Free Bear in a Billion: EXPOSED (#1) by Zola Bird Page B

hardworking; her father was a union man and her mother worked for a cleaning company. Money may have been tight, but they were solid, decent folk.
    Haley couldn’t, however, imagine the mindset that would allow an individual to accumulate so much. Inherited wealth, she supposed, stood to reason. But a self-made billionaire? Who were these guys? She felt her reporter’s instinct spring to life. An end table containing a set of drawers sat at the side of bed. Even lying there naked, she was curious. Too curious to pass up the opportunity. She idly opened the wooden drawer.
    There wasn’t much in it. A couple of paperback novels, a few odds and ends, what did she expect—a manual on how to get rich without really trying? She reached all the way to the bottom of the drawer, where she found a picture frame lying face down. She pulled it out, imagining a picture of the shifter fishing marlin, or a picture of him sitting in a fancy car.
    Instead, she saw a picture of Ethan. He was standing there holding a tennis racket.
    That was strange. Maybe Ethan was closer to the shifter than he let on.
    Now she was curious. She opened the second drawer. This one was stuffed full of papers. What was she doing snooping around? It wasn’t even Ethan’s house. She should mind her manners. She closed the drawer again. But as she did, something fell out. More photos. Five or six of them. Haley reached down to pick them up.
    She wasn’t prepared for what she saw.
    More pictures of Ethan.
    Ethan swimming in the shifter’s swimming pool. Ethan wearing a suit in an office. Ethan in a fancy car. Ethan sitting on the shifter’s leather chair. Ethan grilling over the barbecue, a feral look in his eye.
    Wait. Something was wrong with the picture.
    Something was off, but Haley couldn’t quite make it out. Ethan was flipping the steaks. Oh, my gosh, what was that? Haley felt a giant lump form in her throat. Ethan’s hands in the photo, his hands weren’t hands at all.
    They were paws…
    … Furry paws with long nails.
     “Hey, babe, can I get you a glass of water?”
    Ethan walked out of the bathroom naked as the day he was born. Haley wasn’t sure what she felt in that moment. Horror? Dread? Fear? Yes. Buckets of fear. Fear enough to set the tiny hairs on her arms on end, fear that sent chills down her spine. Ethan saw that she held the photos in her hand. She could tell from the look in his eye. She felt an immediate impulse to hide the photos from his view, to pretend she hadn’t seen them at all, but what use was that now? Besides, she had to look at them again to be sure.
    Or maybe she shouldn’t look at them. Maybe that was just a waste of valuable time. Maybe she should run. But she had no clothes on. She wasn’t wearing shoes. Could the situation be any worse? Yes, the situation could be worse. Ethan could show her those animal paws. He could become an animal right there in the bedroom in front of her.
    Haley’s eyes were locked on Ethan’s. She wasn’t sure what she saw there. She didn’t trust herself anymore. But knew she needed to pull her gaze away. Even though she didn’t want to see it again, she knew she needed to look back down at the photo to be sure. Haley forced her eyes down to the glossy image.
    It was just a snapshot. Nothing special. But her eyes hadn’t deceived her. There was enough detail in the photo to actually see the long, coarse, brown fur sprouting from his wrists, covering him all the way down to his hooked yellowed claws. Somehow, he managed to still hold the spatula, but there was no denying what she was looking at. It was no Halloween costume. No trick.
    Ethan’s hands were paws in the picture. Actual bear paws.
    And there was only one explanation for that.
    Ethan was the shifter.
    Haley felt herself gasp. She fought for shallow little breaths, all the while doing her best to seem unaffected by what she had just seen. Was she thinking straight? Was it even possible? But it was possible. She knew it