“You’re over two hundred.You could have a whole litter who’re already grown.”
Laughter bubbled in my throat.He was too adorable.“Taking care of a senior is hard enough.Longevity runs on my father’s side, so I have plenty of time to decide if kids are in the forecast.Right now I’ve got enough responsibilities and want to focus on my career.”
He redirected his attention to a shelf by the wall that contained photographs, wood carvings, rocks from different places my father visited, and a candle.“Is that your mother?”
I followed his gaze to an old photo of a blond woman with a radiant smile, sitting on a massive rock overlooking a river.“That’s the only picture I have of her.She left us when I was ten.”
“Sorry.”
“She didn’t die.She left.”
His brow furrowed.“Why?”
“Because she wanted more than my father could give, and he was busy with the Underground Railroad.She wasn’t much of a parent.My dad gave me all the affection.After she left, she found a wealthy mate from old money, but he didn’t want me to be part of their family and neither did she.”
“Why did she have young if she didn’t want them?”
“Questions I’ll never have the answers to, and honestly, I don’t care.”I noticed the black ring on his middle finger.“My dad says she got really depressed after I was born, but I don’t think a hormonal imbalance was the reason she didn’t love me.There’s something deeper going on with that woman.For years I thought maybe I’d see her sometimes, but she never bothered to check in on me or look me up.Now I don’t care about that woman.All she did was give birth to me.There comes a time when you have to stop holding on to the people who already let you go.”
“Maybe your father kept you from her.”
I patted the table.“No, he was upset that she severed ties with us.They lived six hours away by horseback, and he took me to their house once and banged on their door.Demanded that she come down and see her child.I glimpsed her looking at me from a window before she ducked out of sight.That’s the moment I knew it wasn’t just my father she was leaving; it was both of us.I never told him about that.When she left us, it broke him.She was the only woman he ever loved.His first wife was an arranged mating, and while they built a happy life until she died, it wasn’t for love.I used to wonder if my parents would still be together if I hadn’t come along, but I quit blaming myself after a conversation my father had with me.”
His eyebrow arched.“What did he say?”
“He told me how they argued about their future, money, and the time he wasted helping humans.I guess that put things into perspective.It was never meant to be.”
“You’ve got her eyes.”
I certainly did.My mother had inherited an unusual color, and despite my father’s strong genetics, I got her eyes.Genetics among Breed didn’t have the same rules as with humans, and that’s why so many of us had unique traits.When I looked at her picture, I had trouble seeing any resemblance to me.Maybe I just didn’t want to.
Lucian frowned.“Where did you get the photograph?They didn’t have flip-flops in the Civil War.”
“It’s my father’s.I don’t know where or how he got it.”
Lucian leaned forward.“If she broke his heart, why is he hanging a picture of her in the living room?”
“He has some dreamy fantasy that after he’s gone, we’ll bury the hatchet and reunite.My mom is four hundred years younger than him.”I shook my head.“That’s why he put it over there, so I can stare at it while we play games.He doesn’t want me to hate her.It’s a reminder that I still have family, but she’s not my family anymore.She never really was.”
“I can see why he fell for her.”
“I bet she’s more your type than I am.”
“Why?Because you think all Chitahs like blondes?”
“Obviously.”I set my wineglass down.“I resemble my father.”
He squinted at me.“That’s not entirely true.”
“Sure, my skin’s a little lighter than his and my curls are looser, but I amdefinitelymy father’s daughter.”
“I meant because she has a smile that pulls you in like a tide.Yoursmile.”
My heart quickened at his compliment.
Lucian casually leaned back but kept his shackled arm on the table.“For your information, Chitahs have criteria when they date, but not because they think those traits are more beautiful.Light hair, yellow eyes, and height are ubiquitous, so people think it means all their gifts are intact.Someone like me, well, I’m seen as a defect.”
“Is it true?Because from what I’ve witnessed, nothing about you is inferior.”
