Page 15 of Roaring Heat
At exactly the same time I saw the glowing eyes in the fog, my recorder captured a sharp surge in sound and vibration levels. It should not be possible, and I have no way to explain it.
The hairs on the back of my neck rise.Whatever happened last night wasn’t just real. It was measurable.
Beau knew, and that knowledge twists like a warning inside me. Something is coming, maybe someone, and the truth is I am not ready for any of it.
CHAPTER 7
BEAU
The memory of her trembling against me lingers longer than it should. It hits me harder than I expect, stirring more than just physical want. There’s a sense of vulnerability in that moment that sinks deeper into my chest than I’m ready to admit. Her trust, her need, the way she looked at me like I was both danger and shelter—it throws me off balance. I tell myself to forget it, to focus on the lines and not the woman complicating everything, but that lie doesn’t hold for long.
Her softness pressed to mine, the way her breath hitched against my mouth. It burns itself into me like a live wire. My chest tightens, not just with want, but with something deeper and far more dangerous. I try to shake it off, but the image clings to me, vivid and raw. My body remembers too easily, and my instincts keep dragging me back to her. The pull isn’t just physical. It’s primal. Unavoidable. And it terrifies me how much I don’t want to fight it.
I walk away because I have to, not because I want to. Leaving her standing there, lips swollen and eyes wide, damn near tears me in half. By the time I reach my truck, my hands still shake with the effort it takes to hold myself back. I cantaste her, feel the heat of her pressed against me, and I know I’ve made everything between us even more complicated. But complications don’t matter right now. Not with the ley lines surging like they did last night. Not with the land itself restless beneath our feet.
Sawyer meets me near the southern ridge before noon, the forest dense and quiet around us, the kind of quiet that buzzes in your ears. The air feels thick, charged, like the seconds before a thunderstorm breaks, though the sky above is clear. The underbrush crackles beneath our boots, dry and brittle despite the shade. There's an edge to the air that prickles across the back of my neck, not quite fear, but something near it. My body reads it before my mind catches up—something is off. Wrong.His pack is slung across one broad shoulder, the usual frown carved deep between his brows, and he doesn’t waste time on greetings.
“You felt it too.”
“Yeah.” I crouch low, brush the ground with my palm, and wait for the hum to rise through my bones. It creeps in slow, then strikes like a wrong note plucked on taut piano wire.
My breath catches. This isn’t the steady, familiar cadence of ley energy. It’s jagged, like the land is thrumming in panic beneath my hand. The sensation skitters up my spine, sharp and discordant, vibrating with a tension that doesn't belong. My jaw tightens.
This isn’t just wrong—it’s dangerous. It doesn’t take long. The vibration is faint but wrong, like a heartbeat out of rhythm. “It wasn’t just another fluctuation. It was stronger. Wilder.”
He exhales hard. “The animals are restless. I saw a blacktail buck cross right through the schoolyard this morning. Didn’t even flinch when the bell rang.”
“You're right; that’s not natural,” I say, nodding.
“No,” he agrees. “Not even close.”
We head deeper along the ridge, checking grounding stones as we go. The first marker is cracked clean through, its quartz veins splintered like broken ice. I kneel, tracing the jagged edge with my thumb. Sawyer crouches beside me, eyes narrowing. "I've never seen one break this clean. Not even during that freak storm ten years ago."
"It's not just weather." I glance at him. "You felt the spike, same as I did. This isn't a pattern we've seen before."
He nods slowly, jaw tight. "If the grounding stones are cracking, the lines aren't just unstable. They're lashing out. That's new. That's bad."
I press my hand flat to the earth, feeling for another pulse. "And it means we’re running out of time to figure out why." The quartz veins splintered like glass, fractured in a way that looks unnatural even to my seasoned eye. I kneel and trace the break with my thumb, my jaw tight, heart ticking faster. The cold stone under my skin buzzes faintly, a warning humming straight through my bones. “These should hold for decades. That was no normal surge.”
Sawyer crouches beside me. “You thinking it’s the same as before?”
The words drag me back like a sucker punch to the gut. That day is burned into my bones. I’d been young, overconfident, and too damn sure of myself. I'd stepped into the ring of ground stones and thought I had the lines all figured out better than anyone in Redwood Rise. Then the surge had hit without warning, a violent explosion of raw energy that tore through the grounding stone and slammed straight into me. I remember the scream that had ripped from my throat, how it had felt like lightning was trying to claw its way out through my skin.
Familiar voices had shouted around me. Sawyer's rough bark and our dad’s deep command had cut through the chaos, their voices strained and nearly lost beneath the deafening roar ofthe energy. It had swallowed everything, fracturing the world around me.
White-hot pain had lanced through my body, bones vibrating like they might shake apart, blood thundering in my ears. Hands had grabbed at me, dragging me out from the ring of grounding stones where I’d collapsed, my body still convulsing from the violent surge. Their palms had burned from the backlash of raw ley energy, but they hadn’t let go. I'd felt the drag of the forest floor beneath me, roots and damp soil catching on my limbs, broken twigs scraping my skin as I was hauled to relative safety.
My limbs had been numb, nerves still twitching with residual energy, and the chaos around me had pulsed with the frantic urgency of those trying to pull me free. I couldn’t speak for hours afterward, couldn’t think straight for days.
Even now, I can feel the echo of it in my chest. The same erratic tremble in the ley current. The same pulse that doesn’t belong. Only this time, it’s stronger. Hungrier.
“Feels the same,” I admit, voice rough. “But bigger. Stronger.”
We move to the next site. This one isn’t broken, but the stones hum sharp under my hand, like static before a lightning strike. Sawyer sets a fresh marker, muttering under his breath, and I brace it with iron pins. The air feels charged, pressing against my skin like the weight of a storm. My shoulders stiffen, a tight coil winding at the base of my spine. Every nerve feels wired too close to the surface, like I'm waiting for a blow I can’t see coming. My pulse ticks faster, steady but high, and a bead of sweat slides down the back of my neck despite the cool air.
Sawyer glances at me. “You ever wonder why it’s starting again now?”
“Every damn day.” I straighten, scanning the treeline. “Something’s stirring the lines awake. They don’t just flare up like this without a trigger.”
