Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy Chapter 69

ARIA

Through our bond, I felt Kael's approach before I saw him. He'd left earlier to deal with the rogue situation—organizing patrols, ensuring the borders were secure, investigating how the attack had happened. Now he was back, moving through the clinic with Alpha authority, checking on the injured pack members.

But his attention kept drifting to Ivory.

I watched as he made his way toward where she stood, still surrounded by grateful pack members, still eating the food they'd brought her while simultaneously documenting patient responses.

"Ivory," Kael said, his voice carrying that mix of concern and frustration I was becoming familiar with. "We need to talk. About what happened this morning, about your testing protocols, about—"

Ivory didn't even look up from her journal. Just kept writing, kept asking her patient questions, completely ignoring Kael's presence.

"Ivory," Kael tried again, moving closer. "I know you're busy, but this is important. You could have died today. We need to discuss implementing some safety measures for your experiments—"

Still nothing. Ivory asked her patient another question about respiratory function, made another careful notation, accepted another offering of food from a pack member with a warm thank you.

It was like Kael wasn't even there.

I felt his frustration spike through our bond, felt the hurt underneath it. This wasn't just professional dismissal. This was personal. This was his closest friend actively ignoring him, and he didn't understand why.

Finally, Kael reached out to touch Ivory's arm. Just a gentle touch, meant to get her attention, to break through whatever wall she'd put up between them.

Ivory's reaction was immediate and sharp. She pulled her arm away like she'd been burned, stepping back to put clear distance between them. Her expression when she finally looked at Kael was cool, professionally polite, completely devoid of warmth.

"That's inappropriate, Alpha Kael," she said, her voice carrying just enough to be heard by the people nearby. "You're a mated Alpha. You shouldn't be so familiar with unmated omegas."

The words hung in the air like a slap. I saw Kael physically recoil, saw the flash of hurt and confusion cross his face.

"Ivory, we've been friends since childhood," he said, his voice lower now but no less intense. "I was just trying to get your attention—"

"And now you have it," Ivory interrupted smoothly. "Was there something you needed, Alpha? Some official pack business that requires my immediate attention? Because if not, I have patients to monitor and research to document. I'm sure you understand."

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay," Kael said, and there was something almost pleading in his voice. "You nearly died this morning. You're my friend. Can't I be concerned?"

"I appreciate your concern, Alpha," Ivory said, her tone remaining formally distant. "But as I've told everyone else who's asked, I'm perfectly fine. The incident was a calculated risk that paid off. Now if you'll excuse me—"

She turned to Eliza, who'd been watching the exchange with clear discomfort. "Eliza, could you hand me a clean cloth? I need to check these sutures and I want to make sure my hands are properly sanitized first."

It was a deliberate pivot away from Kael, a clear signal that the conversation was over. That he was being dismissed.

And then Ivory added, almost as an afterthought but with enough edge that I knew it was intentional, "As a mated man, Alpha Kael, you should be more careful about physical contact with unmated pack members. I wouldn't want to be accused of something inappropriate by your mate. Especially not Luna Aria, who I'm sure is watching this entire interaction and forming her own conclusions."

The implication was clear. Ivory was suggesting that I might be jealous. That I might see Kael's concern for her as something more than friendship. That she needed to maintain distance to protect herself from accusations or suspicion.

It was clever. Calculated. And it positioned me as the potential threat, the insecure mate who might cause problems over innocent interactions.

Every head in the vicinity turned toward me. Pack members watching to see how the new Luna would react. Whether I would be reasonable or possessive. Whether I would defend Ivory's boundaries or demand my mate be allowed to interact freely with his childhood friend.

I felt the weight of their attention, felt the test inherent in the moment.

Through our bond, I felt Kael's swirl of emotions—hurt at Ivory's rejection, confusion about her behavior, and underneath it all, genuine concern that I might actually be bothered by his attempt to check on her.

*Are you?* his mental voice whispered through our connection. *Bothered by me trying to talk to her?*

*No,* I sent back immediately. *She's your friend. Of course you're concerned.*

But even as I said it, even as I meant it, I understood what Ivory was doing. She wasn't just creating distance from Kael. She was making it impossible for that distance to be questioned or challenged.

Because what could Kael say now? What could he do? Any attempt to maintain their friendship, to bridge the gap she'd created, would now be filtered through the lens of his mated status. Would potentially make me look insecure or him look inappropriate.

It was a masterful move, really. Cruel in its effectiveness.

I watched Ivory accept the cloth from Eliza and move to check on another patient, her journal tucked under one arm, her attention completely diverted from Kael as if he'd ceased to exist the moment their conversation ended.

And I watched the pack members around her—the ones who'd brought her food and drink and blankets—close ranks slightly. Not overtly, not dramatically, but enough to create a subtle barrier between Ivory and Kael.

Protecting her, I realized. They were protecting her from what they perceived as unwanted attention from a mated Alpha.

Never mind that said Alpha was her oldest friend. Never mind that his concern was genuine and rooted in years of shared history. The formal boundaries Ivory had invoked were being enforced by proxy, by pack members who saw her as deserving of protection.