The sound hit me right in the chest.
Because Beast didn't laugh very often.
Most people in Eagle River had probably never heard it.
I had.
A few times.
And every single time it felt special.
Dangerous.
Like seeing something nobody else got to see.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
The laughter faded.
The ranch hands wandered off.
The calf settled.
The wind shifted through the pasture.
And suddenly it was just us.
Again.
Beast looked up from the ditch.
I looked down.
Mud covered him from head to toe.
His eyes never left mine.
Neither did mine.
The moment stretched.
Longer than it should have.
Long enough to become something else.
Something neither of us wanted to name.
Then Beast broke it.
"Hand me the rope."
I blinked.
"What?"
"The calf."
His voice was calm again.
