Page 82 of Rejected and Pregnant by the Lycan King

Titan had been released from the clinic a few hours after he went to the room. They didn’t find anything to keep him, and everything remained stable. I wanted to be the first one to hold him, but I knew I would lose that fight against Kylie. She pushed me out of the way to get to Titan’s room.

Like the amazing mother she was.

Titan looked healthy, as if nothing had happened to him. There was so much I wanted to say, but I didn’t want to take the focus off our son. If anything, I wanted to reach out to Zephyrine and thank her for getting my head out of my ass. I would have lost them because of my own arrogance if it weren’t for her. As much as I wanted to blame the curse, the truth was I still would have messed things up. I proved that the moment I failed to shut Nova down when she started saying shit about Kylie. That was ahuge mistake that I wasn’t even sure I had apologized enough to Kylie about yet.

Once Kylie saw that Titan didn’t have anything attached to him, she scooped him from the bassinet and held him to her chest. Tears rolled down her face as she murmured sweet words into his ear. Titan looked as if he were snuggling closer to her, too, and I could see my future in front of me. There was so much I could have missed out on. If I hadn’t come here to plead with Kylie to forgive me, we would have lost Titan.

Even though I wanted to rip Zephyrine’s head off her shoulders for putting my son in the line of fire, I wished I could bring her here just so I could apologize for what I had caused. It wasn’t just about her wrath for me breaking her heart. This was all about me not putting my entire soul into a relationship. Even when I dated her, it wasn’t about discovering more about her. It was about wanting someone I could call mine and have sex with.

I thought with my dick, and I paid for it.

Within the hour, Titan was cleared to leave, and I helped Kylie bring him back to the cabin. She did the usual—cleaning him up and feeding him—but she wouldn’t let him out of her sight. For someone I thought of as weak, she was a strong woman. Kylie could have let Charlotte and Nathaniel do everything for her, but that wasn’t who she was. This woman had fought and clawed her way out. Charlotte and Nathaniel were there as support, but I could see now that Kylie would have done whatever it took to put a roof over their heads.

Kylie put Titan into the bassinet after she burped him and made sure he didn’t need anything more. When she came out of thebedroom and sat on the couch, I saw her looking at me with a strange expression on her face.

“You haven’t taken your eyes off me since we got home. What?” There was some bite to her words, but I knew it was from the stress.

My smile grew as I held my hand out for her to take. I pulled her onto my lap, making her straddle me.

“I know I’ve said this all before, but I wanted you to know how much you two mean to me. While you were gone, it was hard to be anywhere without you. I noticed all the things I hadn’t before—the way you smelled, how bright your smile is, and how anything I did that day didn’t matter because you weren’t there.” I sighed and tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear. “This was all my fault, and I know that now. This all started before you even walked into my life, but if I had made choices like I do now, I wouldn’t have found myself in this situation to begin with.”

Kylie opened her mouth to say something to me, but I silenced her with a kiss. The feel of her soft lips on mine, the taste of her again, nearly knocked the wind out of me. This felt way too good, but I wasn’t done airing everything out with her. After all I’d done, I needed to know the air was clear between us. I didn’t want Titan to ever see us like this. If I wanted this bond to work, I needed to communicate my thoughts and feelings to her.

“I can’t always promise that I will choose the right thing to say or avoid doing something that will make you question me. It’s part of being an alpha lycan, and it’s even harder with so many people I have to care for and lead as king. There is so much responsibility on my shoulders, and sometimes the stress of it all gets the better of me.”

“I know, Max. I—”

“No. Let me finish. I didn’t make the best decisions before you came along. Clearly, I managed to piss off a powerful witch who cursed me so I wouldn’t understand that I had love right in front of me, and I let it slip through my fingers. No matter what we go through, I promise to make better decisions than I have in the past. We will talk things through and make decisions together. That includes the kingdom as well.”

Her eyes went wide, and I could see her looking at me in a new light. I felt her gaze boring into me as if she were trying to figure out where this was all coming from and whether I was just blowing smoke up her ass. I wasn’t sure how to tell her that this wasn’t me making false promises and that these weren’t just words. This was me being as raw and open as I could be.

She leaned her forehead against mine and let out a sigh. I breathed in her caramel and vanilla scent, and my mouth watered. I could never get tired of this scent.

“It’s okay, Max. So much has happened in the last year that made me think about things. If this all hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t have ever gotten to see each other for who we really are. It gave me the time and space to grow into the person I should have been. My father kept me from reaching my real potential and even made me think I wasn’t good enough.” My chest rumbled at the mention of Alexander. The asshole deserved to be brought back to life just so I could kill him again. She silenced me with a kiss and then continued. “It certainly wasn’t how I wished our relationship would grow, but I think we needed this. This showed me I could be strong and everything my father told me I wasn’t, and it showed you how to appreciate the woman you are with.”

I grumbled at her remark. Even though I apologized, it bothered me how I acted all that time. If I could go back, I would have changed how I handled Nova. She should have been removed from the pack—or worse—for everything she said about Kylie. In any other pack, an alpha would have reprimanded her immediately for disrespecting their luna. That alone would have been enough to warrant her punishment.

“If I am the one you want to spend the rest of your life with, then you need to be the man you were when you came here. No more holding back. I want to see the real you. The one who would tear down a clinic because they were keeping me from you. The one who will hold me in the dark times and tell me everything will be okay. Most of all, I want the man who shows me he loves me, not just says it.”

I scoffed because it didn’t feel like I was that guy. “How did I ever show you I loved you?”

She smiled. “By not leaving my side. By being the strong one when my world was falling apart—so I didn’t have to be.” Her hands circled my chest, an eruption of fire from her touch burning through the bond.

My lycan’s energy flowed through me, rumbling in my chest at her touch. I didn’t want this to end. To feel her so close to me. If I could freeze time to stay in this moment, I would. I moved my hands from her hips to her back, running them up and down just to feel her more. She let out a soft moan, and I felt myself harden.

“I will never not be there for you again.”

“I know.”

I moved in close and locked my lips with hers. Her arms wrapped around my torso, and I held her by her hips. Our kiss deepened, and I slipped my tongue into her mouth. She rubbed her hands up and down my body, feeling my muscles as I grabbed her head, weaving my fingers in her hair. She exhaled all of the air in her lungs and moaned. I could feel her body go limp.

My hand slipped underneath her shirt, creeping up her torso to her breast. I went underneath the bra and felt that her nipples were already stiffening with anticipation. I pushed her against the wall and leaned into her. Her hand started to massage between my legs where I was expanding; she let out a laugh under her breath, and I looked at her.

“I need this,” she said, grasping my member.

“I’m sure you do.” I grabbed both of her wrists with one hand and held them above her head. With my free hand, I unbuttoned her pants and pulled them down. Beneath her clothes, she was wearing pink panties. I slipped my hand underneath the elastic band and cupped her in the palm of my hand. Gently massaging, I felt her writhe against my palm. Her breathing became heavier, and I could feel her slickness building up against my skin. I slowly inserted my finger inside her, and her eyes widened. I lifted her by her wrists so her feet were barely touching the floor. On her tiptoes, she rocked back and forth on my finger, moaning and breathing deeply. The cotton underwear slowly slipped down her smooth legs and fell to her ankles. I looked into her eyes and saw the hunger building inside her. I leaned in and kissed her, and I could feel her walls tense up around my finger.

“Feels like you’re ready,” I joked. “We can stop here if you want.”

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