Page 28

Maximus

The map of the kingdom stretched across the wall of my office, black X s marking every neighboring pack where we had already searched and found no trace of Kylie.

With the kingdom pack at the heart of the land, the sheer number of territories beyond an hour’s reach made sorting through them an overwhelming task.

Distance wasn’t the only obstacle—I could no longer stray far without my grip on my lycan slipping.

It was my pack’s unwavering presence, their connection through the bonds, that kept me grounded.

Whenever I strayed from the pack for too long, the ache in my chest intensified, a constant, punishing reminder of what was missing.

My lycan’s rage, festering in the absence of his mate, turned volatile—hurling himself against the walls of my mind, demanding release.

Without the stabilizing presence of my pack, suppressing him became a battle I was slowly losing.

Their steadfast support and reassurances that we would find our queen and bring her home kept him from unraveling entirely.

But it wasn’t until I ventured alone to the fifth pack that I realized just how precarious my control had become. My temper frayed too easily, the shift nearly overtaking me. If I had lost that fight, if my lycan had broken free, I would have slaughtered my people.

It was a nightmare.

I stared at the map, the ten black X s standing stark against the sea of untouched markers—forty packs I had yet to scour.

Doubt gnawed at me. It seemed unlikely Kylie had taken refuge in any of them, but they could still hold answers.

Someone had to have seen her, had to remember her passing through.

Even if she had crossed the border into another kingdom, there would be a trace, a whisper of her presence waiting to be uncovered.

Kylie had many strengths, but navigating unforgiving terrain wasn’t one of them.

The outskirts of the kingdom were brutal—jagged cliffs, dense forests, and treacherous ground that would test even the strongest lycan.

In her weakened state, there was no way she could have fought her way through it alone.

Somewhere along the way, she must have passed through a place, crossed a path, and left a trace.

She didn’t simply vanish—she made her way to where she was now, and someone, somewhere, saw it happen.

Mate is not here. We should be looking for her! My lycan growled inside me.

There was no clear path, no structured way to track her through the packs.

Every search felt like grasping at shadows, chasing traces that refused to solidify.

My lycan needed patience—needed discipline—but the moment Kylie shifted and ran, all of that shattered.

Instinct took over, the hunt consuming him, and restraint became nothing more than a distant, broken promise.

It’s your fault. She shouldn’t have ever run from us.

Do you not see that I understand?

I don’t care what you believe now. You refused to listen to me. The Moon Goddess gave us a precious gift, and you threw it away!

Will you stop with that? I know I made a mistake!

Do you? You acted like a spoiled child. The lycan growled, practically foaming at the mouth as he addressed me. Kylie was not good enough for you, so you cast her aside and demanded another!

It was just another thing he hurled at me, a constant refrain.

He had called me a child before—mocking, furious—because I had doubted Kylie’s worth, questioned whether she deserved to remain bonded.

But once again, I saw what he refused to see.

The beast, blind to the bigger picture, consumed only what it wanted, what it believed should never have been doubted.

Though I cared little for the bigger picture anymore.

I don’t want another! Kylie has left a hole in my heart that no female could fill.

Tell that to the female who smells of coconuts.

Just another task I wished I could strike from my list. Nova refused to grasp the truth: she would never be queen.

Not unless someone managed to slit my throat and defeat Eli to take the throne.

That would be no small feat. I hadn’t lost a fight since my youth, and Eli had only ever fallen to me.

It was his dominance, raw power, and unyielding skill in battle that ensured him his title as beta—and kept him there.

It’s on my list to remind her she isn’t my mate.

Send her away before I get my hands on her. The whispers in your ears to reject our mate came from her.

He wasn’t wrong about that. Nova had pulled me toward rejection despite Eli’s steady warnings to hold back. Yet, I hadn’t listened—not to the one person I’d trusted since childhood, the one voice that had always guided me when doubt crept in. Eli had been my anchor, second only to my father.

If he were here, I wouldn’t have dared to question how he felt about my mate. He would have loved her. My father had always longed for a daughter who bore my mother’s likeness—someone to keep her memory alive, to soften the loss that had carved its way through him.

Kylie had always reminded me of my mother—those deep brown eyes, brimming with kindness despite the suffering she had endured.

My mother had faced horrors at the hands of someone who cared nothing for her, someone who saw only what they could take.

My father had found her broken and betrayed, and he had wasted no time in exacting justice, snapping the necks of every man who had laid a hand on her.

I should have done the same the moment I learned what Kylie had been through. The rage still simmered beneath my skin, a constant burn at the memory of my hesitation. I had waited too long to tear Alpha Alexander apart. The moment I saw my mate caged like an animal, I should have ended him.

If I could bring him back from the dead and rip him apart again, I would, my lycan growled.

So would I, I replied.

Shut up, you imbecile! You were the one who waited to kill that bastard.

I carried my mate out of that hellhole and brought her home. It was you who didn’t want her there any longer.

Should have gone back immediately to kill him.

Once again, my lycan had been right. I should have gone back and ended him—another regret to carry for the rest of my days.

I should have shown no mercy to anyone who dared to defy me.

If I had, Nova would have never made it to the ceremony.

She would have been gone long before, and I never would have had to reject her.

Kill her now , my lycan demanded.

Nova has done nothing since I rejected her. I can’t just barge into her room and rip her apart now.

Why not?

This time, I reinforced the barriers, locking him out where he might not break through.

Lately, those walls had crumbled too easily—because, despite everything, I had needed the company.

Eli and Amara had taken over the pack, giving me the space to focus on finding Kylie.

But it hadn’t been enough. Restricted to the pack’s borders, limitations strangled my search, and every moment without answers carved deeper into my frustration.

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 either direction.

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’t even 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.”