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Yet it hadn’t. Instead, she remained fragile and unchanged. Kylie was caught in a state that defied logic and everything I knew to be true in this world.

“This makes little sense. I only have one option,” I growled. I wasn’t used to this, and I hated being in this position.

True mates were supposed to elevate each other and forge an unbreakable connection that strengthened both halves of the bond. Yet that certainty wavered with Kylie, leaving me questioning everything I thought I knew.

How could I believe in the strength of this bond when she only took from it? She clung to me at night out of need, not desire. She was always drawing from my energy in ways I hadn’t fully grasped until now.

This wasn’t simple exhaustion; it was something deeper. My body demanded a forced healing sleep as it struggled to replenish what she unconsciously drained. Each morning, I woke feeling less than I had the day before.

I would risk missing an alarm if I allowed this to continue. A king needed to protect his kingdom, not let it suffer because of something he could easily resolve.

My lycan roared inside me, hating me for even considering rejecting Kylie as our mate. The more I tried to push him down into a cage, the more he fought against me.

Do not reject our mate!

She is weak and makes us weak!

Kylie is ours! Ours to love, ours to protect.

We can’t have all our focus being on our mate!

The beast raged within me, but I couldn’t afford to indulge him. I needed to do this despite my lycan’s objections. He couldn’t see the broader picture the way I did. He was a beast that couldn’t understand the consequences of letting this continue unchecked.

If the kingdom discovered Kylie’s weakness, they wouldn’t question her; they would question me. In their eyes, a ruler burdened with a fragile queen was perceived as vulnerable. I could never allow that. The kingdom needed strength, not pity.

Bonding should have solidified everything, should have strengthened both Kylie and my standing within the pack. But instead of stability, things had only unraveled further. Doubt had taken root, spreading through the ranks, and whispers questioning my choice of mate had grown louder.

It could spark something worse than mere discontent if enough of them felt this way. This could result in an uprising if left unchecked. Failure to contain those doubts could cause them to spread beyond the pack and infect the kingdom. The idea of being forced off the throne because of this weakling was something I couldn’t afford to ignore.

The throne was mine.

Kylie is mine. Rejecting her would be a mistake.My beast growled at me.

I ignored him. It wasn’t his decision to make. That all fell on me. I needed to be strong enough to make this decision if I wanted to be an excellent king to my people. Leadership sometimes requires sacrifice.

A surge of uncertainty and self-doubt crashed into me as I lowered the barrier between us. Kylie’s emotions were sharp and heightened to a level that left no room to doubt that I was the cause of her woes.

I had felt her small, persistent attempts to reach me, but I had kept the barrier in place. I refused to let her in. She didn’t need my chaos on top of her own anxieties, and letting her feel the weight of my hesitation would only make everything worse.

Kylie, could you come to my office?I reached out to her through our bond.

I felt her surprise at my sudden presence in the bond before a sense of relief washed through it.Yeah. It may take me a few minutes because I am not feeling so well.

I tried as hard as I could to keep my frustration from flooding the bond. That comment only reinforced what I already knew: this bond needed to be severed.

It was pathetic; even a short trip to my office completely overwhelmed her. The suite wasn’t far, not by any reasonable measure, yet she still hadn’t made it. The bond whispered her location to me, confirming she was somewhere within the pack house, but that did nothing to ease my irritation. Strength was expected. Strength was necessary. And Kylie… Kylie was failing to meet even the most basic standard.

I needed to be seated, composed, and ready before she arrived. This wasn’t just a conversation; it was a negotiation. I had to approach it like any other business deal and lay out the facts with cold precision. I needed to make her see why this decision was necessary.

Ending the bond wouldn’t be easy. Losing a mate would leave its mark. But when stripped down to logic and reason, the conclusion was undeniable: severing the bond was the best course of action.

If I didn’t feel the connection the way I was supposed to, then Kylie wasn’t the right mate for me. The Moon Goddess had made a mistake—Kylie wasn’t my perfect match.

That was why I didn’t feel the instinctual need to stay by her side, why the pull wasn’t as strong as it should have been. My lycan clung to her only because of fate, as the bond was inherent to our existence. But beyond that? He fought for it only because of our predetermined fate, nothing more.

A fated mate meant someone I’d love unconditionally, yet I was finding reasons not to want to be bonded with her. That alone told me this was the right decision.

Kylie walked in, her body partially against the wall to keep her upright, her shoulders slumped, and her head bowed. The exhaustion she felt was clear in her body language. It took more energy than she had to get to the office.