Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 302

Chapter 302

Chapter 302

ARIA

The list kept going, each item another debt Amber felt she owed to Ivory. Another reason to be fiercely loyal to the woman who’d saved people she cared about.

“So this is payback,” I said, understanding crystallizing. “For having the audacity to occupy a position Amber thinks should belong to someone who’s done so much for her family.”

“For her, yeah,” Jason agreed. “There are a lot of people like Amber in Shadowmere. People who are on Team Ivory and will be actively spiteful toward you because they feel they owe her everything. And your speech yesterday-calling out the pack’s hypocrisy—it just gave them more reason to dig in their heels.”

“For expressing an opinion,” I said bitterly. “For finally standing up for myself instead of just accepting their judgment.”

“For expressing that opinion immediately when you haven’t been cleared of the security concerns yet,” Jason corrected gently. “Don’t get me wrong-I think you needed to say what you said. You stood your ground when it counted. But Shadowmere people are very good at being spiteful just for the pure fun of it. Kael’s killed people for less. Killed alphas from other packs for not showing Ivory proper respect, even when it meant risking war. Everyone was ready to back him on that. Ready to go to war over their healer being insulted.”

I stopped walking, processing what he was saying. “He killed other alphas for disrespecting Ivory?”

“Multiple times during his curse years,” Jason confirmed. “Other packs would try to take advantage of Shadowmere’s weakened state-their Alpha stuck as a wolf, their pack vulnerable. They’d send delegations to discuss ‘leadership transitions’ or suggest that maybe someone more stable should take over. And inevitably, someone would say something dismissive about Ivory. Suggest she was inadequate to support a cursed Alpha. Imply she should step aside.”

He paused, his expression becoming darker. “Kael would shift back to human form just long enough to kill whoever had insulted her. Then shift back to wolf before the rage could take full control. The pack backed him every single time. Backed him even though it meant potential war. Backed him even though staying under a cursed Alpha who was more likely to kill them during a mad rage was objectively dangerous. They’d rather have their unstable, cursed Alpha than accept leadership from someone who’d disrespected their healer.”

The loyalty that represented was staggering. Terrifying. And it explained so much about why

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my position here had always been untenable. I wasn’t just competing with Ivory’s capabilities. or her relationship with Kael. I was competing with years of demonstrated devotion, of the pack backing her even when backing her was dangerous.

“So I shouldn’t have given that speech,” I said. “Shouldn’t have called them out. Should have just kept my head down and accepted their judgment.”

“No,” Jason said firmly. “You absolutely should have done it. You stood your ground when it counted. When the normal thing-the expected thing-would be trying to hide or appease them or apologize for existing. You refused to do that. You called them on their bullshit publicly and didn’t back down even when you knew it would make things harder.”

He smiled slightly. “Dare I say, you pulled an Ivory.”

I blinked. “What?”

“Pulling an Ivory,” Jason repeated like this was an established phrase. “It’s when someone stands their ground on principle even when the practical choice would be backing down. When they prioritize what’s right over what’s easy. When they refuse to compromise their integrity just because everyone else is pushing them to.”

“Is that actually a thing people say?” I asked, not sure whether to be amused or disturbed.

“Oh, it’s definitely a thing,” Jason confirmed. “Ivory’s famous for it. For being stubborn about principles even when being stubborn costs her everything. For choosing the hard right over the easy wrong consistently enough that it’s become part of how people understand her character.”

He gestured back toward the textile workshop. “That’s what you did yesterday. You chose the hard right—calling out legitimate hypocrisy-over the easy wrong of just staying quiet and hoping people would eventually accept you. It’s going to make things harder in the short term. People like Amber are going to be actively spiteful. But in the long term, standing your ground when it counts is what earns actual respect rather than just polite tolerance.”

I wanted to believe him. Wanted to think that my speech had been the right choice rather than just making everything worse. But walking away from Amber’s deliberate disrespect, knowing there were dozens or hundreds more pack members who felt the same way-

It was hard to see how this was supposed to get better rather than worse.

“Come on,” Jason said, continuing down the corridor. “You have other inspections scheduled, right? Let’s get through them. Show the pack that you’re not hiding just because one manager decided to be petty.”

He was right. Retreating to my chambers now would just confirm that I couldn’t handle the

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