Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 566

Chapter 566

ARIA

"The moon signature has a specific resonance," Nina said. "Ivory mapped it. The compound disrupts the resonance — not permanently, not with standard exposure, but with concentrated direct delivery it creates a suppression effect. The lunar abilities become inaccessible for a period of time." She looked at me steadily. "We've never used them."

"But they exist," I said.

"They exist," Nina said.

Silver said: *She built weapons that can stop us.*

*She built weapons,* I said, *that can stop anyone who comes at this pack using moon-child abilities. That includes us if we go wrong. That includes whatever the network sends.*

*I know,* Silver said. *I'm just noting.*

*I'm noting it too,* I said.

"The deployment architecture," Elite said, bringing us back.

Nina unrolled her own map — different from Elite's, more detailed in the specific layer of the perimeter and the kill zones. "The botanical perimeter is the first line. Ivory's plants are already active — the sedative compound, the aggressive vines, the wolfsbane triggers at the bunker. We don't change that layer. It does what it does."

"What's the second line," Jordan said.

"Twenty-meter trigger points," Nina said. "Ivory set them for the bunker. I've extended the system to cover the primary approach vectors to the pack grounds — the northeastern corridor, the western path, the river crossing." She indicated each point on the map. "Automated trigger on proximity, wolfsbane and sedative delivery, covers a fifteen-meter radius per point."

"How many points," Elite said.

"Fourteen," Nina said. "Which covers approximately sixty percent of the viable approach vectors."

"The remaining forty percent," Elite said.

"Requires active defense," Nina said. "Which is where the armoury rounds come in. Deployed from the secondary positions—" she indicated the positions on the map, "—with shooters using the wolfsbane concentration rounds, we can bring down a significant portion of any attacking force before they reach pack grounds."

"What percentage," Kael said.

"With the trigger points and the shooters," Nina said, "and assuming the botanical perimeter has already done its work on the advance elements — fifty percent."

The room processed this.

"Fifty percent of an attacking force down before they reach us," Jordan said.

"Before they reach the first defensive position," Nina said. "Not before they reach the pack grounds. Before the first active engagement."

"That's—" Jordan started.

"Significant," Elite said.

"Very significant," Jordan confirmed.

"The other fifty percent," Elite said. "After the perimeter and the trigger points and the shooters."

"That's where the wolves come in," Kael said.

"If the mindlink connection is restored," Elite said. "Yes." They looked at me. "The thirty wolves you've built the channel with — based on my training assessments, those thirty are among the most capable in the pack. I've been working with them specifically." They turned to the assessment sheets. "Priya."

"Priya," I confirmed.

"She's been training for three months with the specific focus of someone who's been preparing for a fight," Elite said. "Her combat instincts are—" they paused, searching for the word, "—natural in the way that some things are natural. She doesn't think her way through it. She moves."

"She's good," I said. I'd seen Priya in the training yard. I'd seen the specific quality Elite was describing — the absence of hesitation, not because she wasn't thinking but because the thinking and the moving had become one thing.

"With the mindlink restored and coordination available," Elite said, "the thirty trained wolves plus the additional pack members who'll shift once Ivory's antidote is administered — the covering force for the remaining fifty percent is viable."

"Something happening to her during the engagement is a risk she gets to assess for herself," Nina said.

"The mindlink depends on her," Jordan said. "If she goes down before the connection is established—"

"The connection will be established before any engagement," Nina said. "That's the sequence. The mindlink first. Then the armoury deployment. Then, if it comes to that, the wolves."

"You're assuming the sequence holds," Jordan said. "Engagements don't always—"

"Then she needs to be defended," Nina said. "She fights from a position with defensive coverage. The twenty-meter trigger zone around her specifically. Elite's trained wolves within sight distance." She looked at me. "You don't go into the open field. But you don't sit in a room."

I was aware they were discussing this as though I wasn't at the table.

"I'm not sitting in a room," I said.

Jordan looked at me.

"I'm not," I said. "I held a moon shield at the border battle while the field was active. I used the blood-bending when the situation required it. I'm not retreating to a room while the pack is in the field." I held Jordan's gaze. "I'll take the position Nina described. Defensive coverage, trained wolves in sight distance. But I'm present."

"The lunar blast," Jordan said.

"Is available," I said. "If it comes to that."

"It scattered two hundred wolves and six witches," Jordan said.

"Yes," I said.

"Can you control the scope of it," he said.

This was the question I'd been working on for weeks. Silver and I had been practicing in the eastern clearing before dawn, the specific sessions that nobody attended because I'd asked for the space and the pack had given it. The lunar blast in its raw form was — large. Comprehensive. The kind of large that was useful against a force of two hundred and considerably less useful when you needed to not hit your own people.

"I'm working on the scope," I said. "The precision version is harder than the full deployment."