Page 86 of The Cowboy and the Stray

There was a ravine, deep and crumbly. I slid down the side, landing soft, then crept up. That’s when I saw her.

She was pressed to the limestone wall, knees up, arms over her head, and in front of her, ten yards away, was the biggest boar I’d ever seen. It rooted the dirt with its tusks, small eyes locked on the threat in front of it. Tess. Its back was bristled, scars all over its snout and neck. This bastard had been through wars.

I didn’t think. I just moved.

One second, I was man. The next, the change took hold. Bones snapped and shifted, muscles crawling up my arms and down my spine. My hands curled into paws.

I came out of the shift running, fur rising along my back, jaws already open. The boar saw me and squealed, swinging its head like a mace. I hit it from the side, all two hundred pounds of me, and we went rolling in the dust.

Its tusks slashed at my ribs, but I sank my teeth into its shoulder and ripped. Blood hit the back of my tongue, coppery and raw. The boar screamed again and tried to shake me off, but I was bigger, meaner, and furious. He’d threatened my mate.

That’s what Tess was. She was my mate. I knew it now clearer than I’d ever known anything in my life.

We spun together, bone and tooth and claw. I drove the boar’s head into the rock wall, heard the crunch, and bit down again. The animal finally went limp, but not before it raked my foreleg open. I finished it with a last snap of the neck, then backed away, snarling at the carcass.

Tess was still there, plastered against the wall, her face white as chalk. She looked at me like I was the monster now.

I turned away and started the change back.

I got to my feet, stumbled once, then forced myself up. The heat and adrenaline made everything spin. I looked at Tess, hands open, no sudden moves.

She stared at me. Eyes wide, jaw clenched, the same way you look at a tornado from a storm shelter.

I wiped blood off my chin. “You okay?”

She shook her head, but her eyes flicked down, checking me for wounds.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, and meant it. “You weren’t supposed to see that.”

Her voice was hoarse. “So it’s true. I didn’t imagine it all.”

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s true.”

We stood there, shocked, with the stench of dead boar and hot limestone all around us.

I didn’t know what else to say. The world had changed for her, and it was my fault. I wanted to comfort her, to explain, but I wasn’t even sure my mouth would work.

She broke first. “You’re bleeding.”

I shrugged. “Not bad.”

She snorted. “It’s everywhere.”

I nodded. “Could be worse. Most of it's the boar’s and I’ll heal really quick.”

There was a pause. She pulled her knees up and rested her head on them. “Does it hurt?”

“Always.”

She made a noise, maybe a laugh, maybe not. “I thought I was losing my mind.”

“You’re not. Not even close.”

Tess looked up at me, blinking against the sun. “You want to explain? Or is this the part where you eat me too?”

I almost smiled, but my mouth wouldn’t do it. “We can talk. If you want.”

She nodded, and I sat down, careful to keep a little distance. I didn’t want to scare her again. I didn’t want to scare myself, either, so I sat there and waited for her to say something.