Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

RUBY

T he morning light spilling through the bedroom window finally shone brightly enough to wake Ruby. She turned her head, expecting to find Knox beside her, but the other side of the bed was cold, the sheets a stark and empty testament to his absence. Annoyance prickled at her skin as she sat up, pulling the quilt around her curvy frame protectively.

"Knox?" Her voice rang out, clear and tinged with frustration, but only silence greeted her. She rose from the bed, managing only to wince a little as her bare feet touched the cool wooden planks, and wrapped herself in a robe. The man was hung, virile, and loved to fuck, and every muscle in her body remembered as much. The lodge felt hollow without his presence, and a sense of abandonment gnawed at her insides.

"Great," she muttered, her words laced with sarcasm. "The strong and silent type strikes again."

Stretching her body as she rose from the bed, she found his note

I’m needed at home. I didn’t want to wake you.

Will see you as soon as possible.--Knox

“It’s not much, but it’s better than the last time,” she mumbled, putting the pod in her coffeemaker.

With the renovations on the lodge demanding more of her time than expected, Ruby needed to clear her head. She decided a walk through the surrounding woods of Silver Falls might provide a reprieve from both her sour mood and the endless to-do list that awaited her attention. Maybe when she returned home, Knox would be back. The note he’d left was typical of him—short and to the point, but he had left it, and she understood he was spending far more time with her than he was with the people at the compound. He’d needed to return to his own home, but had not indicated when he might return, or when she might see him again. God, when had she become some whiny woman waiting for a man?

She stepped outside, the forest air fresh and crisp against her skin, a stark contrast to the stifling city air she'd left behind. There was something about seeing Knox’s truck still parked outside that lifted her spirits—it would seem he meant to return. Birds chirped in the distance, and a gentle breeze rustled the leaves, creating a symphony of natural sounds that soothed her frayed nerves. Ruby inhaled deeply as she ventured into the woods, her steps purposeful yet unhurried.

Lost in thought, she meandered along a narrow path until the sound of splashing water pulled her from her reverie. Curiosity piqued, Ruby cautiously approached the river's edge, where the unexpected sight before her made her heart skip a beat.

A group of grizzlies were clustered at the riverbank, their massive forms hunched over as they fished with surprising dexterity. The sight was incongruous; the bears moved with a coordination that belied their solitary nature.

"Okay, this is... new," Ruby whispered to herself, her curiosity battling with a sudden surge of caution. She knew enough about wildlife to recognize that stumbling upon a group of grizzlies wasn't just odd—it was dangerous. But there was something mesmerizing about the way they moved together, their movements coordinated with primal power that held her captive.

Ruby crouched behind the cover of bushes, her eyes wide with equal parts fear and fascination. She should have backed away, returned to the safety of her home and forgotten the bizarre spectacle. Instead, she remained, transfixed, her fiery spirit ensnared by the raw beauty of untamed beasts in their element.

"Damn it, Ruby, move!" she chastised herself under her breath, her body frozen in indecision as she realized her morning walk had taken a perilous turn.

Ruby's mind raced as she observed the grizzlies before her. She knew from nature documentaries and books that these majestic creatures were solitary by nature. Seeing them in a group, cooperating with an almost human-like camaraderie, was disconcerting. The bears' coordinated movements as they fished the river seemed to defy everything she understood about their behavior.

"Grizzlies don't hunt together," she whispered to herself, the words slipping out like a lifeline of sanity in a suddenly illogical world. Her gaze was fixed on the largest bear, which stood on its hind legs, towering over the others, commanding and regal.

It was when she shifted her weight and a branch snapped under her foot that Ruby realized her mistake. The heads of the grizzlies swiveled towards her, their dark eyes locking onto her position. Panic flared within her, her heart thundering against her ribs like a caged bird desperate for escape.

And then it happened—a sight so unexpected that Ruby might have thought she had stumbled into a dream or a trick of the light. A swirling mist enveloped the dominant grizzly, tendrils of fog wrapping around its massive form like a cocoon of magic. Ruby blinked hard, convinced her eyes were deceiving her.

