Page 21 of Roaring Heat
He nods. "Yes, not all grizzlies, but all shifters. Shifters evolved on a parallel path between animals and humans. We're a kind of hybrid. The ley lines help to keep the balance, and we act as a kind of guardian."
"The ley lines." My brain latches onto something familiar, something I can quantify. "The geological anomalies I’ve been documenting. The magnetism, the compass interference, the wildlife behavior. That’s all connected?"
"More than connected. The ley lines are alive in their own strange, pulsing rhythm. They're not just conduits of energy. They're part of the ecosystem, reacting like a living organism to changes around them. When one of us is near, especially during danger or heightened emotion, they respond. They always have, in ways we still don't fully understand."
"And they were off like the way it was today?"
He nods. "You felt it too. That pulse? It wasn’t just some tremor. It was a surge. Something is coming, and we don't know what it is. Something that’s pulling at the ley lines and twisting them out of tune."
I draw my knees closer, the coolness of the earth grounding me as the pieces start slotting together. "This entire time, I thought I was chasing unusual animal migration. But the animals aren’t migrating. They’re reacting."
"Exactly."
I look up at him again. His face is open. Honest. Still a little wild around the edges from what just happened. "And you didn’t tell me because..."
"Because once you know, you can’t unknow. And it’s dangerous knowledge."
I take that in, the weight of it settling across my chest like a lead blanket. "You were trying to protect me."
He nods once, though his jaw tightens with frustration. "I just hope I didn’t screw everything up by revealing it this way."
I shake my head, a thousand thoughts crashing like waves, but one thing floats to the surface. "You saved my life."
He shrugs one shoulder, casual and not casual at all. "I wasn’t going to let anything happen to you."
"Why?"
Beau chuckles. "I think you know that I have more than a passing interest in you."
"I thought maybe you just had a thing for visiting biologists."
"No." He shakes his head and mutters something sounds very much likein for a penny, in for a pound. "I couldn't. Because you are my mate."
"I'm human."
"I know."
Silence stretches between us, but it isn’t empty. It’s dense with everything we don’t have words for yet. The truth I just learned. The questions I haven’t asked. The way he looked as a bear, towering and powerful and protective. The way my pulse didn’t scream in fear, but in something deeper. Something hotter. Something undeniable.
"Is that allowed?" I ask, wondering if whatever I'm feeling is even possible.
"More than allowed. You are my fated mate. The one predestined to be mine. Usually, it would be another shifter, but sometimes it isn't."
He closes the distance and reaches out, fingertips grazing my wrist. "Are you okay?"
I look down at our hands. His touch is warm. Solid. Real. "I wouldn't go that far, but I’m not running."
His lips quirk. "Good. I'd rather not have to chase you again today."
My laugh this time is quieter, steadier. "But maybe tomorrow? I could be feeling fast."
"You're always feeling something, and it's usually reckless."
"Says the guy who runs into stampedes of elk without blinking."
"Only if it means I get to keep you alive—and maybe hear that laugh again."
The quiet between us changes, no longer empty but charged with something electric and unspoken. It winds through the air and tightens in my chest, pressing behind my ribs like a held breath. Every second stretches long and sharp, thick with the weight of what’s just been revealed and everything that might come next.
