Page 44

Kylie

Charlotte walked into the room and gave me a smile. A kiss on the forehead made my heart swell. It felt too good to have someone make me feel important. No one had done this before—not even Amara when I had gone into the infirmary a few times before.

“How are you holding up, dear?”

“Good. I thought I would be sore, but with my lycan having the power to heal me, I feel fine.”

She nodded, still smiling, before her eyes fell on my son. “He is so perfect.”

“Do you want to hold him?”

A small gasp escaped her lips, and her eyes sparkled with tears as she held out her arms. The transfer was easy; she cradled my son to her chest and leaned down close enough to rub her nose against his. “Hello there, little one. You are so handsome. I’ve been waiting to meet you.”

The baby sighed in contentment at hearing her voice.

I knew babies could hear things while they were in utero, but it still fascinated me to see how responsive my pup was to Charlotte’s voice.

He opened his eyes and stared at her, causing tears to fall down Charlotte’s face.

It must have been hard for her to hold a pup when she couldn’t have her own.

The reality of Charlotte’s inability to bear children broke my heart.

She would have been an amazing mother. She had taken care of me all these months without once complaining.

Charlotte deserved to have children. If I could plead with the Moon Goddess herself to grant her that ability, I would do it. This woman eased my mind throughout the pregnancy and taught me how to fight for myself. If it weren’t for Charlotte, I don’t think I would have survived the pregnancy.

She looked up at me as if she could hear my thoughts and sighed. “I doubt he wanted me to tell you this, but Nathaniel is speaking with your ex-mate.”

My stomach dropped. I had hoped Maximus would have stormed off to his car and hurried back to the kingdom after our spat. I guess I couldn’t get that lucky these days.

“What is he talking to him about?” I asked.

She gave me a pointed look, and I rolled my eyes.

Leave it to Nathaniel to take on the dad role and try to tell a damn king that if he hurt me, he would die.

Maximus had already hurt me; the damage was done, and I wanted him gone.

There wasn’t much to discuss until he took accountability for why this bond fell apart.

“Nathaniel also made sure to tell him what it means to be a mate.”

I narrowed my eyes on her. Part of me didn’t even want Maximus to learn what it meant to be a mate so he would leave my life. It was painful to have him here. It was bringing everything up again, and I didn’t want to deal with it.

But Maximus might not even listen to him. Maximus was someone who thought he knew all the answers. I knew he didn’t since he believed rejecting me was the best idea he could come up with.

“I don’t think Max can learn that.”

She sighed and leaned back in her chair.

Here came a mom speech, I was sure of it—another indicator of how Charlotte had taken on the mom role in my life.

“Kylie, I don’t know what it feels like to be rejected.

I do know what it feels like to be mated for over eighty years.

” Yep. Here came the speech. “It’s never easy.

You two were made to complement each other, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be disagreements. ”

“This wasn’t a disagreement, Charlotte. He rejected me because I wasn’t strong enough for him. Now that I am and have his pup, he wants to get me back? No, thank you.”

There was a throaty chuckle and amusement in her eyes.

I didn’t see how this was funny. This was a serious topic because of the pain I felt just knowing Maximus was in my vicinity.

I had run here to be away from him, and now he was back.

The bond was screaming at me to fix it, and my lycan hadn’t stopped whining about going after him to talk things out since he left.

Today was not my day.

“I think you are missing the signs of him being completely distraught since you left.”

Now that she mentioned it, he did seem to look ragged. I could feel his lycan on edge and how he struggled to remain in control while he was in here. That was another reason I wanted him gone. Having an uncontrollable male around a pup didn’t seem like a good idea for a mother.

Yet… it felt good knowing he had been a mess without me. All this time, I expected him to move on and claim another. There wasn’t a claiming bite on his neck.

“So?” I tried to play it off like I didn’t care, but something about the way he looked brought me some joy.

“What do you mean, so ? The man is losing his mind without you. He is also having trouble controlling his lycan because of the severed bond. I know he hurt you, but don’t you think he has gone through just as much as you?”

I snorted in derision at that. “No, I think the man could use some groveling.”

She laughed. “Okay, that’s fair. Some groveling may be what he needs so he won’t do it again. But you may also want to consider this: Maximus came here to fight for your bond. That says something. I’ve heard of others rejecting their mate and not fighting for them at all.”

That was news to me. I hadn’t even heard of people rejecting their bond. Though I lived a sheltered life and didn’t know much outside of the daily beatings and being told I was worthless.

But… he did come here to work things out. That’s why he showed up today to talk. Maximus wanted to work on things, but I was the one who sent him away.

No. He needs to accept accountability. Max has too much to apologize for before I can accept the bond being completed again. My breath caught in my throat, but I looked away from Charlotte so she couldn’t see. He has too much to heal before things can go back to the way they were.

***

A nurse had come in to take the baby so I could get some sleep just as Nathaniel entered the room.

He told me about his conversation with Maximus and how my ex-mate had walked off to make some changes before returning.

I had a hard time believing that just a talk with Nathaniel would change Maximus’s tone to what I needed it to be to work on things, but I also knew Nathaniel.

The ex-alpha had a way of talking to people that made them listen.

He was a big, intimidating guy, but so was Maximus.

He held the baby just before the nurse arrived, and they both said they would stop by later to check on me. As I drifted off to sleep, I heard someone enter the room. I turned in bed to see who had come in and was surprised to see an attractive woman walking in.

This woman wasn’t a lycan.

