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“There are more pressing matters than this shit with the witch. You want me to take accountability for what I have done to you, and I am trying to do that. I rejected you because I thought you were too weak to be a queen and luna. Everything with your past seemed to be too much for you to overcome, and then it led to your lycan not being strong enough to connect with you. I didn’t know how to handle that.” He continued to clench the seat and looked away from me. “There were so many signs that this wasn’t going to work. The only way you could get through the day and do everything as a luna was through my touch. It felt like you were going to be a leech on me.”

I sucked in a breath and growled. He just called me a damn leech. Did he mean to say that? Was that really how he felt about me?

“You thought I was a leech?”

He jumped to his feet.

“No! That’s how it all felt to me, and in your presence, I could feel the bond yearning, and it pushed away all those thoughts. When we were together, everything felt normal. When we wereapart, I would see the flaws, and it would become too much for me.”

I held the baby close to my chest and tried to put more distance between us on the bed. Feeling his gaze on me, I looked at the floor. The need to run consumed me. He needed to calm down if he wanted this conversation to continue, but I didn’t know how to even approach the damn subject.

His labored breathing was the only sound I could hear outside of my heart beating inside my chest. I heard him fall to the ground, and when I looked up, he was on his knees with his head bowed.

“You’re afraid of me.”

It wasn’t a question but a statement. He noticed how I reacted and lowered himself more than me. This was a sign of submission from him and his lycan. This wasn’t normal, especially for an alpha. My father would never have done this, not even for his mate.

How did I respond to this? Maximus reacting submissively wasn’t something I’d ever expected him to do. If he reacted this way just because I was afraid, then maybe he regretted what he had done. An alpha submitting to his mate was a complete mind fuck because it rarely happened. My lycan was purring at the sight of our mate like this, calming my anxiety about him scaring the shit out of me. The baby was nestled against my breast, softly snoring. The deep sleep he was in at least meant he wasn’t noticing what was going on in here, which made me breathe a bit easier.

“When anyone screams or moves fast, it puts me back in the state I was in with my father. It always led to me getting hit…”

“I’d never hit you,” he whispered. “I would rather die than lay a finger on you. I don’t even understand how your father was capable of doing it. He should have protected you at all costs.”

“Well, he didn’t.”

He sighed but kept his head bowed. “You are right about one thing. I need to take accountability for what I’ve done. Nova shouldn’t have come between us. The bond was there, and I should have trusted it the moment I felt it. It’s just that when we were apart while I was doing my duties, I didn’t feel it anymore. The drive to be around you wasn’t there when it should’ve been. During that time, it made me see things the way I would have if we weren’t mates. It messed with my head.”

“And you let some other woman convince you I wasn’t good enough for you.”

He whined. Whined! I don’t think I ever heard a male whine at their mate before, especially not in a heartbroken tone like he did. The way he was reacting made me see how broken he must be without me. It wasn’t enough, though. I couldn’t let that make me break. He still hasn’t apologized. I can see his heartbreak, but I still haven’t heard him say all the things he should be saying right now.

“Kylie.” He looked up at me, and I could see the tears brimming in his eyes. “I am sorry. I caused so much pain for you when I should have been there for you. You came to me from such a bad situation, and I didn’t take care of you in the ways I should have. The bond was there. That’s all I should have noticed. When we were apart, I should have realized that something was wrong when I didn’t want to get back to you as soon as I could.” Hesniffled, and I thought the tears would fall. My breath caught in my throat, and it was making me want to cry with him.

No. I needed to stay strong here. I don’t want to break just yet. We still need to talk things out.

“How can I trust that it won’t happen again? Even though I’ve finally connected with my lycan and become stronger, what if that still isn’t enough? What if another woman comes in and tells you I’m not good enough?”

“I’ll kill her.”

He said it so matter-of-factly that my eyebrows shot up. “What?”

“I’ll kill anyone who tries to keep us apart. I am your mate, and I need to treat you the way you deserve. I didn’t last time, but I see what my mistakes were. Nathaniel was right about me. I wasn’t the mate you deserve, and I will spend the rest of my life showing you how I feel about you.”

The admission made my whole body feel like it was on fire. The way he looked at me had my heart racing. There was more truth to his words than I could handle, and it would have made my knees go weak if I were standing. I swallowed hard as I tried to find the words I wanted to say to him.

But then something came to mind again.

Something that broke the moment, and I knew if I didn’t get the answer I wanted, it would tell me more than what he had confessed.

“Then tell me why you didn’t tell me about the curse.”

His face fell, and I was waiting for a response. The room went quiet again, and everything I felt before slipped away. He wasn’t going to tell me about this curse. Why? I already knew about it, so there was no reason to lie to me. If he told me the truth, then we could move on.

But I couldn’t be with someone who thought it was okay to lie to me.

The silence became so deafening that my eyes welled with tears as my heart tore in two. I so badly wanted everything to go back to the way it was, but not until I knew it wouldn’t happen again. He couldn’t lie to me! That was not what I signed up for when I accepted the bond the first time, and I sure as hell wouldn’t accept it this time.

“Get out.”