He answered his daughter though his gaze never left Loretta. While stunned by the announcement, he couldn’t help feeling excited at the prospect of having another child now theirs had grown. Another adorable little girl would be more than he could ever hope for, if they could work out what would make them fertile again.
Loretta grinned unrepentantly at him. “Actually, I was hoping we could time it so Lily was gifting you with your first grandchild at the same time,” she teased, having no idea of what the impact of her words would be.
Mac suddenly froze on the spot; the hand which had been running up and down Lily’s back ceasing all movement. The pleasure on Andrei’s face evaporated and his gaze swung to look at the other male.
Mac was stunned by Loretta’s announcement. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t even considered that now he was mated to a Vârcolac he would be able to father children again. His one experience of fatherhood had been an agony he couldn’t bear to repeat again.
He knew Andrei was aware of his past; the look in the other male’s eyes a stark warning as they stared at each other. It was an effort to ensure none of his inner turmoil travelled down his mate bond with Lily as his past memories reared up and he saw his daughter again.
Barely a fraction of a second had passed since Loretta had spoken and both he and Andrei were the only ones aware that her words had set off memories Mac never wanted to relive.
Memories of Sophia, only they weren’t of her laughing or of him holding her in his arms, she was always lying dead with her throat torn out and her clothes covered in blood. Losing his wife had been hard; losing his child had been hell on earth and the thing which had tipped him over the edge until he’d tried to leave the world with them.
Demetri had stopped him. He had changed him into a vampire and given him a goal to go on. He had stood at his side as he had buried Maria and Sophia and helped him track down the vampire who had taken their lives. Knowing he would never be able to father a child again had been the one thing Mac had always relied on. Now he didn’t have that any more.
“Mac?”
Lily’s voice dragged his attention from Andrei and he smiled automatically, continuing his slow caress of her back as he struggled to fight off the memories. She was looking at him speculatively, sensing something was wrong but not quite knowing what it was.
“I think we stunned Mac more than we stunned your father,” Loretta chuckled, completely oblivious to the world of hurt she had just opened up.
He murmured some polite response, something along the lines of there being plenty of time to consider parenthood. All the while his thoughts were on Lily.
How could he explain it to her?
It was obvious she wanted to be a mother. It was part of her Were heritage the need to bring life into the world. If he’d stopped to consider it for a moment he wouldn’t have mated with her. He would have let some other male know her love, allowed someone else to give her what she needed.
Because Mac knew he never could. He would never father another child and know the hell of losing that child as he’d lost Sophia – not even for Lily.
To be continued…