Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy Chapter 304

ARIA

"Until he figures out what to say," Nina said. "Until the investigation provides clarity about your involvement. Until he can navigate this situation without making everything exponentially worse. That's what being Alpha means—putting the pack's stability ahead of personal needs. Even when those personal needs are significant."

The explanation made sense intellectually even if it didn't make me feel any better. "You said Ivory's awake and receiving visitors?"

"Yes," Nina confirmed. "And before you ask—no, you shouldn't try to visit her. She's being gracious to pack members who are expressing concern. She'd probably be civil to you if you showed up. But it would be awkward for everyone and wouldn't accomplish anything positive."

"I wasn't planning to visit," I said, though part of me had been considering it before Nina's warning. "I learned my lesson about forcing confrontations with people who've made it clear they don't want to see me."

"Good," Nina said. "Keep doing what you're doing—your Luna duties, the inspections, showing the pack that you're taking your responsibilities seriously despite everything happening. And speaking of which—" her expression shifted slightly, "—the celebration party for the Hunt winners is being scheduled. Probably this weekend now that Ivory's recovered enough to attend."

My stomach dropped. "A party. Where I'll be surrounded by hundreds of pack members who think I'm inadequate and where Ivory will be present and where Kael will have to navigate being in the same space as both of us."

"Yes," Nina said. "But you'll attend. You completed the Hunt. You're one of the winners being celebrated. Not attending would be seen as cowardice or admission that you don't deserve recognition."

"Will Ivory try to kill me at the party?" I asked, only half-joking.

Nina's lips twitched slightly. "Ivory has excellent restraint. She's not going to attack you publicly at a celebration in her honor. The people with less restraint are Ivory's fans and advocates. They're the ones you need to watch out for. They can be extremely petty when they're making a point."

"How petty are we talking?" I asked warily.

"Martha once fed a visiting Alpha spoiled food because he sexually harassed Ivory," Nina said casually. "Gave him food poisoning bad enough that he was bedridden for three days and had to be sent home in disgrace. She claimed it was an accident, that the storage had malfunctioned, but everyone knew it was deliberate retaliation."

"And she faced no consequences?" I asked, shocked.

"The pack backed her," Nina said with a shrug. "Kael backed her. The Alpha who'd been poisoned couldn't prove it was deliberate and didn't want to admit he'd been sexually inappropriate with Shadowmere's healer. So he just left and we never saw him again. If you'd been here eight years ago—" she shook her head, "—you would have seen how protective this pack is of Ivory. How far they'll go to defend her or punish people who wrong her."

The message was clear: I needed to be very, very careful at this party. Because if I gave anyone even the slightest justification, they'd use it as an excuse to make me suffer in ways that couldn't be directly traced back to them.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said.

Nina stood, preparing to leave. "One more thing," she said. "About your awakened powers. The moon magic you manifested during the Hunt."

I looked at her sharply. "What about it?"

"Kael said I should tell you if I saw you—there's a section about it in the forbidden section of the library. Information about bloodline magic, about what it means to be a child of the moon, about how to control and develop those capabilities. You can't let it lie dormant. You need to understand what you're dealing with before it manifests in ways you can't control."

"The forbidden section," I repeated. "That sounds ominous."

"It's restricted for a reason," Nina said. "Dangerous information. Powerful knowledge that can be misused. But you have permission to access the sections related to your bloodline. Kael arranged it. Said you need to understand what you've awakened before it becomes a liability."

"Did he arrange this before or after avoiding me for the past day and a half?" I asked, unable to keep the bitterness from my voice.

"After," Nina said. "Which means he's thinking about your welfare even while he's processing everything else. That should count for something."

She left before I could respond, leaving me alone with the information that I was supposed to research magical abilities I barely understood while also navigating pack politics that were actively hostile and preparing for a celebration that was going to put me in a room with everyone who wanted me gone.

I looked at the clock. Still several hours until evening. Enough time to make a trip to the library, to start understanding what I'd awakened during those trials, to maybe gain some knowledge that would help me survive what was coming.

Because Nina was right—the awakened power was there, sitting inside me like something alive and waiting. I could feel it responding to my emotions, could sense it wanting to manifest when I was angry or frightened or desperate.

I needed to understand it. Needed to learn how to control it before it controlled me.

The alternative was letting it lie dormant until some crisis forced it to the surface in ways that could hurt people or prove I was as dangerous and untrustworthy as the pack suspected.

I grabbed my cloak and headed for the door. My guard straightened when I emerged.

"The library," I told her. "The forbidden section. Security Chief Nina said I have permission to access information about bloodline magic."

The guard nodded and fell into step beside me, and we made our way through corridors that were starting to quiet as evening approached, toward a library I'd barely visited since arriving in Shadowmere, to learn about power I'd never known I possessed until it had saved my life during trials that should have killed me.

I just hoped understanding it would help me survive everything that was coming.

Because based on today, I was going to need every advantage I could get just to make it through this weekend's celebration without being destroyed by the combined weight of the pack's disapproval.

And that was assuming the investigation didn't conclude that I was guilty of treason before the party even happened.

One crisis at a time, I told myself. One step forward. One moment of refusing to give up even when giving up would be so much easier.

I'd pulled an Ivory by standing my ground yesterday. Now I just had to figure out how to keep standing when everything was trying to knock me down.