Page 51

Kylie

Why did this have to be so hard? Love wasn’t supposed to be this ongoing fight, was it?

When Maximus let go of me, I walked back into the clinic, not stopping until I reached a chair in the small waiting room.

Maximus followed, choosing to sit in the chair next to me, and hesitated before putting his arm around me.

I rolled my eyes, then grabbed his arm and placed it over my shoulders.

Even if I wasn’t sure about this, I knew I needed him by my side right now.

We waited for a long time, each passing second feeling longer than the last. The heat from his body sunk into my muscles, relaxing me against him.

It felt too good to be cuddled up to him.

When I leaned my head on his shoulder, everything crashed into me.

I was at a clinic because my child was sick.

My child was sick because of a witch who hated my mate.

There was possibly no way for my child to get out of this mess until the curse was broken, and neither Maximus nor I knew how to do that.

I turned my body into Maximus’s, shaking as everything played out in my head over and over. It felt like no matter what I did, I would lose. If the curse was still intact, did that mean Maximus would have doubts about us again? Or worse… would it first take my son and then my mate?

As I pushed myself off Maximus, hating that I left the warmth of his embrace, I looked into his eyes.

Now, he remembered more about what happened between him and Zephyrine.

Maybe he would have a way to contact her and ask her to remove the curse from our pup.

Even if the answer was no, I would at least have an answer instead of being left hanging in this waiting game.

“Is there a way to contact Zephyrine? Can you get her here?”

A low growl emitted from his throat. “Why would we call her here?”

I pushed myself further away from him. “Because she is the one who put this curse on you and Titan in the first place. Maybe she can take it off.”

He scoffed. “That’s not the kind of person she is, Kylie.

That’s another reason I left her. I wanted my fated mate, and there was never a cross-species fated mate.

Even before that moment, I saw her jealousy streak.

No female could come near me.” He looked away as if the memory was hard for him to relive.

It pained me to see him like this, his face twisted in agony over an ex-girlfriend.

“Our kind has a lot of jealousy, which I understood. But for someone who could never be my fated mate, I knew it was too much.”

“So, you ended it. Then she cast the spell.” Relaying the events made it easier for my lycan not to shake with rage inside me. This conversation was causing her to be restless, wanting to break free and claim Maximus now so no one could take him from us again.

Settle down. He isn’t ours. We haven’t claimed him yet.

He is ours. Our mate, ours to claim.

We haven’t claimed him yet for a reason.

Get your head out of your ass and claim what is ours.

I shoved her down and focused on Maximus again.

He breathed out a sigh and leaned his head back against the wall.

“Yeah. Something I didn’t even realize was a curse until it was too late.

It’s why things between us were so complicated.

I knew you were my mate, but I still didn’t feel connected like I should have unless I was in your presence.

It was your touch and love trying to break through the damn curse, but I saw it as you being needy. ”

This time, I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

“I just came out of a pack that used me as a punching bag, my father being the top bully. Did you honestly expect me to be normal after going through that? I was terrified you would end up being an aggressive asshole, too. But then I saw how you were with me when we were alone—gentle, loving, and the opposite of everything I experienced in my pack.” I growled as memories flooded my mind.

My lycan surged to the forefront again, banishing the memories away, flooding me with her strength and reminding me that I would always have her.

“I just wanted my damn mate. The person who vowed to always love me.”

He was on his feet and pulling me against him in an instant, holding me tightly. I could hear his rapidly beating heart slamming against his ribcage. Was he afraid right now?

“My biggest regret in my life will always be hurting Zephyrine to make her angry enough to curse me.” I sucked in a breath, but he hushed me with a small, quick kiss.

“Not because I wanted her, but because I didn’t realize my actions would end up hurting more than just her.

It hurt you, too, and then my pup. It’s hurting me to know my mistake is causing this much strife in our lives.

If I could take it all back, I would let her know I didn’t mean to hurt her like that and that I just wanted to be with someone who would make me feel this alive, and she wasn’t it.

” He hugged me tighter. “Gods, that sounds horrible, but it’s the truth.

I don’t know how I could have approached it differently, but it would have been better.

Whatever I could do to create a future where this curse wasn’t going to take everything away from us. ”

Us. He said us . Not him … or even me . Us .

“Do you mean that?” I whispered.

“Yes, I do. I don’t give a shit about anyone else right now.

Kingdom be damned, I just want my son to live.

To have the life he deserves. Even you. You went through hell and back, twice, and the second time was because of me.

” He growled, and I shook. It felt so threatening, and I wanted to get away from him if he was going to get angry again.

