Page 80 of Rangers Last Promise

“Thank you.”

Two words.

They hit harder than they should.

“You should have known.”

Her smile fades.

“Yes. I should have.”

That one belongs to all of us.

Wolf.

Trigger.

Me.

We allowed a grieving mother’s fear—and our own guilt—to silence us for fifteen years.

Mara deserved Grant’s stories.

She deserved to know he talked about her.

She deserved to know that when the world around him turned violent and ugly, thoughts of his little sister still made him smile.

“We should have told you,” I say.

Wolf comes around the bar.

“Yes.”

Trigger lowers the ice pack.

“We thought we were honoring your mother’s wishes.”

Mara tapes fresh gauze over my wound.

“You were.”

“That doesn't mean we were right,” Wolf says.

She looks at him.

For a moment, I think she’ll argue.

Instead, she nods.

“Maybe we were all doing what we thought Mom needed.”

“What about what you needed?” I ask.

Her gaze comes back to me.

“No one asked.”

The answer hurts.