Page 35 of Rejected and Pregnant by the Lycan King

I sank to my knees and slammed my head against the wall as grief consumed me. The pain was suffocating and unbearable in a way I had never felt. I finally understood why others had spoken of madness when severing the bond. This feeling was why so many had spiraled into ruin. It wasn’t merely a loss; it was the absence of something vital. I extinguished the light that had once kept the darkness at bay.

This was what it felt like—an ache that hadn’t been there before. I had allowed myself to falter and questioned whether I truly loved Kylie. I let myself doubt that what we had was beyond the bonds that tied us together.

When she was here, the connection had been quiet and lacked the urgency I was supposed to feel. I could step away from her without the bond clawing at me to return. I simply didn’t have that unbearable pull that Eli experienced. Every sign had pointed to the truth I hadn’t wanted to face: she wasn’t the mate I thought she would be, and I rejected her like a spoiled child.

I had trusted the bond to tell me everything, and maybe that had been my mistake all along.

Scenes of Kylie flickered through my mind like a never-ending highlight reel. Each vision I experienced cut sharper than the last: the way her lips curled into a smile at my comments, the way her laughter rang out when I teased her, and when she lost herself in her favorite shows. The fire in her eyes whenever she trained to master the role of luna. The passion I saw when she looked at me.

Every one of those memories dragged my heart deeper into the ache. The tightness in my chest surged back in an unrelenting tide, as if her absence had left a wound that refused to heal.

I loved Kylie, yet I tossed her aside.

Zephyrine’s cackle echoed through my mind, sharp and unforgiving, rattling against my skull like a taunt I couldn’t escape. My hands flew to my ears, but it was useless—her voice wasn’t coming from the room, wasn’t something I could block out with a mere touch.

I bellowed for her to shut up, for the sound to cease, but she was listening. I knew she was. The damn curse she had cast upon me had taken root, twisting my reality, making sure I felt every consequence of rejecting her love. And now, there was no escaping it.

17

Kylie

The woods punished me. Every fiber in my muscles burned with intense, throbbing pain. The forest was more relentless than I could have ever expected. Even in lycan form, the hills tested my endurance. My legs felt like unsteady jelly beneath me. It was brutal, but I pushed through.

The environment changed immediately when I crossed into rogue territory. The land bore the scars of neglect. The grass was wild and unkempt, and the roads were worn down by years of use with no upkeep. This place belonged to those who had long abandoned the luxuries of order. That much was clear.

Cartographers did not bother to map this land. With no clear direction, it would be a challenge to find a place to settle for the night.

Despite my uncertainty, something in my bones told me this was exactly where I needed to be. The chaos and the untamed wilderness felt right to me. This was my moment to find my next move.

I trotted along the path through the wild forest, the sky a mix of reds, oranges, and yellows from the setting sun. I needed to find somewhere to hunker down for the night soon. Exhaustion was setting in, and it wouldn’t be wise to fall asleep out in the open. Females didn’t fare well in rogue territory. I had heard far too many stories of females being raped and murdered among the rogues. They did not treasure them because they didn’t care about heirs or anything like that. Their beasts controlled them more than men, and time without a pack caused them to forget all the morals and values a man would have demanded if he were in control.

Why did I want to come here again? The odds of surviving here were low. My lycan had grown too weak from the journey to this place. There was no way I could fight off anyone if they attacked me. This was a mistake. Yet again, I had made a stupid mistake.

Considering I had been in my lycan form for the last two days, she had hunted enough small game to fill my belly. If it weren’t for the fact that my lycan had taken over so we could eat, I would let the knots in my stomach win and throw it all up. I swung my head around to stay alert, yet my nerves told me it wouldn’t matter. If anyone attacked me, they would win. I had no fighting skills to save my life. I’d have to rely on my lycan to keep me alive, but she didn’t have the energy to fend anyone off for long.

There were sounds of murmuring from people not too far from me. The layering of trees grew thicker here, obscuring my viewbeyond a small area. Two trees stood far enough apart, with another leaning against one to create the appearance of a door.

I’m not sensing any hostility from that direction.

Then, it looks like we should go in that direction.

All my life, I’d been told not to walk through something like this. People said it led to a parallel dimension where lycans were the weakest creatures. Right now, that sounded like the perfect place to lie low. If others believed the same myth, no one would come searching for me in here. Maybe that’s why the rogues had lived here so long without being pestered by the kingdom.

It made me hesitate at the opening of the door, knowing I’d become an official rogue if I walked through it. If I went through and someone from the kingdom came in and saw me here, they’d take me for the savage I’d become. My heart rate escalated at the thought of becoming a rogue. It wasn’t until now that I really considered the repercussions.

I’d become a traitor to the kingdom.

Did it matter if I became a traitor to the kingdom at this point? Maximus had rejected me as his mate, so I doubted the kingdom would welcome me. Why should I roam around with no purpose just because my mate rejected me? If I wanted to give my pup a good life, I needed to pull up my big girl panties and do whatever it took to make that happen.

The first step would be to walk through this tree door.

As I stepped through it, I realized that if I had been in my human form, my jaw would have dropped. It was like a small city, butinstead of brick, stone, or metal, every building was made of wood. There were rows of small houses on the outskirts, and the further I walked in, the more I could see the city coming to life. More people were moving around, many of them giving me the stink eye as I passed, but I did my best to ignore them. I didn’t have clothes to pull on if I shifted back, so I would rather find shelter or something before I did that.

“Excuse me, dear. Are you just passing through?” a sweet voice called out to me.

I swung my head and turned my body to see who spoke to me from behind. That was something I should have been checking this whole time, being more aware of my surroundings, but I’d been too focused on finding a place to stay. The female was at least half a foot taller than me, making her five and a half feet tall. Her small curves and lean body made her look agile, and I could feel some power rolling off her. I noticed she had tied her long ink-black hair back, using several ties at intervals to secure it. Her calming blue eyes projected understanding and compassion. Her honeysuckle scent wrapped around me. I didn’t know what was coming over me, but her eyes and the aroma put me at ease. Somehow, I knew this female could be trusted.

If I wanted to talk with this female, I’d need to shift back. Given my energy was depleted, I hoped I’d have enough to even do that. It took longer than normal, and pain accompanied the shift as it took over. My lycan accepted this female because she trusted her, too. Once it was over, I was on my hands and knees, breathing heavily to fight through the pain.

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