Footsteps approached the house, and I froze like a deer in headlights.
To get inside, I’d deactivated Lucien’s security system—compliments of the code he’d shown me the night we’d spent together. By now, he would know something was wrong.
When the front door opened, my whole soul fled my body. I slowly rose to my feet and smoothed down my skirt.
Lucien didn’t call out. Didn’t ask who was in his house. He knew. My scent was likely everywhere.
He simply started walking, his steps slow and precise. My heart leapt into my throat the closer he came, until finally, he appeared in the living room archway. My breath caught at the sight of him, all rumpled and tantalizingly handsome. I wanted to run to him, to throw myself into his arms, but the stoic expression on his face kept my feet frozen to the ground.
“I know,” I said softly. “I’m a jerk.”
He said nothing.
“I disappeared. I scared everyone. I didn’t tell anyone I’d left. That was a really shitty thing to do.”
He didn’t so much as blink. Or breathe.
“I went to New Orleans,” I whispered. “To tell Trystan’s family about him. To apologize to them.”
The silence between us pressed on my chest, threatening to crush me beneath the weight of all the things I hadn’t yet said.
I took a deep breath and plunged onward, knowing this would be my only chance to get everything off my chest.
“I had to see them. Had to look them in the eyes and tell them what I did.”
His jaw ticked.
“Apparently, no one else knew that breaking a mating bond could have such negative effects, since so few have ever braved breaking a bond. After a lot of talking and tears and yelling, they forgave me. They understood their son wasn’t innocent in all this, and they’re upset that it ended this way. But they know I didn’t purposely hurt him. I—I told them what he did to Thorne, told them that I suspect he killed Ella too. In the end, they were grateful I…ended his pain.”
I took a breath, and continued, “Then I saw my family. Just for a night. I needed to explain to them why I left in the first place, why I wasn’t ever coming back to New Orleans, and I begged them to come here. To meet…you.”
That did it.
Lucien moved, crossing the room in an instant. Before I could so much as close my eyes, I was in his arms. I sank into him, like my body knew this was exactly where I belonged.
He still didn’t say anything. He just held me. And gods, it was everything.
His lips brushed my hair, then the side of my head. “You should have told me where you were going. I would have understood or gone with you if you wanted me to.”
“I’m sorry,” I finally said. “I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
His arms tightened. “I came here to pack a bag. I was about to go after you.”
My fingers tightened on his jacket lapels. “I’m sorry,” I said again, this time softer.
He pulled back enough to look at me, his hands anchored at my waist. “Next time you disappear, I’ll rip apart the world to find you. Don’t make me do that.”
A breathless laugh escaped me. “That seems excessive.”
“I’m a vampire in love. Excessive is my default setting.”
I froze, staring wildly into his eyes. Had he just…told me he loved me? My pulse was thumping so loudly in my ears, I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right. He should be mad at me. Not professing his love.
Lucien’s expression didn’t waver, but something in his gaze softened. “I love you. Have since the first night I saw you standing on those damn stairs and you kicked me out of your bar.”
I gave a watery laugh.
“It’s all right if you’re not ready to say it back?—”
