Page 20

Kylie

“You weren’t there, Amara. His face looked like he resented me.” My throat was dry as I struggled to get the words out. “Everything was fine before he left the suite. It’s like we were in a happy bubble until it burst last night, and now, he hates me.”

Amara slid over on the couch and pulled me into a hug. “I’m sure he doesn’t hate you. There’s a lot going on in the kingdom, and he is probably just overwhelmed. Eli can’t even tell me everything because he said there are things that need to remain between him and Maximus.”

Maximus seldom spoke of the burdens that came with ruling. Keeping things from me would be an unspoken weight that I needed to learn to carry. My journey from a lowly omega to queen had been a slow evolution. Every day, I was becoming someone who understood the delicate pulse of leadership.

I had taken on the responsibility of organizing the omegas’ schedules, prioritizing a careful balance between tasks they dreaded and those that brought them fulfillment.

I shaped the system to their preferences to create something that wouldn’t crush them with obligations.

A proper balance ensured that they would thrive with a sense of harmony.

I wanted the structure I built to be one of understanding rather than mere necessity.

I knew what she meant; there were whispers echoing through the halls about movement in the rogue territory bordering ours.

We were attacked by a small group of rogues, which would undoubtedly weigh on Maximus.

If they had targeted one pack, there was a real possibility more would follow.

Rogues normally kept their distance from the kingdom’s packs, but something had changed.

In their territory, something must have been stirring.

But what could have happened to make my mate hate me?

Our hunger for each other had only intensified since the bonding ceremony.

Every day after fulfilling our duties to the pack, we would return to our suite where nothing else mattered.

After dinner, our hands would gravitate toward each other with an undeniable pull.

We could never sate our need to touch one another; we had to have each other.

We tangled ourselves together every night and succumbed to the connection until exhaustion finally claimed us.

I was exhausted, but I didn’t care. Being Maximus’s mate felt right, and everything finally felt right.

Until last night.

When he finally walked through the door, I was already in bed.

I couldn’t sleep. My mind was restless after I tried to reach for him through the bond and couldn’t find him.

It rattled me when Maximus had shut me out for the first time, and he had avoided doing it again.

The barrier was back tonight, and it was unwavering.

With rogues stirring up trouble, maybe he thought it best to shield me from his unease.

Amara was right; some things were meant for Maximus and Eli to handle. Worrying wouldn’t change a thing.

The wall he put up still caused me unease.

“I don’t know what I can do,” my voice trembled as the words fell from my mouth.

Terror was the only thing I felt. What if Maximus didn’t want to be bonded to me anymore? That was a possibility. It’s not like things had gotten better for me in that department.

I wasn’t oblivious. The only time I felt truly energized, able to face the day without exhaustion dragging me down, was after a night wrapped in Maximus’s arms. His touch breathed life into me and filled the spaces where my strength should have been.

After the ceremony, everything should have fallen into place, the missing piece locking into position.

Whatever was wrong with me should have faded the moment I bonded with my powerful mate.

I could feel the energy within the bond.

It buzzed like a current humming beneath my skin, but I couldn’t reach it.

It remained just out of grasp. The only time I could access it was during the fleeting moments after waking, when Maximus’s touch had recharged whatever part of me kept failing.

And that wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

When he finally came home last night, he kept his back to me.

There was no warmth or familiar embrace.

All he gave me was distance where there had always been closeness.

He didn’t touch me; he didn’t even reach for me.

The space between us felt heavier than the silence, and sleep became impossible with the weight of it pressing down on me.

Maximus stirred when the first streaks of sunlight filtered through the window.

However, he didn’t give me a kiss or a gentle touch before leaving; he simply left without saying a word.

Not even a lingering glance. Just absence.

I lay there, staring at the ceiling, running my mind through every conversation from the day before, searching for the moment I had gone wrong.

Nothing came to mind, which made everything so much worse.

Amara looked at me and bit her lip. “I don’t know, sweetie.

