Page 39 of Rejected and Pregnant by the Lycan King

“Can I do anything to repay you? Like I said before, I am an omega, and I know my way around cleaning a house.”

“Nonsense. We can handle the cleaning.”

“No, I would like to repay you in any way I can.”

“We will not have a pregnant omega doing all the cleaning around here,” Nathaniel said in a stern tone.

Shock coursed through me. Could they already scent that I was pregnant? How far along could I possibly be if it was that obvious to them?

A new thought crept in, making me feel uncertain: was this why they were treating me with such kindness? Did they treat me this way because of my condition? Did they think I needed to be handled with kid gloves? I had such mixed emotions. I welcomed their hospitality, but was I only receiving this treatment because of my pitiful situation?

“Nathaniel, I was raised by an alpha. I know how hard it is for an omega to want to do things for herself, but because I was raised by an alpha, I cannot sit in this house and expect to be treated as less than free. Unless your hospitality is only until tomorrow—”

“Absolutely not! I will not toss you out of here when you are newly rejected and pregnant. If it wasn’t for you being in your lycan form when you came into the territory, I wouldn’t even know you were a lycan,” Charlotte growled.

This was going to be difficult. Neither of them would want me to do much if they were this protective of me already. The alpha in them just wanted to take care of me.

Having someone watch over me like this almost felt too good. It was amazing to feel that unwavering sense of protection again.

This was what I wanted from Maximus. This was what I had wished to find when I made the choice to flee. Nothing hurt worse than the way he had simply let me go. He didn’t fight for me, nor was he upset. He saw me leave with quiet acceptance. He should have growled and fought against the very thought of losing me, regardless of a severed bond.

This wasn’t how fated mates acted. There was no other explanation. There had to be something wrong with our bond.

“You are not leaving tomorrow or even within the next few months. You are to stay here until you have the pup. Is this understood?” Nathaniel stood beside Charlotte to show their unity in this decision.

“Then you must let me help around the house, at least until it becomes too difficult for me to do so.”

Charlotte growled and grabbed my hand. “Listen to me, dearie. I can sense how weak your lycan is, and I know that if you push yourself too hard, it might disrupt the pregnancy. How am I supposed to allow for that? I’d rather die than watch you lose thepup because you did too much, especially since your lycan isn’t strong enough to heal you.”

Damn, I wanted to keep this a secret. I had hoped in vain that I could conceal it. If these two could scent it on me this easily, then so could others.

And that was the real danger.

Charlotte and Nathaniel seemed like decent people who wouldn’t dream of harming an omega, especially a pregnant one. But rogues were an entirely different gamble. This revelation had made my situation much more complicated.

“I cleaned an entire pack house from top to bottom even with my lycan being weak. This house is only a fraction of that. Please, let me do this for you.”

They looked at each other in a way that told me they were communicating through their bond. There were a few growls, but soon enough, they looked at me again. Smiles returned, and they nodded.

“If I see that it is becoming too much for you, then you must stop. Even if it is just for the day. Understood?” Charlotte demanded.

“Yes.”

“Then welcome home, Kylie,” they said in unison, which was a bit freaky, before wrapping me in a hug.

Maybe this could be my new home.

19

Maximus

The map of the kingdom stretched across the wall of my office, blackXs 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.

---