Page 20 of Roaring Heat
The words come out rough, but not with fear. They slam into place; her eyes lit with something fierce and unrelenting. They pin me in place, vivid and defiant, flickering with something I can’t quite name. Wonder? Rage? Curiosity? Maybe all three.
Beneath her voice, I hear the stutter of her breath, see the faint tremble working through her hands. She’s not frozen in fear. She’s trying to keep from unraveling, trying to piece together the impossible with logic that no longer applies.
Her eyes stay locked on mine, not with panic, but demand. She wants the truth. Not distance. Not escape. Just the truth.
CHAPTER 10
ANABETH
The words spark in the space between us, charged with tension so thick it practically hums against my skin. Each second stretches taut, heavy with meaning, vibrating like a live wire about to snap.
'What the hell are you, Beau Hayes?'
My question sparks like a live wire through the silence, not a whisper or a plea but a sharp-edged demand that slices through the tension between us. I don’t fully understand why I ask it. Not yet. But every nerve in my body screams that the answer matters. That it’s a turning point I can’t walk back from.
Beau crouches in front of me, breathing hard. My eyes lock on his, and for a long beat, I forget how to breathe. A tightness grips my chest, not just from the adrenaline but from the look in his eyes. They’re steady, unguarded, and laced with something that looks a lot like vulnerability. My pulse stumbles, confused by the absence of fear. I should be afraid. I should run. But all I feel is the magnetic pull of needing to understand. Needing to know what this means, both for him and for me.
There's a deep stillness to him now that unsettles me more than the chaos of just a few moments ago. He isn't just catching his breath. He's gauging something, calculating with unnervingfocus. Watching me with that unnerving steadiness that makes my skin buzz.
Part of me wants to scream, to laugh, to cry. But instead, I stare back, heart thudding in my ears, knowing nothing will ever be the same. The man who stood between me and a stampede. The man who turned into a grizzly bear and turned back again like it was just another part of him. Like it was normal. Like it was his truth.
He doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t laugh it off or look away. His steady gaze holds mine, even as the edges of his body tremble, his muscles twitching like they’re still caught in the echo of everything that just happened. There's a rawness behind his eyes that steals my breath, a flicker of something deeper than adrenaline. Vulnerability lurks there, unexpected and disarming, in a man who’s done nothing but radiate power and control until now.
His voice is quiet. "I’m a shifter. A grizzly-shifter."
"No shit, Captain Obvious."
A pulse moves through me, sudden and jarring, like a spike of voltage that leaves my limbs tingling and my thoughts stumbling over themselves. It rushes through my limbs like a current, jarring my balance and making my knees dig harder into the dirt. My heart stutters, caught between denial and understanding. It rings like truth, deep and echoing, even as my brain scrambles for logic to push it away.
"Being a 'shifter' is not a normal thing. You know that, right?"
Beau’s expression never wavers. "It is. Well, it is for my brothers and I."
"What about the others in Redwood Rise?" I ask, suddenly wondering just how widespread this phenomenon is.
"You saw it. You felt it. I didn’t want you to, at least not now. Hell, I was planning to tell you eventually. But I didn’t get thechance. It's not exactly easy to bring up in a conversation. That elk stampede forced my hand."
"So what, you’re some kind of magical creature out of a paranormal romance or bedtime story?" My voice rises before I can stop it. My hands shake, and I press them into the earth to stop the tremor. "This is nuts. This can't be real."
"It’s real. I promise you. I didn’t ask to be a shifter, Anabeth. I was born this way. My brothers and I have never been anything else."
I suck in a breath that tastes like panic and forest soil, biting into my lungs like cold air at high altitude and sticky against the back of my throat. My chest tightens with the weight of everything he just said, my pulse stuttering under the pressure of trying to make sense of the impossible.
"And the mist? The way it just... swallowed you whole and then poof dropped away leaving an enormous grizzly in your place? That’s part of it?"
He nods once. "That's how it happens. The shift within the mist. It’s ancient. Natural. It doesn't hurt, doesn’t break us. It’s just a change in our form. We retain our intelligence, memories, and even our humanity. It just alters our form."
"Clothes too, apparently," I mutter, remembering the full-frontal moment with a flush that burns all the way down to my ribs.
His grin appears suddenly, all sharp-edged mischief and smugness. "You’re not the first person to be impressed," he says, his teasing tone light enough to ease the edge off the moment. "Though usually, I’m not wearing pants when it happens." He pauses just long enough to make sure I catch the implication, then grins. "Still, you can't blame a guy for making a lasting first impression."
I blink at him, stunned silent for half a beat. Then a laugh escapes me, sudden and bright, catching us both off guard,bubbling up from somewhere deep and frazzled. I can’t help it. The pressure inside me snaps like a rubber band stretched too far. It’s all too much—the bear, the mist, the nakedness, the talk of ley lines and ancient magic. My brain scrambles for order, some mental shelf to throw this madness on so I can function without combusting.
"Okay," I say slowly, breath hitching on the exhale. "So you’re a grizzly-shifter..."
"Yep. Redwood Rise was built around our kind."
"All of you?"
