Page 41

A sharp knock at my door jolted me from my thoughts. I didn’t need to ask who it was—I already knew. Eli. His citrusy scent reached me a heartbeat before he stepped inside. Good. I needed his help.

“Max, it’s been a few days since you left this room. Are you okay?”

At least someone cared enough to check on me, even though I vaguely recalled ordering everyone to leave me alone. When an alpha gave a command, the pack was bound to obey. I really needed to stop doing that.

The relentless throbbing in my chest—the hollow ache of my mate’s absence—consumed me. Nothing eased it, nothing dulled the sharp edges pressing into my senses. Every breath felt heavier, every interaction more strained. The pack tethered me, kept me from unraveling completely, but even their presence wasn’t enough to make me civil.

Only Eli and Amara could speak to me without triggering the urge to tear them apart. That was the only reason I let him through the door. My lycan didn’t react to Eli’s presence—didn’t bristle, didn’t fight—because to him, Eli was more pack than the rest, more tether than obligation. That was why he allowed him to come close. Amara was kept at a distance. Her mate ensured it, determined to shield her from the chaos as I spiraled further into madness.

“No. How could I be okay? My mate is somewhere in this fucking kingdom, yet no one saw her leave or which direction! Did she command everyone not to speak with me before she left?”

Eli chuckled, which grated on my nerves in my current state. “A queen and luna cannot override the king and alpha. They don’t carry that kind of power.”

“Then how did she leave this mansion without anyone seeing her? I don’t understand how that could have happened.”

“Simple. No one was on her direct path. Have you forgotten how vast this place is?”

I growled, hating how correct he was. “Fine, then explain to me where the next search location should be.”

Eli sighed, his gaze drifting to the map. I followed his lead, hoping he might catch something I’d overlooked. I scanned the marks and traced them repeatedly, but I failed to find a pattern. There were no sightings, not even a trail to follow. Eli understood Kylie’s limitations as well as I did. His mate had been her best friend, and if there was anything we were missing, he would see it.

“Where’s Amara? Maybe she would know where to go.”

“Amara is doing her best to keep the pack house from falling into disarray. Your chaotic energy is filtering down into the rest of the pack. It’s a good thing she was an omega before mating with me. It’s helping to keep the bonds somewhat balanced.”

Most packs maintained a careful balance between omegas and dominants, ensuring the scales never tipped too far in eitherdirection. But the kingdom pack was different. We housed the strongest, most dominant lycans in the kingdom, which meant we required more omegas to stabilize that power. Before Amara and Kylie arrived, the balance had been maintained—fragile but intact. When Kylie’s energy had joined the pack bonds alongside mine, we finally reached true equilibrium. But the bonds didn’t settle as expected; quite the opposite, they became restless. The balance was achieved, but the scales tipped, and the pack felt the weight. They would not let the disturbance pass without consequence.

This was why the Moon Goddess had chosen Kylie as my mate. My pack needed her steady, soothing energy—energy only an omega could provide—to counterbalance the raw dominance we alphas carried. Her presence had changed everything, and the bonds recognized the shift. We settled into harmony, and I wished I had understood before it was too late.

But no. I felt pathetic, as if my weakness was made obvious by a scornful woman.

The throbbing surged, creating an unbearable pressure clawing at my ribs. I braced my forearm against the wall, resting my head against it, grinding my teeth as I forced myself through the pain. Thinking of her always did this to me. The pain of thinking of her only intensified it. The ache never truly faded; it only simmered beneath the surface, waiting for the moment I let my mind slip to her. And when I spoke her name aloud, it became unbearable.

“What can I do? I don’t know where to look or if I can even make it outside the pack because of how berserk my lycan gets without the pack around me.”

Eli sighed again but didn’t step closer into the room. “Maybe we should hire someone to track her. If you can’t leave, and we all know I can’t either with the way things are going, then the next best thing would be to hire someone to do it for us.”

Anger boiled beneath my skin, and the possessiveness I couldn’t suppress surged through me. I refused to let anyone get too close to Kylie. Everyone I brought in knew their roles. I made that clear. New recruits were to track and report, nothing more. No interference. No proximity. Just answers.

“Who could we possibly hire?” I growled.

Even though the thought unsettled me, it was the best plan we had. The mere idea of another male tracking my mate made my blood boil, the urge to tear the room apart barely held at bay. But if I wanted her found—if I wanted to reclaim her without surrendering to the beast inside me—this was my only choice.

“I know of someone. They aren’t tied to any kingdom, but they can be hired. Kind of a brotherhood without a pack.”

“Will they harm my mate?”

He scoffed. “No. They never touch someone they aren’t paid to. If we tell them we only want them to track and report back, that’s exactly what they will do.”

I nodded, the pain still pulsing through me, relentless. Rubbing my chest was a futile effort, but I did it anyway in an absent-minded attempt at comfort that never truly worked. My lycan thrashed inside me, furious at the mere thought of another male near our mate. But there was nothing I could do about it. I didn’teven know where she was. If I did, I would make damn sure no one got close until this was settled.

“Call them. Hire them. Pay whatever they require. If they come back empty-handed, they will see why you shouldn’t piss off the king.”

20

Kylie

Morning sickness had latched onto me with relentless cruelty, refusing to loosen its grip for two weeks. I knew this was normal, that it was just another milestone in pregnancy, but that didn’t make it any easier. Three times a day, my body betrayed me, rejecting everything I tried to keep down. Each episode of morning sickness was violent, leaving me shaken and exhausted, and despite its startling repetition, I still hadn’t learned how to bear it.