Page 22

Maximus

The hardwood was marred with scuff marks from constant pacing. My mind was weighing the pros and cons of choosing to bond with Kylie. There were so many other things I should be focusing on, but those duties had to wait as I considered this matter.

After sealing the bond, I should have prioritized her happiness, kept her close, and enjoyed building our life together.

I had imagined her by my side, reluctant to leave our bedroom, her belly swelling with my pup.

When I was with Kylie, everything else fell away.

Every second in her presence consumed me. Nothing else mattered.

Yet every time I was away from her, I questioned whether she was the better choice for me as a mate.

Something was wrong with me or the bond itself. There had to be a reason Kylie hadn’t grown stronger since our bonding ceremony—a reason I could walk away from her so easily when that should have been impossible.

Eli and Amara were inseparable, and their bond thrived with an intensity that left no room for doubt.

Eli gravitated toward his mate, always seeking her out and tending to her.

He wasn’t calculating his devotion; it was entirely instinctual.

It was an undeniable force driving him to be near her, to protect her, and to cherish her.

But for Kylie and me? That pull wasn’t the same, and I didn’t feel the same sharp and overwhelming attraction as Eli did. That single thought gnawed at me more than I wanted to admit.

It wasn’t the same, and I didn’t know why.

Kylie was mostly out of sight, out of mind. The more time I spent away from her, the more I focused on her as a concern for myself as the king and alpha. This wasn’t normal. This was more concerning than I had originally thought.

I dragged my hands down my face, releasing a frustrated groan. None of this made sense. The weakness of her lycan was a mystery beyond my abilities.

The bond should have fixed this. It should have fortified her, mended whatever flaw had kept her weak, and given her the strength she lacked. My immense power should have flooded her and forced her lycan form to come forward in its intended state.

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.

What the hell was wrong with my mate?

Nova was right, and the growl that rose at the realization of the female’s words annoyed me to my core.

Kylie couldn’t be my real mate. This was all a mistake.

My lycan roared at my thoughts and threw himself against my mind, demanding to shift to stop me from doing this.

The cage hadn’t worked, so I erected a wall around him instead, stopping him from nearly breaking through.

It didn’t stop him from trying, but the wall was thicker and could contain his rage better than the mental cage.

This had to be done, and I couldn’t let anyone stop me.

Kylie made it into the chair and sank into it. Her caramel and vanilla scent calmed my beast as it wrapped around me. The way her scent could bring this level of ease to me felt wonderful. My muscles relaxed as I breathed it in.

“Something occurred to me, and I wanted to talk about it.”

Kylie’s face went pale, and through the bond, I could feel her uneasiness. I knew this would be hard, but I needed to press on. This needed to be done for the good of the pack.

She whimpered, “Okay.”

“I don’t know how to bring this up, so I’m just going to be blunt with you. When I first brought you here, I thought we would heal your wounds and you would turn out fine. The added layer of your lycan being in this odd state of powerlessness unless we touch is a problem.”

My mate wouldn’t look at me. The audible sigh from her felt like she accepted the news without argument, as if she expected me to say these things and would accept anything I said next.

She didn’t believe in herself enough to come up with another reason for this to be happening. Not even a new solution for us to try.

Another reason to add to the list of why this would be the best thing to do.

“I’m sorry, my king. I’ve had to deal with this all my life. No doctor was ever able to fully explain it either.”

“Meaning this was something you had before your lycan emerged?”

She nodded. “It didn’t get better after she emerged. We don’t know why.”

I groaned with frustration as I pushed myself back into my chair. This was worse news because it meant Kylie wasn’t a strong enough host for the lycan.

“It sounds to me like this is something that won’t get better with time. If you were weak before she arrived and the lycan didn’t improve your life, you shouldn’t even be bonded to a lycan.”

Kylie shrugged. I could hear her sniffles, and sadness twisted inside me.

This was painful for her to endure, and I could sense her anticipation of my rejection through the bond, clear as day.

She knew what was coming, but she wasn’t arguing against my decision.

At least I knew she felt this was to be expected.

It would hurt her, just as it would hurt me, but maybe it wouldn’t break her.

“As you know, lycans are an aggressive breed of supernatural beings. To rule over them, you need a level of strength that I wonder if you will ever possess. I thought bonding with you would help your lycan grow in power, but somehow, that didn’t happen.

It’s not like there is a doctor for bonds who can examine it to tell us why this is happening, so we need to accept that the bond will not fix what is broken. ”

The sniffling became louder. Kylie still wouldn’t look at me, which I appreciated. It made this much easier to do without seeing the pain in her face as it happened. Through the bond, I noticed she had erected a wall between us, blocking me out of her feelings and preparing for the worst.

“I’m sorry, Kylie. I have the entire kingdom on my shoulders. This is a decision about what’s best for the kingdom, not what’s best for us.”

Sniffles. “I understand, Max. If anything, I expected this.” She sucked in air, and the sobbing began.

Her eyes were bloodshot, and I realized she had been crying all day leading up to this moment, but I was unaffected by her tears.

Something was definitely wrong if I could see my mate crying and not want to console her.

“I just… want you to know…” Kylie struggled to get the words out.

“I love you. If I could figure out what was wrong and change it, I would. I’m not sure if time would make that happen or not. I…” Kylie sighed.

This was painful to watch. I needed to end this now before it got worse. “I, Maximus Morgrave, reject you, Kylie Blackthorne, as my mate and luna.”

Kylie gasped and clutched her chest. The pain from the rejection made her bend forward.

I waited through her sobs for her to ride out the pain of the bond snapping.

The scent of coconut slowly wafted into the room.

My eyes rolled, knowing Nova was here. Of course, she would show up for this.

She sashayed through the threshold wearing a red dress that clung to her.

Nova looked down at my mate and laughed.

“I’m proud of you, Maxy. I didn’t think you’d go through with it. I’m glad you chose the kingdom over your mate. I told you that’s what you needed.”

The way Kylie snapped her head to look at Nova made my heart feel strange. There was a fire in her eyes I hadn’t seen before. Where had this fire been until now? When her brilliant brown eyes met mine again, the fire turned to ice.

“I, Kylie Blackthorne, accept your rejection, and I reject you, Maximus Morgrave, as my fated mate and alpha.”

Pain seared through my chest at her rejection, and I roared as I felt the bond snap.

The beast inside me snarled as he pushed against the wall, slamming into it with a new level of strength to break it down and reach his mate.

My vision blurred as the pain continued, and I braced myself on my desk to keep from shifting.

My lycan had to acknowledge that the bond was broken.

Yet, when my vision cleared, I saw Kylie shifting.

Someone pressed Nova against the wall; her face showed terror.

Kylie snarled in her direction as the shift finished, her beautiful light gray coat looking perfectly sleek as she shook the magic from the shift off.

Her head whipped toward me, and her normally brown eyes flashed gold with rage before she took off.

What have I done? Kylie didn’t seem to have the strength to complete a shift on a good day, yet she shifted fast enough to run out the door after I rejected her. Did I miss something? This wasn’t supposed to be possible.

Losing my mate weighed heavily on my chest as I stared at the empty chair. What the fuck was happening?

My beast howled in mourning at the loss of the bond, and my chest felt empty, as if Kylie had run off with my heart. The cackling of Zephyrine filled my mind.

What the fuck did I just do? Why did I hear that witch’s laugh?

I fucking rejected my mate, but that’s not what I should have done, was it? Zephyrine’s laugh echoed in the depths of my mind. That bitch cursed me, and she somehow knew I had rejected my mate. This was making her happy. I rejected my mate just as I had rejected her.

I made a big fucking mistake.