“Not revenge. Self-preservation.”
Lucian shot from the bed, pacing away from her. Shakily, she rose, waiting for his verdict.
He grabbed his clothing from the floor and threw it on. Tunneling his fingers through his hair, he turned back to her. “Is it the werewolf?”
She shook her head. “I think I’m going to take a break from supernatural dating. Humans just can’t compete.”
“I don’t care that you’re human,” he snapped.
“But you do,” she said, marching up to him. “You do. I will never be good enough to be your mate.”
“Is that what this is about? We can still spend a lifetime together, Abbey.”
“My lifetime. Not yours. Just like Claudette.”
Lucian’s jaw clenched.
“Tell me you’ll love me one day,” she said, throwing the words at him. “Tell me you’ll wake up one night and realize I’m all you’ll ever want.”
He couldn’t say the words and they both knew it.
“You aren’t offering me anywhere near enough to spend my life with you,” she said. “I want a man who loves me for me and I deserve to find him. If you can’t be that man, you have no business trying to win me.”
“I can give you everything else,” he said. “Everything but love.”
Her heart splintered. Part of her had been hoping when push came to shove, he’d yield. He’d realize how much he needed her.
He’d love her.
A hopeless dream for a human.
“It’s not enough,” she whispered, tears clogging her throat. “Not for me.”
Lucian growled in frustration. She knew he wasn’t used to losing, but this was one argument he couldn’t win.
She laid a palm on his cheek. “You want me, but you don’t love me. We need to get out now before we hurt each other any more. I can’t be the woman you need any more than you can be the man I do.”
“You don’t know that.”
A smile twisted her lips and she knew it wasn’t pleasant. “I do. Leave, Lucian.”
“I can’t just walk away.”
“Yes, you can.” Her hand dropped from his face. “I am not yours and I refuse the kind of relationship you’re offering. Please, let it end here.”
He spun away from her. “I don’t give up.”
“This isn’t giving up.” She wrapped her arms around herself for comfort. “This is facing reality. What we have can’t last and if you push this, I’m the one who’s going to end up hurt, not you.”
That argument stopped him. Slowly he turned back to her, pain in his eyes.
“Go,” she whispered. “Before you break my heart.”
His eyes closed. Agony flashed across his face. In his own way, he did care for her. It just wasn’t enough.
“I would never hurt you,” he whispered.
“But you will. If you stay, you will.” Her voice broke. “So go. Please.”
Red eyes flashed at her and she forced herself look at him. She watched the struggle on his face before he turned his back. An inhuman roar ripped from him, filling the small room.
The pain and the anger in the sound shook her. Not human, she thought. Not even close.
Lucian dashed from the room faster than her eyes could track. The front door slammed with enough force to shake the apartment building.
He was gone.
Walking out of her life forever.
For a long moment she stood frozen in the quiet room. The rumpled bed where they’d shared such intimate hours tortured her. She knew she’d made the right choice. She couldn’t be with a man who would never love her.
But that knowledge didn’t stop her from crumpling to the floor.
Nor did it silence the wail that escaped her throat.
…
“You look like you’ve seen better days.”
Abbey didn’t bother looking up at Chloe. Her forehead rested on the desk as she tried to breathe. It had been days since Lucian had walked out of her life and it wasn’t getting any easier to function without him.
Christian had flooded her e-mail with apologies, but she hadn’t bothered answering a single one. The wolf was too much for her right now. Too intense, too violent, too other.
And not the man she longed for.
“You’re going to kill brain cells if you stay like that.”
She sighed, pushing her face off the desk. “I’ve gone through the files and set up all the new members. Everything is accounted for.”
Worry filled Chloe’s eyes. Before she could speak, however, Vivian stepped into the room. “It’s not your work quality I’m worried about,” the siren said.
Abbey looked at her grimly. “I have nothing to do with Lucian.”