Page 138 of Sapphire Flame
“You have to know you’ve been the best thing to happen to that man since Renee died and if I can help it, I’ll try to encourage him to make an effort. It won’t be easy for him and not just because of Kryder. I’ve never seen a man so destroyed by his wife’s death as Grant was. I don’t think even he knows what he was like afterward.
“It took him weeks to do more than head out to serve his Border Patrol shift. When he returned, he spent hours going over every aspect of the compound. As for women, just a long series of one-night-stands and it wasn’t pretty.
“You’re the first real thing to come into his life, that wasn’t about pack business, in all these years. I don’t want him to go backward.”
Natalie felt overwhelmed by what Ryan had just said. “Thank you for that. I’ve heard you and I will keep what you’ve said in mind. But right now, I belong in Revel. I’m fae, despite my odd, iridescent wolf. I had a life before Grant and I need to get back to it, back to the clients I have scheduled for the next two months.”
He shook his head. “Is that really what you want?”
“Maybe I would feel differently if Grant had asked me to join him a little, in, say, a meeting or two. But I wasn’t even an afterthought. I also know how important the Meldorin Pack is to him and that more than anything he wants to create a secure environment for his people. If he had to worry about me as well, he’d only start resenting me.”
Ryan nodded, his brow pinched. He kept on nodding as well, his gaze falling to the floor. She could tell he was trying hard to think of something else to say.
Finally, he lifted his gaze to meet hers and said, “Let’s get you home. But please don’t forget Grant or me or the rest of us. If you’d let yourself, I think you’d find a home here you could love. Just sayin’.” He then smiled, if sadly, turned and gestured toward the door.
A few minutes later, as Natalie rose into the air, she forced herself not to look back, not to think about Grant and what she was leaving behind.
Even so, her eyes grew blurred with tears. She was grateful for the vanguard in front of her, so she wouldn’t have to worry that she couldn’t see her path home.
