Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy Chapter 112

ARIA

The tribunal room was exactly as intimidating as I'd feared it would be.

The space had been transformed from its usual function as a general meeting area into something that felt more like a courtroom. A long table stretched across the front, where the pack elders sat in their ceremonial robes—deep green fabric embroidered with silver wolf symbols that caught the morning light streaming through the high windows. Elder Morrison occupied the center position, his weathered face grave and unreadable. To his left sat Elder Thorne, a stern woman in her seventies whose sharp eyes missed nothing. To his right, Elder Cassius, the youngest of the three at barely sixty, but no less formidable for his relative youth.

And at a separate table, positioned slightly apart from the elders but clearly part of the judicial panel, sat Kael.

My mate. My husband. The man who was supposed to stand by my side no matter what.

He wouldn't meet my eyes.

I stood in the center of the room, flanked by the guards who had escorted me from my chambers. Behind me, filling every available space, packed the members of Shadowmere who had been deemed important enough or interested enough to witness these proceedings. I could feel their stares boring into my back, could hear the whispers that never quite stopped even when the elders called for silence.

Nina stood off to one side in her capacity as head of security, a leather folder under her arm containing what I assumed was her report on the investigation. Marcus was there too, looking uncomfortable in formal dress rather than his usual warrior gear.

And near the back, I glimpsed Jason holding Lia, the little girl's face pressed against her brother's shoulder as if she could sense the tension in the room and was trying to hide from it.

"This tribunal is called to order," Elder Morrison announced, his voice carrying easily through the space. "We are here to investigate the incident that occurred yesterday morning in the eastern forest, resulting in the poisoning of Healer Ivory Ashwood. Luna Aria Blackwood stands accused of attempted murder."

The words hung in the air like a death sentence. Attempted murder. Not suspected of, not possibly involved in—accused of. As if the verdict had already been reached before I'd even been given a chance to speak.

"The accused will step forward," Morrison continued.

I moved to stand directly before the elders' table, my hands clasped in front of me to keep them from shaking. I'd dressed carefully that morning in one of my more formal gowns—deep blue fabric that Celine had assured me conveyed both dignity and humility. My hair was pulled back in a simple braid, no jewelry except the Luna's pendant that marked my position.

For all the good that position was doing me now.

"Luna Aria," Morrison said, his tone formal but not entirely unkind. "You understand the charges being brought against you?"

"I understand that I'm being accused of something I didn't do," I said, working to keep my voice steady. "Yes."

"We will begin with the facts as we understand them," Morrison continued, opening a document in front of him. "Yesterday morning, you left the pack house alone, claiming you needed time to think. You encountered Healer Ivory in the eastern forest. The two of you spoke—argued, according to your own account. And then Healer Ivory was shot with a poisoned dart that nearly killed her. Is this accurate so far?"

"The basic sequence is accurate," I agreed. "But the implication—"

"We will get to implications," Morrison interrupted. "First, facts. You admit you were alone with Healer Ivory in a secluded area of the forest?"

"Yes."

"You admit there was tension between you? That harsh words were exchanged?"

"We had a conversation," I said carefully. "It was... frank. But not violent."

"Define frank," Elder Thorne interjected, her sharp eyes fixed on me.

I took a breath, trying to organize my thoughts. "Ivory confronted me about the rumors circulating through the pack. About how people believe she should have been Luna instead of me. I wanted to understand if she was aware of what was being said, if she had any part in spreading those rumors."

"And her response?"

"She said she wasn't spreading rumors. That she wasn't interested in being Luna or in connecting with me in any way. That she just wanted to do her work without my interference." I paused. "She also said I'd taken things from her. Position, future, the life she should have had."

"Did she threaten you?" Elder Cassius asked.

"No. She was angry and hurt, but not threatening. She just wanted to be left alone."

"And yet moments after this conversation, she was poisoned," Morrison said. "Walk us through exactly what happened next."

This was it. The moment where I had to convince them that my version of events was the truth, despite how impossible it sounded.

"Ivory turned to leave," I said, speaking slowly and clearly. "She bent down to pick up her bag of herbs that she'd set down during our conversation. I saw movement in the trees behind her. Something dark, something fast. It was launching through the air, and I realized it was aimed at Ivory's back."

"You saw this movement clearly?" Thorne asked skeptically.

"Yes. It was—I didn't have time to process what it was exactly. I just knew something was coming at her, something dangerous. So I lunged forward and grabbed her shoulder to pull her out of the way."

"You grabbed her from behind," Morrison clarified.

"Yes. To push her aside, to get her out of the trajectory of whatever was coming. We both fell, and I felt something whistle past my ear. When I looked at Ivory, the dart was in her shoulder."

"And this mysterious attacker?" Cassius asked. "What happened to them?"