Page 13 of Rescued By the Surly Sasquatch

"Perhaps... perhaps this was a mistake."

The words hit Betsy like a physical blow. "What?"

Chase stood, his massive form seeming to fill the entire den. "You belong to the world of humans," he said. "I am a creature of myth and shadow. Our worlds... they cannot coexist."

Betsy scrambled to her feet, anger and hurt warring within her. "Now wait just a minute, Chewbacca. You don't get to decide that for both of us. We need to talk about this."

But Chase was already moving, scooping her up in his arms with effortless grace. Before Betsy could protest further, they were out of the den and moving through the forest at impossible speed.

The journey back to her grandmother's cabin passed in a blur of green and shadow. Betsy's mind raced, trying to find the words to make Chase understand, to bridge the gap between their worlds. But all too soon, they were there, the familiar sight of the cabin emerging from the trees.

Chase set her down gently on the porch, his hands lingering on her waist. For a moment, Betsy thought she saw a flicker of regret in his dark eyes. Then he was leaning down, capturing her lips in a kiss that tasted of wild honey and heartbreak.

“You will always be my mate. For the time I have left anyway.”

What the hell did that mean?

When Betsy opened her eyes, he was gone, melted back into the forest as if he'd never been there at all.

"Chase," she called out, her voice echoing in the empty clearing. "Chase, you get your furry butt back here right now. We are not done talking about this."

But only the whisper of wind through leaves answered her. Betsy stood there, fists clenched at her sides, a whirlwind of emotions threatening to overwhelm her.

"Fine," she muttered, turning to stomp back into the cabin. "You want to play hard to get, Sasquatch? Game on. I didn't come to this forest to become an herbalist just to let some overgrown teddy bear with commitment issues dictate my life."

Frustrated and determined, Betsy began pacing the small confines of the cabin. Her eyes darted around, taking in the familiar yet suddenly alien surroundings. This place had been her grandmother's sanctuary, and now it was hers. But there was so much she didn't understand.

As she moved restlessly about the room, her hand brushed against an old photo frame on the mantel. It was a picture of her grandmother, standing proudly in front of the cabin. But something about the image caught Betsy's eye. In the background, barely visible among the trees, was a dark, hulking shape that looked suspiciously Sasquatch-like.

"Grandma," Betsy whispered, picking up the frame for a closer look. "What were you mixed up in?"

The photo seemed to raise more questions than answers. Had her grandmother known about Chase? About the true nature of this forest? And if she did, why hadn't she ever mentioned it?

Betsy set the photo down, her mind racing. There was clearly more going on here than a simple case of inter-species attraction. Chase had hinted at duties, at ancient magics and balance. And now this photo suggested her grandmother might have been involved in it all.

"Alright, Sasquatch," she said to the empty room. "You want to play hard to get? Fine. But I'm going to figure out what's really going on here. For both our sakes."

With renewed purpose, Betsy began formulating a plan. She'd find Chase, make him see reason, and get to the bottom of this mystery. After all, if she could survive poison ivy, wolf attacks, and mind-blowing Sasquatch sex, surely she could handle a little magical forest intrigue.

Right?

As she stood there, hands on hips, staring out the window into the deepening twilight, Betsy couldn't shake the feeling that she was on the precipice of something much bigger than she'd ever imagined. Something that went beyond her budding herbalist dreams or even her complicated relationship with Chase.

"Grandma," she murmured, "I sure hope you left me some clues. Because I have a feeling I'm going to need all the help I can get."

Chapter 7

Betsy

Betsy stood in a small clearing, as naked as the day she was born, and wondered if she had finally lost her mind. The forest around her buzzed with life—birds chirping, leaves rustling, and the occasional squirrel stopping to give her a judgmental look before scampering away.

"Yes, I know," she muttered to a particularly disapproving chipmunk. "This isn't exactly my finest moment. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and honey, I am desperate."

It had been five days since Chase had unceremoniously dumped her back at the cabin. Five days of fumbling through the forest, trying (and mostly failing) to identify plants that would work for building up her herbalism business. Five days of replaying their passionate encounter in her mind, each memory more vivid and frustrating than the last.

"This is what you wanted, right?" Betsy asked the forest at large, spreading her arms wide. "To become one with nature? Well, here I am, nature. One with you. Extremely one. So one that I'm pretty sure I've got moss growing in places moss has no business being."

She took a few steps, wincing as a twig snapped under her bare foot. The forest floor was a minefield of pointy rocks, sticky pine needles, and what she desperately hoped wasn't poison ivy. Again.

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