But no relationship came with guarantees. A human man could leave her as easily as an immortal one could.
Her fingers stroked his face as she reveled in the ability to touch him once more. At the end of the day, it all came down to one thing. Did she have the courage to leap? Could she take the gamble and survive if it didn’t pay off?
Could she look at herself in the mirror if she let him walk away without fighting for him?
“If you ever disparage my race or my abilities again, I’m gone,” she whispered.
Hope lit his eyes and she wondered if she’d ever seen anything so beautiful. “Never,” he promised.
“You will talk to me. No running from your hang-ups. If we’re in this, then we’re a team.”
“Are we in this, Abbey? Are you?”
She swallowed hard before saying, “Yes.”
His lips claimed hers without another word. One brush of his skin on hers and Christian was expelled from her mind. No one kissed her as Lucian did, touched her as he did.
He pulled her against him so she straddled one strong thigh even as he claimed her mouth. One hand twisted in her hair and angled her head to deepen the kiss. She moaned against his mouth. This was what she’d been missing for days. His hands on her body, this fire in her heart. Suddenly she could breathe again.
His lips played over hers, tasting her as if he was savoring the contact as much as she. Abbey stroked his tongue with hers and grinned as the hands on her waist tightened. Gripping his shoulders, she undulated against him, pressing her breasts to his chest. His eyes dilated and she saw the small red rim start to form. Lust pooled low in her abdomen at the sight. Her body came back to life when he touched her. Pleasure ran along every nerve ending; excitement filled her heart. When she looked into his red eyes it was hard to wonder if she’d made a mistake. When he kissed her, she believed in forever.
“I love you,” he whispered against her mouth.
The words were electric, raising every hair on her arms. The hope racing through her was almost painful. He’d claimed the emotion before but never had he said those three little words. Three words that had the power to change her life and reorder her world.
But when she drew back to meet his gaze there was nothing but honesty in his eyes.
“I love you,” he repeated. “And I’ll say it every day for the rest of our lives.”
Her heart thundered in her ears until it was hard to hear him over the pounding. Butterflies filled her stomach. He was offering everything she wanted if she just dared to believe he meant his words.
“And if I don’t want to become a vampire?” she asked, testing him as she had Christian.
Unlike the werewolf, however, there was no surprise in his expression, only acceptance. “Then I will tell you every day for the rest of your life, and after you die in my arms, I’ll follow you.”
She gasped. “You will not.”
“Darling, you know my kind don’t last long after our mates die. I’d take fifty years with you over an eternity without you.”
Abbey hit his shoulder. “You can’t joke about this. If something happens to me, you can’t just walk into the sun or whatever.”
“Shh,” he said, brushing a hand over her hair in an attempt to soothe her. “You are my life, Abbey. Nothing you can say will change that.” There was no regret on his features. He didn’t look like a man upset over the prospect of having only one more lifetime. If anything, he looked more at peace than she’d ever seen him.
He means it, she realized with both horror and awe. If she died, he’d follow her.
“I’m not okay with that,” she said.
“We’ll figure it out.” He caressed her cheek. “All I need is you.”
She closed her eyes, feeling overwhelmed. She’d told Christian she’d only consider the transformation if it was for a good reason. Lucian qualified. If he couldn’t live without her, then she couldn’t die a human death.
“To turn or not…I can’t make a choice like that right now,” she whispered. “But I can think about it.”
A heartbreakingly tender look filled his eyes. He touched a gossamer kiss to her lips that was so gentle it almost brought tears to her eyes. “I can’t deny that having more than a single lifetime with you is something I desire greatly, but it is too soon for you to make such a decision.”
“Lucian—”
“You like being human,” he said. “And as long as that’s the case, you will remain so. We have time, love. Time to face those sorts of decisions.”
“What if something happens to me?” She didn’t want to lose her humanity yet, but what if she was hit by a car walking to work?