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“Infinitely. Are your men settled in for the day?”
He chuckled. They drew straws for the guest rooms. The rest will sack out on your couches and the floor.
She was about to protest because it seemed an uncomfortable way to spend the sleeping hours, but he lifted a hand. “Those on the floor will shift to wolf-form. Believe me, wolves can sleep anywhere.”
“Good to know.” She smiled. “You said something earlier about having a certain idea about our time together tonight.”
“I do. How would you like to go dreamgliding? We could find a beach somewhere on the California coast. Even if there are joggers up this time of day, no one will see us.”
She understood exactly what he was suggesting. Shivers chased up and down her arms and legs. Would she really be making love with a man, on the beach, even with the sun rising?
“Sounds like heaven.”
Chapter Nine
Grant smiled. “Let me take a quick shower. We’ll stretch out in bed then head out in the dreamglide.”
“Can’t wait.”
He all but ran to the shower next door. He had the oddest sense that he didn’t want to be separated from Natalie even if all he was doing was cleaning up.
He moved quickly and set the showerheads on high and hot. He washed his hair, scrubbed his skin, and got the night’s battle grime off his body.
What he wanted with Natalie didn’t allow for grit or dirt of any kind. He wanted to make love to her in as pure a way as he could.
Deep in his heart, he knew he was living a stolen season with her. They’d been at war three years ago without having known each other. Their losses before Five Bridges and those suffered afterward festered at the bottom of their relationship. What healing could there ever be? How could he ever forgive her part in the Fae-Wolf wars once he knew the details? How could she ever forgive him?
As he washed his hair, his thoughts turned to Renee and suddenly she was there in ghost form. She hovered in the air within touching distance. The water splashed on her yet didn’t connect with her at all. It just moved some of her ghostly mist around.
She reached out to his mind. You must forgive her, no matter what, no matter how bad or how tragic. She will need to forgive you as well. She looked him up and down. Damn, you look good. Clearly, I missed way too much when I gave up the ghost. Make Kryder pay on my behalf as well, will you?
She tossed back her head in disgust, then vanished.
Two heavy emotions hit him at once: How much he missed his wife and how much he wanted to avenge her death.
Yet, he wondered why, though she hadn’t shown herself to him at all up until this point, she’d come with a message of forgiveness.
He shut the water off and toweled dry.
How much was there to forgive? He’d lost a good friend, one of his best, in the Fae-Wolf Wars. But he’d lost a number of pack-mates as well. Natalie had already admitted to playing a regretful part in the ongoing battles, so could he forgive her?
Maybe the more important question was whether she could forgive him. He’d killed his share of fae warriors.
How had he gotten involved with a fae female in the first place? He thought back to how she’d shown up in the Graveyard, at Renee’s insistence, and saved his ass.
The rest was history.
He blow-dried his hair just enough to get some of the wet out. He then braided the mass.
For a split-second, he didn’t recognize himself. The science teacher that had truly loved teaching high school students was long gone. He was a wolf now and had been for the past six years. He was taller and had muscles. He’d worked out in his former life but hadn’t come close to what he bore naturally as an alter wolf.
He shook his head.
What a strange life he led.
He headed to the doorway, turned the light out and left the bathroom. Natalie had opened up the interior patio and was reclining on her side staring out at her plants. She no longer wore her nightgown. “I need to prune the morning glory. It’s trying to take over the cypress again.”
He moved toward the bed and glanced at the garden. Astronomy had been his emphasis. He’d always loved the stars. Botany had been at the lower levels of his interests. He wasn’t even sure which plants she referred to although one was a vine with tendrils over a tall, cylindrical plant. Must be what she meant.
