Page 18 of Bearly Mated

And there was a mark on my shoulder. A permanent one. Two jagged crescents that could only have been left by his teeth.

My lower belly warmed.

I was his mate.

But I couldn’t let myself obsess over that, because it didn’t really mean much to a bear shifter. They left their mates, lived apart from them. Hudson was probably only staying to make sure I had enough food to get pregnant or something.

I scrubbed myself clean in the shower. Halfway through, I heard him step inside, and met his gaze when he pulled the curtain to the side. His eyes moved down my figure, warm and appreciative.

“Good morning,” he finally said. “Any room for me in there too?”

“I smelled bacon,” I said, not wanting to have morning sex if he was just going to leave right after. “I’m almost done in here, and I’m pretty hungry.”

He nodded. “You need to eat. We skipped dinner.”

“Yep.”

There was a moment of awkwardness.

The first of many, I figured.

“Food’s almost ready. I’ll be in the kitchen.” He released the shower curtain and padded out of the room.

Though I felt bad for turning him down, I didn’t want to get used to having him as a part of my life when I knew that wouldn’t always be the case.

He wasn’t mine.

The mate bond was just a formality, to enable me to grow his cub. It was part of the contract, and it wouldn’t make him stay any more than the baby would.

I was dressedand in the kitchen ten minutes later. Hudson’s dad had definitely never made breakfast for him or his mother, but I obviously hadn’t been around when he was conceived. So maybe the food was a tradition or something.

“Where did you get the stuff to make this?” I asked him, as I cut into the food. Our plates were overflowing with pancakes, bacon, eggs, and sausage too. I wanted to just inhale the homemade breakfast food I hadn’t had since I was a kid, but forced myself to eat slowly so I could enjoy it longer.

“Ordered groceries. Someone dropped them off this morning.”

“Everyone in town will be talking about that by lunch time,” I said. “You can’t order groceries to my house.”

“I want them talking. They’ll spread word that you’re mine.”

I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t help the responding warm fuzzies in my chest. “I’m only yours for the moment, Hud. We both know some breeders go on to date or marry humans.”

His eyes narrowed at me, his fork pausing. “You want to marry a human?”

“I want to avoid spending my life alone if at all possible, which will require attempting that. So, yeah.”

A growl vibrated his chest. “No.”

“It’s not up for debate.”

He opened his mouth to keep arguing with me, but the timer over the microwave beeped, and he reluctantly crossed the kitchen. When he returned, it was with toast covered in butter and honey.

The man was a bear, through and through.

“Let’s not talk about this,” I said. “How long are you going to stay in town?”

The question caught him off guard. “Indefinitely.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “You love your job. Why wouldn’t you go back?”

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