The mist thickened, obscuring the bear from view, and for a heartbeat, there was only the sound of the river and Ruby's shallow breathing. When the fog began to dissipate, it carried away the contours of the bear, revealing something—or someone—entirely different.

Where the grizzly once stood was now a woman, tall and imposing, her features bearing an uncanny resemblance to Knox. She was stunning, with hair as dark as the midnight sky and skin that seemed to glow with an inner radiance beneath the dappled forest light.

"Impossible," Ruby gasped, her voice a mere thread of sound. Her heart pounded with a wild rhythm, echoing the drumbeat of the unknown. Her eyes searched for a logical explanation, but logic had abandoned her the moment the woman appeared where a bear had been.

The woman stretched, her movements graceful yet inherently powerful, as if she commanded the very air around her. Ruby's mind whirred, trying to connect the dots, to understand how Knox's face could be mirrored in this mysterious figure who had emerged from the form of a beast.

"Who are you?" Ruby called out, her voice steadier than she felt. The woman turned her head, locking eyes with Ruby, and in that gaze, there was a storm of secrets and untold stories, just like the ones that lurked within Knox's own enigmatic stare.

Instinct kicked in, and Ruby whirled around, her boots digging into the soft earth as she prepared to sprint back through the woods. But before she could launch herself forward, the woman's voice barked a sharp command that stopped her cold.

"Surround her," the woman ordered, and the grizzlies obeyed with unnerving intelligence, their massive forms closing in to form an imposing barricade around Ruby. Heart racing, she spun on her heel, finding each possible escape route blocked by hulking brown bears. She was trapped.

With a silent grace that belied her size and an air of undeniable authority, the woman walked through the ring of bears, now clad in clothes that seemed to have materialized from the forest itself, but Ruby realized that was impossible and then spotted piles of clothes sitting on the rocks that lined the riverbank.

"Ruby Edwards, I presume?" the woman said, tilting her head slightly. "I'm Coco Wilder, Knox’s sister."

"Knox never mentioned he had a sister," Ruby replied, her voice tight with suspicion and the remnants of fear.

"I’m not surprised. My big brother is a man of few words," Coco responded with a knowing look. Her eyes held a depth that echoed Knox’s, a sense of ancient wisdom that Ruby found both terrifying and fascinating.

"Come on," Coco continued, gesturing toward a path that led deeper into the woods. "Let’s head back to the compound. We’ll have breakfast."

"Can I say no?" Ruby asked, her defiance rising. For all her courage, the circle of bears served as a stark reminder of the power these beings wielded.

Coco's lips curved into a smile reminiscent of her brother’s. "I'm afraid not."

Ruby swallowed hard, feeling the weight of her predicament settling over her like a heavy shroud. She nodded once, conceding for the moment. Coco signaled the bears, and as if by some unspoken agreement, they parted to allow passage. Ruby followed Coco, her mind racing with questions and the chilling realization that Knox—and this town—harbored secrets far beyond her wildest imaginings.

The grizzly-shifter compound loomed ahead, a fortress of logs and stone nestled among the towering pines. As Ruby walked through its iron gates, her heart pounded with a mix of dread and defiance. The place was an interesting mix of beauty, comfort, and an undercurrent of danger that made her skin prickle.

"Knox!" Coco called out, her voice echoing off the walls with a certain amount of authority. The compound was eerily silent but for the distant sound of water cascading down a hidden stream.

He emerged from a large wooden door, his muscular frame filling the entryway. The rising sun cast long shadows across his face, highlighting the tension in his jaw.

"Ruby," Knox acknowledged, his voice a low rumble. He approached, his movements controlled but revealing an undercurrent of urgency.

"I want answers, Knox," Ruby demanded, pushing past Coco, closing the distance between them, and planting her feet firmly on the ground as if to anchor herself against the revelations to come. "What is this place? Who are these people? What are these people?"

Knox's eyes held a pained resignation as he glanced around the compound before returning his gaze to hers. "Let’s go inside.”

“Thanks, but I’ll stay here.”

Coco walked past her. “Not a good idea,” she said as she passed Ruby.

