Page 2 of Roaring Heat
He nods at Elsie, then me. "Is this the new cottage tenant?"
"Biologist," I correct a little too fast.
One corner of his mouth kicks up. "Even better. We were overdue for someone with a fancy degree and a little bit of backbone."
I narrow my eyes. "Careful. I bite."
He grins, slow and unapologetically. "So do I."
Elsie snorts. "Beau, quit harassing the poor woman. She just got here. Let's try to pretend we're somewhat civilized. Anabeth Cole meet Beau Hayes."
He raises his hands in mock surrender, then steps closer — just close enough that the space feels smaller, warmer.
"You’re staying in the cottage at the end of the beach? That’s not too far from me."
Elsie snorts again.
Beau's voice is casual, but there’s something behind it; something that brushes against my skin like the first touch of static before a storm. I square my shoulders, willing my spinestraight and my cheeks to behave. No way am I letting some local heartthrob turn me into a puddle of goo on Elsie's polished hardwood floor. Not today.
"If you need help with anything—firewood, directions, local wildlife rumors—I'm your guy," he says.
I should say thank you. Or tell him I’m fine. Instead I blurt, "Is the wildlife always this friendly?"
His grin sharpens, just slightly. "Only when it finds something worth befriending."
My cheeks go up in flames.
Elsie slides the key across the counter with an indulgent smile. "Ignore him. He's all bark."
Beau winks. "And sometimes bite."
I scoop up the key before I completely combust. "Thanks for the warm welcome. I’ll try not to get eaten by anything bad."
Beau steps aside to let me pass, but not before his voice follows me out the door. Low. Warm. Threaded with an undercurrent of something I'm not sure I still remember.
"I'm not bad, Anabeth. Be careful out in the woods. Not everything out there stays where it belongs."
The door shuts behind me. The weight of Beau's words clings to my skin like the mist already creeping in. I shake my head, trying to laugh it off, but it lingers—low and unsettling. Like he knows something I don’t. Like this whole place is humming with secrets just waiting for me to trip over them.
As I reach for the handle of my Jeep, the mist rolls in—thick, swirling, electric. My pulse hammers against my ribs, the redwoods loom overhead, the forest presses closer with every breath.
Then I hear it. Low, quiet, but distinct. A growl carried through the shadows, and it isn’t the wind.
CHAPTER 1
BEAU
I’m in my bear form when it happens. Four paws on damp earth. The rhythm of the forest pulsing through me like breath. I move with the quiet authority that only comes when the world is familiar beneath claw and fur. But then—everything changes.
It hits me the moment her tires rattle over the uneven gravel, a jolt of knowing that reverberates through muscle, bone, and instinct. My human mind hasn't caught up yet, still cataloging her boots, her jacket, the determined set of her shoulders. But my bear? He already knows. Already wants. Already claims.
I don’t even recognize what’s happening at first. Just that everything sharpens. The wind smells different; the ground feels charged, and my awareness locks onto her with pinpoint precision. She’s not just another outsider. She’s something else entirely.
She’s everything.
And that realization doesn't come with fireworks or a crashing wave of clarity. It lands quietly and absolutely, like the last piece in a puzzle I didn’t know I was solving. No name. No logic in fighting it. Just the bone-deep certainty that something fundamental has changed inside me, and there’s no going back.
Anabeth hasn’t even made it to the porch before my bear is making his presence known deep in my core, tense and prowling and alert. I crouch low in the trees, cloaked in fog and silence, watching the woman unpack boxes from the back of her Jeep as if it’s the most dangerous thing I’ve ever seen.
