Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 581

Chapter 581

ARIA

"Validation," he said. "From who? He didn't care about you — he wanted to own you, Aria. He wanted to keep you as his secret omega and when you stopped being useful to him he tried to destroy you and then when he needed something he pulled you back in. That's not someone you seek validation from. That's someone you run from."

The words landed harder than I expected because they weren't wrong.

"It wasn't better here," I said, and my voice came out smaller than I intended. "I had to compete with Ivory constantly. Everything I did was compared to her. The pack resented me for being here instead of her. You compared me—"

"I never compared you," he said.

"The pack did," I said. "And you let it happen."

He was quiet.

"I told you not to compare yourself to her," he said. "I told you multiple times. You're different people."

"Telling me not to compare myself isn't the same as making the space feel like it's actually mine," I said. "She was everywhere, Kael. In the pack's loyalty, in the inner circle, in your eyes every time she was in the room. I was the interloper who'd taken something that was supposed to be hers."

"She never treated you that way," he said.

"No," I said. "She didn't. She attacked me with a knife."

He blinked.

"She came after me in the Ghost Hunt chamber," I said. "After her memories came back. She attacked me."

"She'd just had everything restored in a single overwhelming event," he said, "and everything in her mind was jumbled together and the memories were barely—" he stopped. "I'm defending her again."

"You are," I said.

"I'm just stating what happened," he said. "I'm not—" he stopped again. Looked at his hands. "God, I am defending her."

"I know you don't mean to," I said. "That's the thing. You're not doing it deliberately. It's just where your instinct goes. Someone mentions Ivory and your instinct is to explain, to contextualize, to make sure she's understood correctly." I held his gaze. "Your instinct for me is different. You're careful with me. Respectful. You give me space. But careful and respectful and space are not the same thing as the reflex that makes you want to protect her understanding in every room she enters."

He was very still.

"Ivory saved your life," he said. "And the pack's. She found the evidence that exonerated you. Without her you would have been—"

"I know," I said. "I know that. And I'm grateful. Genuinely. I don't resent what she did for me, I resent what it means that she had to do it. That the standard for trusting me was so low that she had to bet her life to meet it."

"The bond was damaged," he said. "You were barely a month in. The evidence—"

"As my mate," I said, "you were supposed to believe me."

He looked at me.

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