Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy Chapter 10

ARIA

The forest surrounding Shadowmere territory was unlike any I'd explored before.

Ancient trees stretched toward the sky, their gnarled branches twisted into shapes that seemed almost deliberate, as if they'd been designed by some long-forgotten hand. Moss covered everything in thick, velvety layers, and mushrooms sprouted in perfect circles that the pack members warned me never to step inside—fairy rings, they called them, remnants of old magic that still lingered in these woods.

It was beautiful. Mysterious. And exactly the kind of place where rare healing herbs thrived.

I'd been venturing into the forest every day for the past week, always staying within the safe boundaries that Nina had shown me. The healer's lodge was running low on several crucial supplies, and I'd noticed during my Luna duties that their pain-relieving herbs were nearly depleted. With winter approaching and training accidents becoming more common, we needed to replenish the stores.

Besides, gathering herbs was something I understood. Something I was good at. It gave me purpose when everything else in my life felt uncertain.

Today, I'd already collected a generous bundle of willow bark for fever reduction and a pouch full of comfrey root for broken bones. My basket was half-full of arnica flowers, their bright yellow petals perfect for treating bruises and inflammation.

But I was still searching for valerian root—the best natural painkiller we had access to—and it was proving frustratingly elusive.

I pushed deeper into the forest, my wolf alert beneath my skin. The trees here grew closer together, their canopy so thick that even midday sun barely penetrated. The temperature dropped several degrees, and the usual forest sounds—birdsong, rustling leaves, small animals scurrying through underbrush—grew muted.

I should have turned back. Should have recognized the warning signs.

But then I saw them.

Moonbeam plants.

They grew in a small cluster near what I suddenly realized was the edge of a steep cliff, their silvery-blue leaves catching what little light filtered through the canopy. Moonbeam plants were incredibly rare—I'd only seen them twice in my life, and both times I'd risked everything to harvest them.

My breath caught as memories flooded back.

The last time I'd found moonbeam plants had been three years ago, shortly after Damon's wolf had recovered from the worst of the wolfsbane poisoning. I'd spent four days tracking rumors of their location through dangerous rogue territory, sleeping in trees to avoid predators, going without food because I couldn't risk the time it would take to hunt.

When I'd finally found them growing in a cave system fifty miles from Blackwood territory, I'd carefully harvested every plant, knowing their medicinal properties could help strengthen Damon's still-fragile wolf. I'd preserved them in a special glass container with soil from where they'd grown, rushing back to pack lands to show him.

I'd been so excited. So proud. So sure he'd be pleased that I'd found something so valuable.

I'd burst into his office, dirt-stained and exhausted, holding that glass container like it was made of pure gold.

"Damon! Look what I found! Moonbeam plants! They can help stabilize your wolf's energy, prevent relapses—"

But he'd barely glanced at them before his phone rang.

Sera. Calling from the human city, crying about some illness she'd contracted.

"I have to take this," he'd said, already moving toward the door.

I'd tried to follow, to show him the plants, to explain how rare they were, how much they could help him.

He'd waved me off impatiently, and his hand had struck the glass container.

It shattered on the floor, soil and precious plants scattering everywhere. Four days of work, of risk, of sacrifice—destroyed in an instant.

"Clean that up," he'd said without looking back, his phone already pressed to his ear. "And be quiet. Sera's upset."

He'd left me there, kneeling in the wreckage, trying to salvage plants that were already dying without their specialized soil.

I'd cried that night. Not just because the plants were ruined, but because he hadn't even cared. Hadn't even noticed.

Now, staring at these moonbeam plants growing wild on a cliff edge in Shadowmere territory, I felt that old hurt rise up like bile in my throat.

No. I pushed the memory down, locked it away. Those days were over. Damon was in my past now.

But these plants... the Shadowmere pack could use them. Their healer had mentioned that Kael's curse sometimes caused him terrible pain when he fought against it, when his human consciousness tried to surface. Moonbeam plants could help with that. Could ease his suffering.

I made up my mind.

Carefully, I set down my basket and the other herbs I'd collected. The cliff edge was only about ten feet away, and the moonbeam plants grew in a shallow depression that looked stable enough. If I was careful, if I moved slowly, I could harvest them without incident.

I'd done more dangerous things. Survived worse situations.

I got down on my hands and knees, distributing my weight evenly as I crawled toward the cliff edge. The ground was damp from recent rain, slightly muddy, but it seemed solid enough.

My fingers were just closing around the first moonbeam plant, carefully loosening its roots from the soil, when I heard it.

A low, rattling growl that made every hair on my body stand on end.

I froze, my heart suddenly hammering against my ribs.

That wasn't a normal animal sound. It wasn't even a normal wolf sound.

It was wrong. Hollow. Like something that shouldn't exist in the natural world.

Another growl joined the first. Then another. Coming from different directions, surrounding me.

But I couldn't see anything. The forest around me looked empty, undisturbed.

Except the air had gone deathly still, and my wolf was screaming at me to run, to flee from this forest.

Then I caught the scent.

Rot. Decay. Something ancient and evil that made my stomach heave and my bones turn to jelly.

Nightwalkers.