Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy Chapter 465

ARIA

*Protection,* Silver said. *History. The bloodline's record of itself, carried by each child of the moon in turn. Some of them are yours specifically — marks that correspond to what you've done, what you've claimed, what you've built.* A pause. *The bond mark is there. Can you see it? Left wrist. Inner side.*

I turned my left wrist up.

The rune there was different from the others — older-looking, if a rune could look older than other runes on the same skin. And beside it, newer, less settled, still finding its final shape: a second mark that hadn't been in the same position when I'd looked at my hands before the Ghost Hunt.

"The link," I said. "The temporary mindlink I built last night."

*Not temporary,* Silver said.

I looked up at the mirror.

*You built a channel,* Silver said. *Channels don't just go away because the emergency that created them is over. You created a connection between yourself and thirty wolves through the anchor. The anchor is part of you. The connection is part of the anchor.* The glowing presence in the mirror tilted slightly, which I interpreted as Silver tilting her head. *Feel for it.*

I reached through the anchor in the specific direction I'd been holding for twelve hours of last night's operations.

The link was still there.

Not active — not the fully engaged communication channel of the previous night, not the thirty wolves all connected and present simultaneously. More like the infrastructure of it, the architecture that had been built, sitting in a dormant state that was available rather than active.

"They're human now," I said. "They shifted back."

*The wolves shifted back,* Silver said. *The channel doesn't require the shift. The channel is between you and the people. The wolves are in the people whether they're shifted or not.* A pause. *You can reach them. Not the way you did last night. But the connection is there if you need it.*

I turned my attention to the other connection. The bond — the thread that ran from the center of me outward in Kael's direction, the one I'd been reaching through and pushing through and receiving through for months.

It was there.

It was also quiet on his end. Not the quiet of someone asleep or unavailable — the quiet of a connection that was present but not being engaged. The specific empty quality that had been the bond's characteristic texture for months. Present. Not resonant.

The wolf and the mate bond existing in the same body, not integrated.

"The bond with Kael," I said.

Silver made a sound that was not quite a growl and not quite a sigh. The specific sound of a wolf who had opinions and was deciding how to express them.

*I have thoughts,* Silver said.

"I imagine you do," I said.

*He is,* Silver said carefully, *a complicated situation. His wolf doesn't know me. Or won't accept the connection. The bond is real — I can feel the bond, it's genuine, it's doing what a bond should do in terms of the magical architecture. But his wolf has—*

"Older attachments," I said.

*Yes,* Silver said, with the tone of someone who'd been wanting to discuss this for eight months. *His wolf's older attachments are significant. And his wolf and his person are not as integrated as they should be, which means the bond is connecting to a version of him that is also not fully integrated, which creates a complicated read on what the bond is doing and whether it's working the way it should.*

"Is it fixable," I said.

Silver was quiet for a moment.

*Everything is fixable,* she said finally. *The question is time and willingness. Both of which are currently available. The wolf will come around when the integration advances. The integration will advance when—* another pause, *—certain conversations happen. Certain things get named. The naming matters. The wolf responds to honesty in ways that the person sometimes doesn't.*

"He's working on it," I said.

*I know,* Silver said. And the sound of those two words, in the voice of my own wolf, had a completely different quality than the same words in Kael's voice. Less weight, more warmth. *I know he's working on it. I'm not suggesting he isn't. I'm saying that the working on it part needs to include some specific honesty about specific things, and from what I've been able to observe in the past eight months through a very imperfect wall—*

"How much did you observe," I said.

*Enough,* Silver said. *Through the wall. In fragments. The image you sent on the lower slope, for instance — I felt that. The moments when the power was at its highest were the moments when I could hear the most.* A pause. *I felt Ivory's transmission last night. The one that came through the anchor involuntarily when she was in pain. I felt you receive it and shut down the channel.* The glow in the mirror shifted. *That was the right call. For the record.*

"Ivory would have been annoyed," I said.

*Ivory was annoyed,* Silver said. *She was also relieved. Both are accurate.*

I looked at my hands again. At the runes, still visible in the morning light, the marking that wasn't new but was newly legible.

"The aura," I said. "Last night it was—"

*The combat activated it,* Silver said. *The full engagement of the bloodline at scale — the link, the barrier, the blood-bending. All of it together.* The glow in the mirror diminished slightly, demonstrating. *It'll cycle. High when you're using the power significantly. Lower when you're not. The baseline will be slightly higher than it used to be now that the channel between us is open.* She paused. *The runes stay. They're part of you. People are going to notice.*

"Ivory is going to want to document them," I said.

*Ivory,* Silver said, with the specific warmth of a wolf who'd been paying attention for eight months, *is going to lose her entire mind. In the good way. I'm looking forward to it.*

The aura around my hair dimmed further, pulling back toward the normal range, the glowing quality settling into something that was still different from what had been there yesterday but was no longer obviously dramatic. The runes remained.

I looked at Silver in the mirror.

"Is this going to be a constant thing now," I said. "You being in my head."

*We're going to be in communication,* Silver said. *Like we should have been from the beginning. Like you've been in communication with the anchor, the power, the bloodline — all of that runs through me. I'm the bridge between you and all of it. Having me locked out has been like—* she paused, finding the right analogy, *—like trying to use a phone without the operating system. The hardware was there. The apps were there. Nothing could talk to anything.*

"And now," I said.

*Now the operating system is back online,* Silver said. *Don't expect me to be quiet about it.*

"I wouldn't," I said.

"I'm glad you're here," I said.

Silver was quiet for a moment. The specific quiet of something receiving something it had wanted and taking the moment before responding.

*I've been here the whole time,* she said. *Now you can hear me. That's better.*