Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 343

Chapter 343

Chapter 343

IVORY

“Kael could be yours again,” Sera said. “If you-”

–

“Kael was never mine in the way you mean,” I said. “That’s the thing you’re not understanding. What Kael and I have what we built during thise three years when he was cursed – that’s not contingent on whether we’re sleeping together. I love him. I will love him in whatever configuration is available for as long as I live, and that love does not require me to destroy someone else to express it.”

I picked up my pen and tapped it once against the desk, which was something I did when I was closing a line of inquiry.

“We were also friends for significantly longer than we were anything else. That friendship survived three years of a curse and eight months of my amnesia and everything since. You cannot take it from me by offering me something I wouldn’t want even if I could have it this way.”

Sera’s composure had developed a crack. Small. But visible..

“And the letter,” she said.

“The letter,” I said, “is a record of me doing what I told you I did. What was best for my people. My Alpha was cursed. The curse required a specific kind of bond to break. I found the most suitable candidate and I facilitated the arrangement.” 1

–

—

I held her gaze. “My plan worked. Shadowmere has its Alpha in full capacity, and a Luna who

whatever else is complicated about the situation collected four fragments in the Ghost Hunt and is a true child of the moon and is capable of things we haven’t seen the full extent of yet.” I tilted my head. “You want me to be ashamed of that. I’m not.”

1

“You went behind Kael’s back,” she said.

“I made a decision in service of my pack,” I said.

“Kael can decide what he thinks about that when and if he learns of it. That’s between him and me and none of your business.”

The crack in her

composure widened.

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“The only reason,” I said, letting my voice take on the particular quality that arrived when I was saying something I’d thought through fully and was prepared to stand behind, “that you’re sitting in my clinic proposing this is because Damon isn’t looking at you. That’s what this is,

isn’t it.”

Not a question. A clinical observation, delivered with the same tone I’d use to discuss silver poisoning.

“Aria is gone from his pack. She was there for

years, and

you used her presence – her vulnerability, her position, the way Damon was tied to her even when he’d chosen you – as leverage.

As a way of keeping him attentive. His obsession with her made him need to keep you satisfied because you were the one he’d publicly chosen over her.”

Sera had gone very still.

“And now she’s here,” I continued. “And she’s the Luna of a pack that’s becoming more “And now she’s here,” significant rather than less. And Damon broke out of a secure facility – which you helped with, let’s not pretend otherwise and went after her, and she stayed here. She stayed with Kael. And Damon is still thinking about her, isn’t he. Still focused on her. And you’re here, his Luna, with his mark, and looks at you and sees-”

veryone

“Stop,” Sera said.

—

“—the woman who isn’t enough to hold his attention even when the competition is unavailable,” I finished.

“That’s why you’re here. Not for me to help you remove Aria. You want me to help you because without Aria as a fixed point of Damon’s obsession, you don’t know what role you play. And that is-” I stopped, because some things didn’t need to be said all the way out.

Sera’s hand moved.

I caught it.

Her palm was about three inches from the side of my face when my fingers closed around her wrist with the reflexive speed of someone whose hands were trained for precise, controlled movement. I held it there, between us, without squeezing, without theatrics. Just held it.

“Funny,” I said, keeping my voice entirely level, “that you’d try that here. In my clinic. Where there are documentation requirements for every patient interaction and where everything that happens is recorded in the clinical notes.” I lowered her hand back to a neutral position and released it.

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Chapter 343

“But actually, while we’re here – there’s something I should tell you.”

I stood, moving to the other side of my desk with the unhurried pace of someone wrapping up a consultation.

“The open door policy,” I said. “Which you invoked, correctly, to get through the gate. What it guarantees is access to me. My assessment, my diagnosis, my professional judgment about what treatment is needed.” I folded my hands.

“What it doesn’t guarantee

—

what it has never guaranteed, because the protocol has always been clear about this is that I can provide that treatment without the Luna’s approval.”

Sera looked at me.

—

“For pack members, that approval is automatic,” I said. “For coalition allies in good standing, it’s generally automatic. For visitors whose presence in the territory is complicated – the healer requires the Luna’s explicit permission before proceeding with treatment.” I met her eyes steadily.

“Which means that your silver poisoning, which is at a level that will significantly affect your quality of life if left untreated and will eventually be fatal if ignored long enough, cannot be treated by me without Aria’s approval.”

The silence in my clinic was very complete.

“I’d think carefully,” I said pleasantly, “about the conversation you just had with her before came in here. About the things you said to her. About how amenable she’s likely to feel about approving your treatment.” I moved toward the door and opened it.

you

“I recommend going away and thinking about it. The evening session is in four hours. If you’d like to grovel to the Luna and request her approval, I can see you then.”

—

the serenity had fully dissolved, the

Sera stood. She was beyond the composure now calculation had curdled into something rawer, the specific emotional state of someone who’d planned carefully and had had every piece of the plan removed from under them one by one while they stood watching it happen.

“You’re doing this deliberately,” Sera said. Her voice was flat.

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