“I watched her pack her bags that thirteenth day you were gone and leave. She didn’t come back for a year. Did you know she never called home when she knew I’d be there? She’d just leave messages on my machine, telling me she was okay. I didn’t get to talk to my daughter, Lorn—because she was too afraid I’d tell her that you’d brought your mate home with you when you’d returned. She wouldn’t leave her phone number so I could call her back. It was hell not knowing where she was or how to reach her. Decker sent an enforcer to hunt her down and found her living at a college. That’s the only reason she came back. She was forced to.”

Lorn’s guts twisted. He would never forget the time Kira had left the clan. He’d come back from his trip to discover she’d decided to live amongst humans. Fear that Decker had killed her had led him into a confrontation with his father. They’d nearly come to blows until his mother had intervened. She’d used her bond with her mate to read his mind for Lorn, swearing that Ladius was actually furious because they didn’t know where Kira had gone. He and Decker were worried she might seek revenge by telling humans about VampLycans.

That’s when Lorn had begun spying on Davis. Her father hadn’t been grieving. He definitely would have been if Kira had disappeared without his knowledge, or if he feared someone had killed her.

“Every year when you travel to the other clans, Kira grows depressed and quiet. I still hear her crying sometimes in her room or see the results in the morning with her red, swollen eyes. We pretend she’s not hurting because she gets more upset if I attempt to talk to her. Every time you return, she shuts down, bracing for you to bring a mate with you. She lingers with the clan in the hope that you’ll love her but she keeps a bag packed in the back of her closet. I know why it’s there. It’s so she can flee the day you do find your mate.”

“I didn’t know,” Lorn admitted.

“She hid it from you because she has pride. It’s all she has. I’m taking my daughter away, Lorn. Feeding is very intimate, and it will only break her heart more when you shun her again.”

“Who says I will?”

Davis stepped closer, studying him knowingly. “Are you willing to flee the clan and go somewhere else with her?”

“You know I can’t do that. I have responsibilities to my family, and someone needs to step up to lead our people now that Decker’s gone. It can’t be Nabby.”

“She’s loved you since she was old enough to lose her heart. You can’t be so blind as to not know what living in close quarters with you will do to her. She’ll take from your vein, Lorn. You said it yourself; a man could mistake bloodlust for the real thing. What if she stirs your desire? Can you swear on your life that you aren’t attracted to her in the least? Don’t lie to me. You wouldn’t have stayed away from her if you didn’t have some feelings. You’ve always guarded her against others. You just don’t love her enough to sever your ties with your family and clan to be her mate. I understand that—but as a father, I’ve hated you for all the suffering you’ve created. The enforcer in Velder’s clan is willing to mate with her. What can you offer her, besides your blood and temporary shelter?”

“My blood might strengthen her Lycan side.”

“What if it doesn’t work? Velder offered no guarantees. Just hope. You know Decker’s influence is longstanding, despite his absence. She wouldn’t be safe here if you fail. You’ll have to send her away and shatter her heart in the process. She’ll bond with you if you don’t, damn it!”

Lorn fought his rage. “Taking blood from me is going to work. It has to.”

“Let’s say it does. And then what? I heard Lavos found his mate. You’re first son, and Ladius will demand you take a mate before Lavos does. It’s law in our clan. If your blood takes, she might get to remain in the clan, but at what cost? Watching you with another woman will hurt her even more—possibly mean her death, if your mate considers Kira a threat.

“Velder’s offering a safe life in his clan if she mates one of his enforcers. Let her have a chance at happiness. She’s in love with you, Lorn. The kindest thing you could do for her is to let her go, let someone else mate her that isn’t in our clan. Then she won’t have to witness you live out the life she’s always wanted with you, with another woman.”

Pain tightened his chest. He never wanted Kira to suffer. He also hadn’t known until the night before that she harbored strong feelings for him. He’d been certain she hated him after he’d shunned her in their teens. Kira had avoided him when they’d been in the same vicinity and had never sought him out.

“She’ll die a little inside every time she watches you kiss or hold someone else. Imagine her pain when you start having young. I knew that pain once. I’m going to tell you something I’ve never shared with Kira. I loved someone in this clan before her mother. She chose another, and I couldn’t stand the ache of watching her bloom with her mate’s child inside her belly. It tore my guts out, seeing them together. I was never with her but it didn’t hurt any less. That’s why I left for the outside world when Decker asked someone to manage some business for him.”

“Who was it?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Davis held his gaze. “I no longer feel that way. It was just an infatuation. I met Kira’s mother and that’s when I realized the true meaning of love. I didn’t care what rules I had to break to be with her, or that she was human. I turned my back on my clan to claim her. I had to tell her the truth about what I really was in order to mate her, but she accepted me. The feelings were stronger than anything I’d ever experienced. I’ve only seen that kind of love one other time—Kira’s love for you.

“I suffered the pain of watching someone I’d thought I loved being with another, and believed it was the worst thing to ever happen to me. I can’t imagine how deep Kira’s pain will be when you take a mate. Please…let her go. She’ll bond with this man and hopefully fall in love with him. She’ll have a life and children with him, if he’s able to strengthen her Lycan side.”

Rage and jealousy stabbed at Lorn. He didn’t want some other man mating Kira. Just imagining her pregnant by someone else had his claws tearing from the tips of his fingers. That would mean someone else stripping her bare and fucking her. It made him killing mad. He snarled.