Page 39

Maximus

Before I gathered my things for my car, Eli came into my room with the same expression as before.

I was beginning to hate that look because, so far, it had never led to anything good.

I had been told that my mate had been going to the clinic because of how sick she had become without her lycan connecting to her properly.

If he had worse news than that, I might just kill him.

Don’t kill the messenger.

If I could hit my lycan, I would.

“What now?” I growled as I threw different clothes into my bag.

Eli frowned at me. “Another report has come in. You aren’t going to like this.”

It was becoming increasingly difficult to contain my lycan, knowing Kylie had been in and out of the clinic since she left. Hearing that I wasn’t going to like this next round of news didn’t bode well.

“What?” I said through clenched teeth.

If I clenched any harder, I was sure my teeth would break. Feeling my lycan just under my skin while I tried to keep him contained was the bigger battle right now. It had been hard to stop him from forcing a shift to find Kylie over the last nine months. He was starting to win.

“Kylie is back in that clinic. The men saw her being rushed in by that couple I mentioned before.” I lowered myself to grip the bed with my claws.

This was worse news than before, just as I had feared.

“The report indicated that they thought she might be in the ICU or whatever the equivalent is in that small clinic.”

The ripples of my struggle to keep my lycan at bay were visible as I fought for control.

Fur sprouted in a few places, and my claws elongated, tearing through the fabric of my comforter.

He wanted to push through so he could run toward Kylie and rip apart anyone who stood in his way.

I knew the trail of bodies and bloodshed would do nothing but harm my kingdom, which was the only reason I held him back.

“Max.” Eli was trying to get me to focus on him, but I couldn’t. “Do you want me to drive there?”

“No!” I bellowed. “No one can come with me. I don’t want anyone seeing or touching her except for me.”

If I encountered anyone along the way, it wouldn’t end well. I wanted my mate. It had been too long without her, and I refused to spend another second apart. My lycan agreed and stopped pushing for the shift.

While slamming the top of the luggage and zipping it closed, I looked over at Eli. “Run the kingdom in my absence. I will call if anything comes up.”

He nodded and moved out of my room. As I walked behind him, I wished there was something I could say to ease the tension in the moment. Nothing came to mind.

The only thing consuming my thoughts was getting to Kylie.

It felt like there was a rock in the pit of my stomach as a million troubling scenarios flooded my mind.

None of them suggested my mate would survive.

It didn’t help me calm down. My lycan understood we needed to get to her.

If she was on the brink of death, we could be the key to helping her through whatever was happening right now.

If I got there in time, I could bond with her and share my lycan’s power to stop the Moon Goddess from taking her from me.

I might have messed up, but I could not allow her to be taken from me.

Not like this. Not without having the chance to tell her how sorry I was and beg for her forgiveness.

I could not let that happen. This had been too much.

The walls felt like they were closing in as I walked toward the garage.

What if I was too late?

What if I got there and she was already gone?

My lycan roared at the thought that we wouldn’t get there in time. We WILL get to our mate. SAVE HER!

Easier said than done. It would take us at least ten hours to drive there.

It would feel longer because of the impending doom I felt.

If only I had thought to look in the rogue territory first. It was the only place I wouldn’t have expected her to go, and it should have been the first place I checked.

Kylie was smart. She had survived worse conditions under Alexander.

“Good luck, Max,” Eli said to me before I got in the car.

I didn’t even realize I was already there.

Caught up in my thoughts, I walked on autopilot to the garage.

I should be concerned that I tuned out everything from inside the house while walking here, but that was the least of my worries.

Kylie needed me. I had to hope she was strong enough to survive until I could get to her.

I should have said something to Eli, but that didn’t seem important now.

I tossed the bag into the trunk and got into the car.

I will get there in time, I told myself repeatedly as I started the car and drove out of the garage. There is no other option. I will get there in time.

***

It was dark by the time I reached the closest section of woods that would lead me to my mate.

Paying the men I hired a bonus would be at the top of my list when I got home for sending me coordinates to this area.

It would lead to the right entryway into the territory so I wouldn’t startle anyone.

A trek through the woods was the least of my concerns, yet it annoyed me more than I cared to admit that I would need to walk the rest of the way. I wanted to be by Kylie’s side by now.

My only saving grace was that another update had come through.

The leader of the men I hired alerted me that Kylie was pulling through and was awake.

In rogue territory, it seemed they took keeping the patient’s details more seriously than the kingdom did.

If there were people I wanted information on, I received it within the hour.

Rogues didn’t care that I was the king. They were outside the laws of our land, so they didn’t have to listen to any of my commands.

With my power, I could force the issue, but that would cause more problems than it would solve.

I hadn’t thought my baggage through. If anything, I should have used a duffel bag so I could throw it over my shoulder after shifting to use my enhanced speed to get through this faster. There were straps to use it as a backpack, but it wouldn’t sit well on my lycan form.