Without another word, Knox came down the stairs from the front porch, put his shoulder into her lower abdomen and stood up, hoisting her over his shoulder. “I said inside, Ruby.”

Ruby beat on his back as she kicked her legs. His only response was to land a painful swat on her backside. He walked up the stairs, carrying her as if she weighed nothing. Coco was standing just inside the door. “Not one word, Coco, not one,” he growled.

He stalked past his sister into a large room at the back of the hall. As he turned around to close the door, she could see it was an office. It was wood paneled with what looked like first edition books lining the bookshelves.

Knox set her down. “If Coco brought you here with her posse in tow, you must have seen something you shouldn’t.”

“Should I be frightened, Knox?”

“No. No one will lay a finger on you.”

“Because you’re alpha, and you say so?”

“Something like that. Do you have any questions to start with?”

“I know what I saw…”

He nodded. “I take it you saw Coco shift?” Ruby nodded. “Then you know the crux of it. We're shifters, Ruby. This is our clan’s compound. I am alpha here."

Ruby’s breath hitched, her mind struggling to wrap around the impossible truth before her. "Shifters," she said flatly, her voice barely above a whisper. The word tasted foreign on her tongue, like a concept from one of her paranormal romance novels. But they had not prepared her for this reality. “And the town?”

Knox nodded solemnly. "Silver Falls... it's a town populated by shifters of all kinds—wolves, hawks, mountain lions. We all live here, hidden in plain sight."

“My aunt?”

“Your aunt fell in love with your Uncle George. He was a beaver-shifter. Your aunt opted to be turned and to become one, too.”

Her mind reeled, every rational thought grappling with the fantastical scene she'd witnessed. The grizzly bear turning into a woman—Knox’s sister—and the circle of bears, no people, that had surrounded her. It was too much.

"Are you saying that everyone in Silver Falls..."

"Almost all of us, yes," Knox interjected gently. "It's why we can live freely, without fear of being discovered."

Fear warred with fascination within her, a tempestuous storm that threatened to sweep her away. She could leave, return to the city where life made sense and bears were just animals in a zoo. But as she looked into Knox's earnest eyes, she realized the depth of her feelings for him, feelings that tethered her to this strange, new world.

"Can I handle this?" she whispered, more to herself than to him. The idea of living among creatures of legend was terrifying, yet the pulse of excitement that thrummed through her veins was undeniable.

“That’s up to you. I want you to stay, but if you choose to leave, no one will stop you.”

“What if I want to stay but don’t want to become like you?”

“That would be difficult. You are my mate, what we call a fated mate. Our legends and stories say you and I are destined to be together.”

“Holy shit. You mean the books got it right? Fated mates really exist?”

“For some,” he answered.

“So how will that affect my bed and breakfast?”

“Towns like Silver Falls have existed for centuries. We’ve always been able to accommodate human outsiders, you’ll just need to let people know if your guests are human, but frankly you might find most of your guests are shifters of one kind or another. You don’t have to make up your mind today.”

“Is this why you’ve been running hot and cold with me?”

Knox had the good grace to almost blush. “I didn’t want you caught up in all of this. I’m a member of the town council and bringing in a human is frowned upon, but as I pointed out to the others, your aunt was once an outsider, and when she died, she was most definitely one of us.”

She looked up into his eyes, searching for the certainty she needed. There was safety in the known, but the allure of the unknown, of Knox, beckoned her with a siren's call. Scared and fascinated in equal measure, Ruby Edwards stood at the threshold of a world beyond her wildest dreams, teetering on the edge of decision.

“Knox, how did my aunt die?”

He paused for just a moment. “We think she might have been killed because there are those who thought she knew where a treasure was hidden.”

“What treasure?”

“There’s a legend about a cache of silver that was hidden somewhere in the area.”

“Do you think she knew?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know, but I think there are those that do.”

There was an abbreviated knock, and a tall, broad-shouldered, good-looking blond man stuck his head in. “Sorry to interrupt, Alpha, but one of our patrols have spotted a small group of bears headed our way.”