Love at Stake (Entangled Covet)(63)

“For this, we can.” Melissa’s fury lessened slightly. “I know you cared for my mother. Hell, I’m proof of what you felt for her. You saved me because you couldn’t save her.”

“Melissa—”

“But I also know you never sulked for days on end when you couldn’t see her. If my mother had been seeing someone else who made her happy, you wouldn’t have flown into a rage and broken them apart.”

“I might have,” he said darkly.

“No, because you wanted her happy and you knew you weren’t the man for her. What do you think would have happened if not for the accident?”

It was a question he’d pondered too much of late. He’d never have been able to leave Melissa, she was his child, but Claudette was different. If her mate had come along ready to make her eternally happy, would he have stood in her way?

“A human doesn’t fit into my life,” he said, his voice even. “My position would put her in danger.”

Melissa shrugged. “So make sure you’re by her side to protect her.”

He bit back a low, rumbling growl of pleasure at the thought. He wanted to protect her from anything that would harm her. But that wasn’t his job anymore.

“Abbey misses you.”

The words were a fiery arrow to his chest.

“I went to visit her, you know, to get my profile all set to go live as soon as your ridiculous test is done. I saw her looking like you’ve been these past few days. Like she was missing a limb. A living ghost with no heart. Oh, she tried to hide it, said she was fine, but I could see what it was doing to her and what it’s doing to you. Both of you are bloody idiots. You for thinking her humanity matters at all and her for believing you don’t love her.”

His whole body jerked at the suggestion. “I don’t.”

Melissa snorted in disgust. “The only thing keeping you two apart is your damn egos. She’s your mate. Why do you think no other woman caught your interest these past weeks when you’ve been thrown at every eligible candidate in the city? It’s because you’d already found your match. And you lost her.”

“A vampire and a human—”

“Is complicated,” Melissa agreed. “But not impossible. Not if you don’t want it to be. So it all comes down to one question. Do you love her or not?”

He couldn’t imagine not wanting the infuriating female. During waking hours he might be able to tell himself he didn’t miss her, but when dawn came and he slept, his mind was filled with images of her. Laughing, naked beneath him, or desolate and lonely as he’d walked away from her. Over and over he was tormented.

But that wasn’t a good enough reason to burst into her life again. Not when she’d made it clear there was only one thing she needed from him.

He closed his eyes, remembering how she’d looked as she’d told him to leave. There was no mistaking the agony in her face.

But loving a human wouldn’t be an easy task. He’d watched the light go out of Claudette’s eyes and had wanted to follow her. Seeing Abbey’s death would kill him for sure.

“Look, I just…” Melissa sighed. “This is my two cents. And for what it’s worth, my mother would be happy you’d found Abbey. All she wanted was for you to understand what love really was.”

She slipped her arms around him. “Make the right choice, Father.”

Lucian closed his eyes as his arms came up to hug her. How many decades had it been since she’d called him that? The last time he’d let a human into his heart, he’d found his daughter. Was he really afraid of doing it again?

But Abbey was different. Everything about this was different.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “I’ll think on your words.”

She nodded and stepped back. With a half smile and sad eyes, she left the room.

Lucian stared blindly at the closed door.

He’d walked away. Hell, being together had torn Abbey apart. There was no chance of her taking him back.

He spun, his fist flying through the wood paneling of the wall. Nearly a thousand years old and still making the same dumb mistakes.

Drawing his fist from the wall, he stared dispassionately at the cut on his knuckles. It would heal in seconds. The wound in his chest felt like it would damned well bleed forever.

He paced to his desk and leaned over the work scattered over its surface. He had responsibilities, issues to attend to, but nothing seemed as urgent as it had weeks ago. The city would survive if he eased up a bit. The vampires wouldn’t crumble into chaos if he focused some of his time on a woman instead of a job.

Abbey would be a helpmate instead of a distraction. He’d have someone by his side, someone to come home to. The idea of waking every evening with her in his arms was an attractive one.