Who cares? We must get to our mate!

He was right. I was overthinking it.

Shedding my clothes and calling on my lycan, I easily shifted into my furry form, spurred on by his eagerness.

Holding my clothes in my mouth, I used my enhanced speed to sprint through the woods.

It was when I saw the entry point that resembled a wooden archway formed by the trees that I paid little attention to anything else as I sniffed the ground and air for my mate’s scent.

There. I could smell it. The caramel and vanilla scent I’d craved for so long hit my nose. It was faint, but something else intertwined with the scent set my lycan on edge. Kylie was in trouble. I could smell the blood mingling with her scent, and I needed to find her right now.

Her scent led me straight to the clinic, and I barreled through the door without a second thought.

Dozens of eyes landed on me, and a growl ripped through the noise of the clinic.

Everyone’s eyes dropped to the ground, none of them challenging me as I searched for my mate.

The place wasn’t big. If I had to guess, it had about a dozen patient rooms, and my mate could be in any of them.

Someone stepped into my path with their hands raised to stop me from going further. My clothes fell from my mouth as I roared to make them move. When they didn’t, I pushed forward, indifferent to whether I hurt them or not. My mate was here, and I would find her.

“Sir! Please!” the person screamed as I shoved them aside. I could smell her scent. It was getting stronger. If I kept going, I would find her, and I could claim her as mine once again. “Sir! Those are patient rooms! Tell me who you’re looking for, and I can help you!”

No one could help me except for my mate. Neither my lycan nor I wanted anyone talking to us or touching us right now. Finding our mate was the only option, and nothing would stop us from doing this.

I followed the scent through the hall, and it ended at the very end. Bursting through the door, the rage that surged through me from not finding her yet caused another roar to escape from my throat.

She wasn’t there.

There was blood everywhere on the floor. The walls closed in once again, as I thought I was too late. This couldn’t be. How did I allow this to happen? If I had used my resources, I would have arrived sooner. There were helicopters on retainer; I could have called one to get here in time.

I threw my head back and howled mournfully as the thought of my mate being ripped from this plane of existence too soon settled in my mind.

Lowering myself to the ground, I tried to accept that I was too late.

I needed to get closer to her scent, and the blood was the closest thing I could find now.

In the blood, the taint I couldn’t identify before still stung at me.

What the hell is this scent?

It didn’t smell like death. Not even the room had that odor.

I could smell her caramel and vanilla, but there was something else—mint.

My scent carried mint in it. That didn’t make any sense.

It’s been far too long for the scent to still be mingled with hers.

I no longer carried hers, so how could she still be carrying mine?

I heard something moving behind me. Who would dare approach me?

It was the person from the hall who tried to keep me from coming back here.

Did they know my mate was dead, and that’s why they didn’t want me back here? No one would do that to a grieving mate. But they didn’t know she was my mate before I came in here.

I needed to shift back. My lycan growled because he wanted to grip this person’s throat and rip their head from their body for trying to keep us from this room.

I couldn’t let my beast do that. As much as I wanted to inflict pain on someone for this, I didn’t know what had happened.

That didn’t stop me from roaring in this person’s face as I tried to wrestle my lycan into submission long enough to shift back.

He didn’t want to go back into his cage.

He wanted answers about what happened to our mate.

We won’t find out if you don’t let me talk to them! I snapped.

They killed our mate! They don’t deserve to breathe! My lycan snarled in my mind.

We don’t know that! She could have gone home, and they haven’t cleaned up from what happened in here! We don’t smell death, only blood!

This caught my lycan’s attention and allowed the shift back to happen.

Once I was on my feet, I did exactly what I wanted to stop my lycan from doing.

I grabbed the worker’s throat and pulled him close to me.

This male’s brown eyes looked terrified as I glared into them.

He looked away as quickly as he could, revealing that he was not dominant enough to hold my gaze.

His pupils were dilated, and I could hear his heart thumping in his chest.

He was terrified.

Good. He wouldn’t risk lying to me about where my mate was within this building. If I even sensed him lying, I would rip his throat out and destroy everything in my path until I found her.

“Where is my mate?”

The male trembled in my hand. “I’m sorry, but who is your mate?”

“Kylie! Where is Kylie?”

Recognition of my mate’s name flashed in his eyes. He knew her. That meant he knew where she was hidden.

“We haven’t received any notification that she had a mate.”

I growled and pulled him closer to my face. My anger made my power swell through the room. The male tried to shrink away from me but couldn’t because of my grasp. He swallowed hard as the sound of my snarl filled the room.

“She was taken to surgery and is in our recovery room.”

“Surgery? Why was she in surgery?”

He swallowed again as he avoided my glare. “She needed an emergency C-section.”

My hand released him as I processed what he had just said. That couldn’t mean what I thought it meant. “C-section,” I repeated the word.

“Yes. Your mate had a pup.”