of feelings that she’d lost and now had returned in full force.

“She’s devastated,” I said honestly. “Getting three years of memories back all at once-that’s trauma in itself. And the content of those memories, what they mean now that she has them again—” I stopped, not sure how much to say.

“I know what you were to each other,” Jason said quietly. “During the curse. I’ve heard enough comments from pack members, seen enough of how people react to you two together. I’m not naive about what I was walking into when I started spending time with her.”

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