Chosen By The Cursed Alpha King Chapter 122

EMILIA'S POV

For a moment, Maximus didn't even blink.

He just stared at me like the floor had been ripped out from under him—like my words had cut straight through whatever strength he had left. His hands were still on my face, but suddenly they felt frozen, rigid, trembling.

"What... are you talking about, Emilia?" he whispered again, voice rough and confused. "I might not like your family for how they treated you... but I swear I didn't kill them. Why would I do that?"

More tears burned down my cheeks.

I shook my head slowly.

"Not them," I whispered.

His brows knit sharply. Confusion flashed across his face, then worry, then something darker.

He stepped closer, his hands leaving my face and gripping my shoulders, firm but gentle, like he was scared I might fall apart. "Talk to me. Did someone hurt your family?" His jaw tightened. "I know they might not be the best, but they're still your family. So if anyone dared—"

"My real family," I whispered.

He froze.

His fingers, gripping my shoulders, went still—completely still—like the whole world had stopped moving. His eyes widened slightly, the confusion draining away and leaving something cold and empty in its place.

"I found out," I breathed. "They weren't my real family. My real parents... they were members of the Forgotten Pack."

Silence.

A heavy, suffocating silence.

Maximus's hands slowly slid off my shoulders, falling to his sides like they suddenly weighed too much to hold up. His eyes dropped to the floor. His throat bobbed as he swallowed, but he didn't say anything.

He didn't even look at me.

He looked like the ground had opened beneath his feet and swallowed him whole.

"Maximus?" My voice shook. "Say something."

Nothing.

He stared at the floor—jaw tight, hands shaking, breath uneven. Then, with a slow exhale, he whispered—

"I'm sorry."

The words barely carried.

Not because he didn't mean them.

But because they hurt him to say.

His head bowed lower. "I... Emilia, I did so many things I can't take back." His voice cracked. "I'm a monster. I deserve to die."

"No," I whispered sharply, but he kept going, as if he couldn't hear me.

"But please..." His voice broke completely as he sank to his knees.

Right in front of me.

Maximus—the Alpha King—the man who never bows to anyone.

Fell to his knees.

For me.

His head dropped, his voice raw and shaking. "Please forgive me, Emilia."

My breath caught. I took a step toward him without even thinking. I'd never seen him like this. Never seen him broken. Never seen him kneeling in front of anyone.

He lifted his face then—and my heart ached at the sight.

His eyes were red. Wet. Tormented.

"I've fought this beast all my life," he whispered. "Every damn day. I wanted to be normal. I tried. But it never stopped." His hands shook violently as he pressed them to the floor. "I didn't mean to kill anyone."

My chest tightened painfully.

"Maximus..."

"That night," he continued, voice hoarse, "the night the Forgotten Pack was destroyed... I woke up covered in blood." His voice trembled. "I didn't remember anything. Not at first. Then I started hearing the screams in my head. Over and over. It was torture. Pure torture."

He dragged in a breath, his shoulders shaking.

"I started seeing faces. The women who were offered to me... but my beast took their lives." His hands covered his face. "I hated myself. Every second. I wanted to die. I begged the goddess to just... end it."

My heart shattered.

Piece by piece.

"I was hopeless," he whispered. "Alone. Drowning in guilt. And then..." He lifted his gaze to mine, and I felt my breath catch. "Then you came into my life."

My knees almost buckled.

"You were like light," he whispered. "After living in darkness for so long." His voice cracked again. "I know I hurt you. I know I'm a man with blood on his hands. But please..." His voice dropped to a whisper, desperate and raw. "Please don't hate me."

Tears streamed down my face faster than I could wipe them.

"I can't bring your parents back," he said softly. "I wish I could. I wish I could undo everything. But I can't. I can't erase what I've done."

His voice broke, trembling on the edge of something fragile.

"But I swear to you, Emilia... I will be a better man. I swear it."

I didn't even realize I had moved until my knees hit the floor.

I didn't think.

I didn't plan.

I just reacted.

One second he was kneeling alone, shaking, looking like the weight of the world was crushing him—and the next I was on the ground with him, arms wrapping around his shoulders as sobs tore out of me.

He stiffened in shock.

Then his arms snapped around me.

Tight.

Desperate.

Like he thought I might disappear if he let go.

I buried my face in his neck, tears soaking into his skin. His arms held me so close I could feel every shudder of his breath. Every tremor in his hands. Every crack in the walls he'd built around himself his entire life.

His body shook—

And then I felt something warm drip onto my shoulder.

I froze.

Slowly, I pulled back.

His face was wet.

The Great Alpha King—the man feared by kingdoms—was crying.

Truly crying.

His jaw trembled as he looked at me, like he didn't know whether to pull me closer or push me away so I wouldn't have to see him like this.

My chest twisted painfully.

"Maximus..." I whispered.

He shook his head, voice hoarse. "I don't deserve you, Emilia."

"You're not a monster," I whispered back, cupping his face with trembling hands.

He flinched like the words physically hit him.

I lifted his face until he met my eyes.

"You didn't have a choice," I whispered. "Your beast was controlling you. You weren't in your right mind. You didn't choose violence. You didn't choose blood. And I can't... I can't hold that against you."

His breath hitched—like he'd been drowning for years and finally came up for air.

"I don't deserve you," he repeated softly. "But you don't know how fucking happy it makes me that you're my mate."

My heart stopped.

Literally stopped.

His eyes were intense, burning, full of something fierce and vulnerable at the same time.

"Mine," he whispered.

Then he leaned in.

And his lips crashed onto mine.

Hot. Desperate. Claiming. Consuming.

My hands tangled in his hair as the kiss deepened, a sharp gasp slipping from my mouth into his. His fingers dug into my waist, pulling me closer, as if he couldn't get enough, as if he'd been starving for this—starving for me.

Heat shot through my body, through my veins, through every place his mouth touched mine. I felt breathless. Weightless. Alive.

For the first time in a long time...I felt like I could finally breathe.