Eli and I are different. There isn’t as much on our plates as you and Maximus have.

As king and queen, you don’t just have the pack on your shoulders to take care of.

You have every pack in the kingdom. So it’s easier for us since…

we only have to worry about the people here.

” She rocked her head from side to side.

“Well, we can help with the other packs, but Maximus has Eli do a lot for this pack so he can focus on the others. He’s pretty good at delegating. ”

I reached out to Maximus again through the bond, and the anxiety hit me like a sack of bricks. The wall was still there, and now, it was thicker than I remembered it being.

He was really blocking me out.

What changed? What did I do to upset him so much that he didn’t want to touch me?

A thought struck like a bolt of lightning: Nova whispering in Maximus’s ear to plant seeds of doubt about my worth. I began to hyperventilate and struggled to breathe as if I had taken a blow straight to the chest.

What if she had gotten to him again? What if her venomous words had convinced him I wasn’t strong enough and that I wasn’t worthy of his bond? The possibility tightened around me, and it was suffocating. And worse than anything, I couldn’t prove if this was real or not.

My stomach twisted violently at the thought, and I could feel bile rising as my thoughts tormented me. I barely had the strength to drag myself to the bathroom. I was drained. My energy depleted without the restoring touch of Maximus or the comfort of sleep.

Just as the nausea overtook me, I collapsed in front of the toilet, catching most of it before it spilled onto the floor.

My anxiety had knotted me so tightly that there was little left in my stomach to expel.

Amara rushed to my side as the last wave of nausea passed.

Her hands gently pulled my hair away from my face, offering me steadiness amid the chaos unraveling inside me.

“Sweetie, are you okay? Should I call the pack doctor?”

I shook my head. There’s no cure for a broken heart. The pack doctor has no remedy that could help me through this.

“No, he can’t cure what I have.”

The chill of the floor was a welcome relief as I rolled onto my back.

The thought gnawed at me: what would I do if Maximus rejected me?

I had never believed I would find my mate before he came along.

When I finally met him, I thought for sure he would want nothing to do with a weakling like me, but Maximus was different.

He pulled me from the wreckage of my past and saved me from a pack that failed me.

It felt like we would face my struggles together, and he would help me carry my burdens. But now, I wasn’t so sure.

“Wait, things aren’t getting better with your lycan, either?”

My lycan sluggishly stirred within me. She mirrored the sickness that weighed me down.

We had grown accustomed to Maximus’s power and the strength it infused in us.

Now that we were stripped of it, we felt more fragile than ever before.

She grieved just as I did, and her pain entwined with mine.

We were two broken hearts, struggling to hold on to what was slipping away.

“No. After we bonded, I thought his power would kickstart mine. It hasn’t. Only when he’s touching me do I feel my lycan is at full power.”

“That’s so strange. It’s bad enough that your lycan isn’t at full power. Now you’re getting sick if your mate doesn’t touch you? That’s a new level of fucked up!”

I whimpered weakly as a wave of nausea churned violently in my stomach.

The toilet was within reach, but I barely made it in time.

Every movement was agonizing, and my body ached as I collapsed back onto the cold floor.

I hoped curling up would ease the twisting pressure, but it only grew worse.

The pain forced me to stretch out to stop the relentless discomfort.

What the hell would I do if my mate rejected me? If things got worse without his touch now, would I even survive the rejection?

My lycan whimpered deep within me, causing my chest to ache and my eyes to tear up. I didn’t want to dwell on this. I didn’t want to let the fear consume me, but it was the only thought circling in my mind.

I would be broken if Maximus left me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Whatever was happening to my lycan was beyond my control, and neither the doctor from my old pack nor the one here could possibly understand.

There were no answers for my condition or any solutions to overcome it.

I only ever had the uncertainty of what would happen next.

Amara’s nostrils flared as she took in the air. Her eyes widened, and my pulse spiked. What was happening? What scent did she pick up? Was this a warning of something yet to come?