Page 63 of Bound

“She was?” Erin asks.

“Yes.” My throat feels scraped raw. The words come harder now. “She miscarried early.”

Erin inhales softly. “Before or after the fire?”

“Before.” I stare at our joined hands.

I can’t look at her. Because I can’t bear to see her face when I cause her more pain.

Erin is quiet. Too quiet.

I force myself to look at her. She’s looking at me, worried about me.

She says, “This isn’t about me, Lucian. Stop worrying about me. This is about you. Your pain.”

That undoes me more than anger would have. I rub a hand over my forehead, releasing the tension there.

“It was your baby,” she says softly. “It wouldn’t hurt me for you to love your child.”

“I…”

Her thumb moves over my hand. “Where would Cass be without Ryan?”

The name not spoken sits with us anyway. Caleb. They love Ryan despite him.

“I can handle you loving a child, even her. The only thing I couldn’t take is if you were still in love with her.” Her voice trembles once. “I don’t share well.”

“Neither do I,” I choke out a laugh. “And you know there’s no space inside me that belongs to anyone but you.”

I lift my hand and cup her face. She leans into the touch. “I’ve come to realize something,” she whispers. “It’s okay for the before Lucian to love the before Isobel.”

Something inside me breaks. Not collapse. More like a dam.

Release.

Erin gives me a watery smile. “Honestly, I think she would have made a fierce mother. Possibly terrifying. But fierce.”

I stare at her, this woman who is always surprising me.

She shrugs. “Like that spider who eats her partner after mating to nourish the baby inside her.”

For one second, the entire world stops.

Then a laugh tears out of me. Uncontrolled. Wrong for the day.

Perfect.

Erin’s smile grows. “What? It’s nature.”

“You are twisted.”

“As are you,” she says. “The perfect pair.”

I pull her into me. She tucks against my side, and I bury my face in her hair. The brutal truth comes before I can stop it.

Whispered words are all I can manage. “I was afraid you might leave me,” I say into the dark silk.

Her body stills. She turns to face me, her arms around my neck. “I’ll never leave you.”