He didn’t let me go. “I will never hurt you again, Kylie. You are mine, and I am yours. If it means I have to give up everything else, so be it.”

Maximus pushed me back just enough so I could see his face. “There is nothing in this world more important than you and Titan. I will do whatever it takes for you to see that.”

That sentence alone meant the world to me.

For him to say he would give up everything for me wasn’t what I wanted.

I just wanted him to put me and Titan above everyone else.

That’s what it meant to be a mate; they were supposed to be the main priority in their lives.

I put Maximus ahead of myself, and all I wanted was to make him happy.

That’s not how I should have viewed things.

He was my priority, but I also needed to take care of myself.

That’s why I ran.

It was a way for me to learn the difference between being a mate and a doormat. I was tired of being a doormat.

Maximus changed, and so have I. We were becoming the people we were meant to be. It felt great to know I could do that with him now. He would do what it took to strengthen our bond and take care of his pup.

I heard someone clear their throat, and Maximus pushed me behind him as the new person approached.

When I looked around him, I saw a man with the same wrinkles of age as Nathaniel looking at us.

He had brown hair and brown eyes and wore the white coat of a doctor.

I shook my head at Maximus for shielding me from someone who wouldn’t hurt me.

He’s a doctor; the man spent his life saving people.

But that means nothing to overprotective mates.

“Kylie, we have some information for you on Titan.”

Maximus relaxed, and I moved to his side.

When he put his arm around my shoulders, I knew he was doing this to show the doctor I was his and that no one should even try to take me from him.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I should know by now how mates act in front of other males, but this would always be hard to get used to.

“Please, tell us what’s going on. Is he okay? Can we see him?” I rattled off all the questions in rapid succession.

He smiled. “He’s fine. It looks like he got a little dehydrated from vomiting so much. He’s responding well to the fluids, and all his vitals are stable. It’s as if nothing happened tonight.”

I choked on a sob bubbling to the surface.

The relief I felt hearing those words sent me to my knees.

Titan being okay was everything I needed to hear.

First, Maximus said he would give up everything to be with me, and now this?

Was the Moon Goddess hearing my pleas that everything would be alright?

Maximus knelt beside me and gathered me into his lap. I could hear his soft sobs, too.

Was it a coincidence that things turned out this way after Maximus’s confession? It couldn’t be, right? Was Zephyrine here, and had she removed the curse after seeing him like this with his mate?

I looked around but didn’t see her anywhere. This could just be a coincidence, but I had a feeling it wasn’t.

Then, another thought dawned on me.

What if the curse had spread through the bond and infected me?

Everything got worse after the rejection when I wasn’t close to Maximus.

That could have traveled through him, into me, and made my lycan weaker.

That seemed plausible since we had no idea how far the curse could go.

It had infected Titan while he was in my womb, which meant I was pregnant before the rejection.

Zephyrine had ensured that Maximus would suffer for what he had done, making him see the ramifications of not giving someone your entire heart and soul.

Zephyrine might not have been his soulmate, but she wanted him to understand what it meant to be a mate anyway.

Maximus had learned the lesson the hard way.

It took almost losing me and Titan all over again for him to understand its significance.

But now that he knew—he had to put us first and trust his own heart instead of listening to everyone else.

The curse was broken. Titan getting better proved it, and so was the fact that Maximus hadn’t left my side since this all began.

I couldn’t believe I allowed anything to come between us, but I was sure Maximus felt the same way.

“When can we see him?” Maximus urged.

The doctor smiled at us and nodded. “As soon as we move him to a room, it won’t be long now.

Please let me know if this happens again.

If anything out of the ordinary occurs, bring him right here.

We still aren’t sure of the cause, but there’s no reason to monitor him anymore. He’s been here for hours now.”

This was true. I had lost track as my mind unraveled over his condition.

“Wait, you aren’t sure of the cause?” Maximus asked. “So we don’t know how to stop it from happening again?”

I nudged him with my elbow. We knew the cause, but this doctor didn’t need us to unpack all that. Titan was safe and no longer sick. That’s all that mattered.

“Continue to burp him after every feeding. That will help prevent him from vomiting after he eats. Make sure you are moving his legs to ensure the food is traveling through his system properly. The only thing I can think of is that he had too much air in his stomach, which caused all the discomfort and led to the vomiting.”

I nodded and recalled everything I had to run through with the nurses and doctor before I took Titan home.

“Other than that, good thinking on bringing him in. We are going to move him to a room, and then we will come get you to see him.”

“Thank you,” we both said to him.

I could collapse with relief upon hearing those words. Everything was going to be okay. Everything was going to fall into place.