Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy Chapter 64

ARIA

The scream that woke me came from somewhere deep in the pack house, raw and terrified in a way that made my wolf surge to immediate alertness. Beside me, Kael was already moving, throwing off the covers and reaching for clothes before I'd even fully processed what I'd heard.

"What—" I started.

"Emergency," Kael said shortly, his entire focus on dressing quickly. Through our bond, I felt his sudden spike of alarm, his Alpha instincts kicking into overdrive. "Someone's hurt. Multiple someones, from the sound of it."

I scrambled out of bed, reaching for my own clothes. More voices joined the first scream—shouts, cries for help, the kind of chaos that spoke of real crisis rather than minor incident.

We rushed into the hallway to find it already filling with wolves, all heading toward the same destination. Nina appeared from her quarters, her hair still loose from sleep but her expression sharp and alert.

"What happened?" Kael demanded.

"Rogues," Nina said tersely. "They attacked a group of healers who were out gathering herbs at dawn. Four injured, two critically. They're being brought to the clinic now."

Kael's curse was vicious. "How did rogues get past our border patrols?"

"Unknown. Marcus is investigating." Nina was already moving, leading us toward the clinic. "But right now, we need to focus on the injured. Eliza's preparing the clinic, but she'll need help. She'll need—" Nina broke off, her expression shifting to concern. "She'll need Ivory. Ivory has more experience with critical trauma than anyone else on the healing staff."

We reached the clinic to find it already in controlled chaos. Eliza was barking orders at her assistants, directing them to prepare different stations for the incoming wounded. The first of the injured arrived moments later—a young woman I recognized from the healing gardens, her arm hanging at an unnatural angle, her face pale with shock and pain.

"Ivory," Eliza called out sharply. "I need Ivory here now. Where is she?"

No response. No sign of the honey-blonde healer anywhere in the clinic.

Eliza turned to one of her assistants. "Go get Ivory. She should be in her quarters or the herb preparation room. Tell her we have a code red situation."

The assistant ran off while Eliza turned her attention back to the injured woman, beginning her assessment with practiced efficiency. Two more wounded arrived—both men, one with deep claw marks across his chest, the other with what looked like a serious head injury based on the blood streaming down his face.

"Where's the fourth?" Kael asked, helping to support one of the injured men.

"Still being carried in," Nina said. "She's unconscious. Took the worst of the attack."

Eliza worked quickly, her hands steady as she assessed and prioritized injuries. But I could see the strain in her expression, the way her eyes kept darting toward the door waiting for Ivory to appear.

Minutes passed. The assistant returned, breathless and confused.

"She's not in her quarters," the young woman reported. "Not in the herb preparation room either. I checked all her usual places—she's nowhere in the pack house."

Eliza's expression tightened with worry. "Try the mindlink. Alpha, can you reach her through pack bonds?"

Kael's face went distant for a moment as he reached out through the mental connection that tied him to every member of his pack. I felt the effort through our mate bond, felt his growing concern as seconds ticked by without response.

"Nothing," he said finally. "She's not responding. Either she's blocking the connection or—" He didn't finish the sentence, but the implication hung heavy in the air.

Or she couldn't respond.

"When was the last time anyone saw her?" Nina demanded, addressing the room at large.

"Last night," one of the healing assistants offered. "She was working late in the herb gardens. Said she was testing some new preparation and needed fresh specimens."

The herb gardens. Where the healers who'd been attacked had been gathering this morning.

Through our bond, I felt Kael's alarm spike into genuine fear. "Nina, with me. Aria—stay here, help Eliza however you can."

He didn't wait for my agreement, already moving toward the exit with Nina close behind. I wanted to follow, wanted to be there if Ivory was hurt or in danger, but the fourth injured healer was just being carried in—a woman maybe in her thirties, unconscious and bleeding from multiple wounds—and Eliza needed all the help she could get.

"Luna Aria," Eliza said sharply, pulling my attention back to the immediate crisis. "I need you to apply pressure here while I assess the head wound. Can you do that?"

I moved to where she indicated, pressing clean cloths against a deep gash on the woman's side. The blood soaked through almost immediately, hot and viscous against my hands.

"More cloths," Eliza ordered one of her assistants. "And prepare the cauterizing tools. This is too deep for simple stitching."

The next several minutes were a blur of blood and urgent instructions and trying not to think about what might have happened to Ivory. I focused on following Eliza's directions, on being useful rather than getting in the way, on doing whatever small part I could to help save these women's lives.

But my mind kept drifting to the herb gardens, to Kael's fear flooding through our bond, to the image of Ivory lying hurt somewhere while rogues prowled the territory.

It was perhaps ten minutes later—though it felt like hours—when Kael's mental voice crashed through our bond with such force that I actually gasped.

*Aria. We found her. Herb gardens. Poisoned. We're bringing her in now.*

Poisoned. Not attacked by rogues. Poisoned.

"Kael found Ivory," I said aloud, my voice cutting through the controlled chaos of the clinic. "She's been poisoned. They're bringing her in."

Eliza's head snapped up from where she was stitching one of the injured healers. "Poisoned? With what? How severely?"

"I don't know. He didn't say."

"Clear station three," Eliza ordered immediately. "Prepare the full toxicology kit. And someone get me every antidote we have in stock—I need to see what we're working with."