He had lived solely for her.
Now he lived for nothing at all.
Talon forced his feet to carry him down the street away from Sunshine's club and her comfort. Away from these memories that had somehow been set loose.
He had to find his peace.
He had to forget the past. To bury it.
But as he walked, repressed thoughts and memories tumbled through his mind.
Against his will, he remembered the day he had discovered his wife...
Nynia.
Even now, the mere mention of her name was enough to bring him to his knees. She had been everything to him. His best friend. His heart. His soul.
She, alone, had given him solace.
In her arms, he hadn't cared what the others thought of him. Only the two of them had existed in the world.
As a mortal man, he had taken her as his first and only lover.
"How could I ever lay hands to another woman, Nyn, when I have you?"
Those words haunted him now along with the memory of how many women he'd slept with since his death. Women who had never meant anything to him. They had merely been passing flings designed to ease a physical craving.
He had never wanted to know anything about them.
Never really wanted to know any woman except his wife.
Nynia and the perfect love she had given him had touched something inside him and given it wings. She'd shown him things in the world that he'd never seen before.
Kindness.
Comfort.
Acceptance.
She had confused him, aggravated him, and made him deliriously happy.
When she had died, she had taken him with her. He had survived physically, but not his heart.
It had died that day too.
And he'd never thought to desire a woman that way again. Not until he had felt the warmth of a graceful artist's hand on his skin.
The mere thought of Sunshine was enough to make him feel sucker-punched.
"Get her out of my head," he said between clenched teeth. He would never again let himself be open to so much excruciating pain. He would never again hold someone he cared for in his arms and watch her die.
Never.
He had been hurt enough in his life. He couldn't stand any more.
Sunshine was a stranger to him and she would remain that way. He didn't need anyone.
He never had.