Page 69 of Cowboy Bear's Hope

Bear Shifter. My baby is a Shifter.

I closed my eyes and sucked in a frigid breath, the icy air burning my lungs as it filled me.

I held it there for a moment, letting the cold cut through the chaos swirling inside my head.

With that breath, I gathered everything—every fear, every worry, every unanswered question.

I let the weight of it all press down on me. And damn, it was heavy.

But I didn’t shy away from it this time.

I stared it down, letting myself feel every jagged edge of my terror and uncertainty.

Then, with a deliberate exhale, I pushed it all away.

Out of my chest, out of my head, out of the space where it had taken root and festered.

And as I opened my eyes, I made a choice.

It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be either.

It was just a choice.

A decision that came with clarity so sharp it felt like it had been waiting for me all along.

I was a human in a family of Shifters.

And that was okay.

Rosie and Dante were different. Special in ways I couldn’t fully understand, ways I might never fully relate to.

But none of that changed what they were to me.

They were my family.

My heart

My home.

Even Penny, despite our current rift, was part of that truth.

The second I let myself acknowledge it, something shifted inside me. It wasn’t small or subtle. More like a giant switch being flipped, flooding my mind with light after so much darkness.

Every ounce of confusion, fear, and doubt that had been holding me captive was suddenly gone.

Because the truth was simple.

I had nothing to be afraid of.

Rosie was my daughter. She had always been my daughter. And she always would be.

It didn’t matter what she was, or what she could become, or how her world had changed. She was mine, and I was hers, and nothing—*nothing*—could ever take that away.

The love I felt for her, the fierce, unshakable bond we shared, was bigger than fear.

Bigger than biology. Bigger than anything I’d ever imagined before this moment.

And Dante?

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