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He wasn’t wrong. Nathaniel gave me the revelation I needed. When I came here, I was already throwing caution to the wind regarding being a king. Anyone else would have sent others to bring his mate back to him. I didn’t want anyone touching her or even breathing in her direction anymore. I should have been the one to travel around the kingdom to find her. That was my first mistake.

“You’re right. She deserves better. Kylie deserves the entire world at her feet.”

And I will be the one to do that for her.

So I stood up and thanked Nathaniel before walking away.

“Where are you going?” he called after me.

“To buy a cabin. I can’t show my mate how much she means to me if I go back to the kingdom.”

32

Kylie

Charlotte walked into the room and gave me a smile. A kiss on the forehead made my heart swell. It felt too good to have someone make me feel important. No one had done this before—not even Amara when I had gone into the infirmary a few times before.

“How are you holding up, dear?”

“Good. I thought I would be sore, but with my lycan having the power to heal me, I feel fine.”

She nodded, still smiling, before her eyes fell on my son. “He is so perfect.”

“Do you want to hold him?”

A small gasp escaped her lips, and her eyes sparkled with tears as she held out her arms. The transfer was easy; she cradled myson to her chest and leaned down close enough to rub her nose against his. “Hello there, little one. You are so handsome. I’ve been waiting to meet you.”

The baby sighed in contentment at hearing her voice. I knew babies could hear things while they were in utero, but it still fascinated me to see how responsive my pup was to Charlotte’s voice. He opened his eyes and stared at her, causing tears to fall down Charlotte’s face. It must have been hard for her to hold a pup when she couldn’t have her own. The reality of Charlotte’s inability to bear children broke my heart. She would have been an amazing mother. She had taken care of me all these months without once complaining.

Charlotte deserved to have children. If I could plead with the Moon Goddess herself to grant her that ability, I would do it. This woman eased my mind throughout the pregnancy and taught me how to fight for myself. If it weren’t for Charlotte, I don’t think I would have survived the pregnancy.

She looked up at me as if she could hear my thoughts and sighed. “I doubt he wanted me to tell you this, but Nathaniel is speaking with your ex-mate.”

My stomach dropped. I had hoped Maximus would have stormed off to his car and hurried back to the kingdom after our spat. I guess I couldn’t get that lucky these days.

“What is he talking to him about?” I asked.

She gave me a pointed look, and I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Nathaniel to take on the dad role and try to tell a damn king that if he hurt me, he would die. Maximus had already hurt me; thedamage was done, and I wanted him gone. There wasn’t much to discuss until he took accountability for why this bond fell apart.

“Nathaniel also made sure to tell him what it means to be a mate.”

I narrowed my eyes on her. Part of me didn’t even want Maximus to learn what it meant to be a mate so he would leave my life. It was painful to have him here. It was bringing everything up again, and I didn’t want to deal with it.

But Maximus might not even listen to him. Maximus was someone who thought he knew all the answers. I knew he didn’t since he believed rejecting me was the best idea he could come up with.

“I don’t think Max can learn that.”

She sighed and leaned back in her chair. Here came a mom speech, I was sure of it—another indicator of how Charlotte had taken on the mom role in my life. “Kylie, I don’t know what it feels like to be rejected. I do know what it feels like to be mated for over eighty years.” Yep. Here came the speech. “It’s never easy. You two were made to complement each other, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be disagreements.”

“This wasn’t a disagreement, Charlotte. He rejected me because I wasn’t strong enough for him. Now that I am and have his pup, he wants to get me back? No, thank you.”

There was a throaty chuckle and amusement in her eyes. I didn’t see how this was funny. This was a serious topic because of the pain I felt just knowing Maximus was in my vicinity. I had run here to be away from him, and now he was back. The bond wasscreaming at me to fix it, and my lycan hadn’t stopped whining about going after him to talk things out since he left.

Today was not my day.

“I think you are missing the signs of him being completely distraught since you left.”

Now that she mentioned it, he did seem to look ragged. I could feel his lycan on edge and how he struggled to remain in control while he was in here. That was another reason I wanted him gone. Having an uncontrollable male around a pup didn’t seem like a good idea for a mother.