Page 7 of Bear Love's Hidden Destiny
Isabella moved forward, her hands drifting over the carvings, her eyes scanning the walls. “These are the same symbols,” shesaid, her voice soft but excited. “My grandfather drew these. He was here.”
“Careful,” I said, staying close. “This place hasn’t been touched in years.”
She knelt by the altar, brushing away the vines to reveal the tablet. Her fingers traced the rune, and the moment she touched it, the room hummed, a low vibration that made my bear growl. I stepped forward, ready to pull her back, but the tablet flared with light, bright and sudden. Isabella’s body went rigid, her eyes wide and unfocused, like she was seeing something I couldn’t. Her hand stayed on the tablet, her breath hitching, and I grabbed her shoulders, ready to catch her if she fell.
“Isabella,” I said, my voice sharp. “Can you hear me?”
She didn’t answer, her body trembling under my hands. The light pulsed, then faded, and she collapsed to her knees, gasping. I caught her before she hit the ground, easing her down, my hands steady on her arms. Her skin was clammy, her eyes wet, but she was breathing, her chest heaving as she tried to speak.
“What happened?” I asked, keeping my voice calm. “What did you see?”
She swallowed, her voice shaky. “It was a vision. A fire, burning through the forest. The sky was red, the treetops were swallowed in flames. Shifters were running, human and animal forms, all panicking. There was a group of people, cloaked in green and brown, standing by a big stone, like this one. One of them was older, taller, with a scar on his cheek. It was my grandfather, Benedict. Younger, but it was him.”
I nodded, urging her to keep going. “What were they doing?”
“They were casting a spell,” she said, her eyes distant. “He spoke in a language I didn’t know, but I understood it. They were sealing Esoterra, putting up a barrier to keep the human world out. My grandfather took a medallion off his neck, pressed it into the ground, and said a vow. The energy shot up, like a wave, andthe barrier spread. One of the others, a younger one, argued. He said scattering the bloodlines in the human world would doom Esoterra’s future. My grandfather said the blood would return one day, but they had to act then, or everything would burn.”
I listened, my stomach twisting. I knew about the sealing, the ritual that hid Esoterra decades ago. But her seeing it, that was something else. “Anything else?” I asked.
She nodded, her voice dropping. “There was someone watching, in the trees. A shifter, with eyes like a snake, his face half-hidden. He had black runes on his skin, deep, like they were carved there. He wasn’t part of the ritual. He was just waiting, smiling. It felt wrong, Benedict. Like he was planning something.”
My blood ran cold. I knew that description. Malric, a rogue shifter exiled long before I was born, believed dead. If her vision showed him alive, the Veilborn’s return was more dangerous than I’d thought. “You’re sure about the runes?” I asked, keeping my voice steady.
“Yes,” she said, her eyes meeting mine. “I can still see his face. It was like he was looking at me, not just the ritual. And my grandfather, it wasn’t just a memory. It was a message, meant for me.”
I helped her sit up, her skin still pale, her hands shaking. “You okay?” I asked, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
“I think so,” she said, her voice steadier now. “I felt him, Benedict. My grandfather. Like he was trying to tell me something.”
I nodded, my mind racing. Malric’s presence in her vision changed everything. The Council would see her as a threat now, no question, especially if she was tied to the old bloodlines. But my bear was already rejecting the idea of turning her over. She was mine, the bond stronger than any order. “We need to becareful,” I said. “That shifter you saw, he’s bad news. If he’s still out there, this place isn’t safe.”
“Then we need to figure out what my grandfather wanted me to do,” she said, standing up, her legs wobbly but her eyes clear. “I’m not running away. Not now.”
I stood with her, my hand on her arm to steady her. “I’m with you,” I said. “But we do this my way. No more running off alone.”
She gave me a small smile. “Deal. But you’d better not hold back on me anymore.”
I chuckled, despite the weight in my chest. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
We moved toward the tunnel, the air in the chamber still humming faintly. The carvings seemed to watch us, their symbols glowing in the dim light. Isabella clutched the journal, her fingers tight around it, like it was the only thing keeping her grounded. I kept her close, my senses sharp, the forest’s warning still ringing in my head. The guardian’s eyes, the Veil’s instability, her vision, it all pointed to something bigger, something dangerous.
From outside the hollow, the sound of low growling broke the quiet. I rose, the scent of another shifter thick on the air. Whoever was out there was not an ally. And they were not alone.
Chapter Seven
Isabella
The growling from outside the hollow sent a shiver down my spine, but it was Benedict’s reaction that made my stomach twist. His body went rigid, his eyes snapping to the tunnel’s entrance, hands clenching into fists. He was anxious, more than I’d ever seen, and it set my nerves on edge. The air felt heavy, charged with something dangerous, and the low rumble from the forest wasn’t just a sound, it was a threat. Benedict turned to me, his face hard, his voice low and urgent. “Stay here, okay?”
I grabbed his arm, my heart racing. “Benedict, what’s out there?”
“Just stay,” he said, his eyes locking on mine, pleading. “Please.”
I nodded, but before he could move, I pulled him close and kissed him, hard and quick, my hands framing his face. “Be careful, please,” I said, my voice shaking. “I don’t want you gone.”
He gave a tight nod, his hand brushing my cheek for a second before he turned and stepped out of the hollow. I moved tothe entrance, peering through the vines, my breath catching as I watched him. He stood in the clearing, his back to me, and then his body began to change. It was raw, visceral, nothing like the myths I’d read. His muscles stretched and folded, dark fur sprouting across his skin, bones cracking and reforming with a sound that made my stomach lurch. In seconds, a massive black bear stood where Benedict had been, its shoulders broad, eyes glowing in the moonlight. My breath stopped. The vision from the tablet, the shifters fleeing the fire, it all slammed into me. This was real. He was a shifter, and everything he’d been hiding was now undeniable, standing there in fur and claws.
I backed up a step, my hand gripping the journal, but fear didn’t come. Instead, I felt wonder, understanding. The truth I’d been chasing, the pull in my chest since Fir Hollow, it was all coming together. Benedict, the man who saved me, who made my body hum with life, was something ancient, tied to this forest in ways I was only beginning to grasp. And he wasn’t alone.