There was something different about her scent that I couldn’t decipher.

It wasn’t something I had ever smelled before.

The scent was bitter and sour. A lycan’s scent usually carried the daily essence of their homes and routines mixed with a specific scent that was uniquely theirs.

This woman didn’t have that; it was just flavors instead of a distinct scent.

What the hell was she?

She was tall and curvy, a sight I didn’t normally see in lycans.

Dressed entirely in black and exuding power, she radiated a lethal vibe.

Her black hair cascaded in waves around her chest, and her piercing blue eyes captivated me.

I quickly averted my gaze, realizing this woman was far beyond my league, and I didn’t know what she was or if looking into her eyes would make her think I wanted to challenge her.

A throaty chuckle caught my attention, and I looked up to see her seated in the chair Charlotte had pulled over to be by my bed.

I pushed myself up, wanting to get as far away from her as possible.

I didn’t know this woman, and she wasn’t a lycan.

The power radiating from her confirmed what she was, but I didn’t want to believe it.

She was a witch.

“You can remain calm, young luna. I am not here to hurt you.”

Luna? How did she know my former title?

“Who are you?”

“My name is Zephyrine. As your nose has probably told you, I am a witch.”

Well… I’m dead. Witches weren’t exactly high on the friendly scale from what I had heard about them. There were many in existence, and the ones who willingly interacted with lycans weren’t exactly the nicest people in the world.

“What are you doing here?”

Her blue eyes danced with amusement, knowing she could smell my fear. All supernaturals had heightened senses, even witches. My lycan retreated to a deep part of my mind out of fear of this creature, so even if I wanted to fight back, I couldn’t. I was on my own.

“I wanted to meet the one who was fated to Maximus. Truth be told, I thought you would be the one to break the curse.”

Curse? What curse? Maximus never mentioned meeting a damn witch or having a curse placed on him!

“What?” I squeaked, realizing what a curse could mean.

Witches tended to throw curses around, which was why my kind avoided them. They were not to be messed with in any shape or form and could curse us to never have the ability to shift again. It would drive lycans to become feral if we weren’t able to shift.

Zephyrine just stared at me, and I squirmed under her gaze.

I wasn’t sure what her endgame was here, but if it was to creep me out, she succeeded.

I was creeped out. Even though this meant Maximus kept a big secret from me, I could understand not wanting to talk about meeting a witch.

Being in her presence made my skin crawl as her power washed over me.

“I don’t understand. Why would you curse him? What did he do to make you do something like that?”

Her laugh was musical, and I felt like I was put in a trance.

I stared at her and waited for the answers to my questions.

I might be afraid of her, but if she wanted to reveal that she knew Maximus and had done something to him, she needed to come clean.

This was putting me on edge, and my blood pressure machine started to beep.

Zephyrine waved her hand, and the machine stopped.

Oh great. Now a nurse won’t come in to check on me. That makes me feel better.

“I’m sure you could guess what he had done. You spent time with him.”

That couldn’t mean…

“Oh yes. He did the same thing to me as he did to you. Led me to believe everything was perfect just to tear my heart out.”

My mouth dropped open at her admission. She was lying. This had to be a lie.

Yet I could sense the truth in her words.

“You mean to tell me Max chose you as a mate, then rejected your bond?”

“Heavens, no!” She laughed, and there was a layer to it that made my hair stand on end. I never wanted to see this woman pissed off. “We dated for a bit. Right when I thought things would get serious and he’d choose me as a mate, he broke my heart.”

Well, that felt more believable. Maximus willingly choosing a witch to be his mate felt out of character. What he did to Zephyrine—making her fall for him, then walking away—was exactly what he had done to me.

“So… you cursed him for breaking your heart.”

She nodded. “Oh yes. You don’t cross someone like me and expect to get away with it. He should have known better than that.”

“What’s the curse, and what does it have to do with me?”

She tilted her head and made a face I couldn’t quite distinguish. “Oh, sweetie… It has everything to do with you. Why do you think he couldn’t recognize how he felt about you until you were gone?”

What?

This bitch made the curse so he wouldn’t know how he felt about me?

That meant this whole time he struggled to connect with me for a different reason than I thought.

It wasn’t about me being weak… It was about him not feeling the connection!

The bond wasn’t stronger than the curse. It should have been, but it wasn’t!

“You… It’s your fault!” I screamed.

I probably shouldn’t have been yelling at someone who could kill me with a snap of her fingers, but this wasn’t something I could contain.

The anger inside me rose to an unfathomable level as I waited for her to respond.

The room fell silent enough for me to hear both of our heartbeats.

Mine pulsed fast from the stress this whole interaction was causing me, but hers remained calm.

I’d love to smack this shit out of her for doing this to us. Maximus had to have known he had a curse placed on him and how it led to our bond not settling properly for him. Why wouldn’t he tell me about this?

“No. It was his fault. The curse isn’t holding the same way it used to, so he’s probably just now realizing he fell in love with you—too late. A shame, really. It was much too late for him in this case.”

I growled, and my lycan howled mournfully for our mate.

Maximus might have broken my heart, but now I knew why.

This was all too much for me to digest, and I wanted to send this witch out of this clinic and find a way to contact Maximus to discuss this.

He needed to know. Maybe he didn’t talk to me about it before because he didn’t know the curse had been placed on him.

But then those words replayed in my head.

It was much too late for him in this case. What the hell did that mean?

“What are you talking about?”

She smiled, and it sent a shiver down my spine. “Because it will cost him his son’s life.”