Bearly Mated (Cub Lake Shifters #1)

Chapter 1

one

CALLIE

I drummed my fingers on the diner’s table, forcing myself to breathe through the bundle of nerves in my abdomen.

The checkered flooring and cherry-red booths screamed of decades past, and everything about the building reminded me of my childhood.

Even the pink and red paper hearts, streamers, and other Valentine’s Day décor were familiar.

I combed my long, dark blonde hair over my shoulders and straightened the faded t-shirt I’d paired with black leggings.

It was going to be fine. Everything was going to work out.

The bell over the door jingled, and my head jerked upward.

A relieved breath escaped me.

It wasn’t Hudson.

Yet.

My phone buzzed on the countertop, and I looked down at the screen.

Wren

Is he there yet?

You can still back out. I can fill out the paperwork with the clan, and give you whatever you need to make the payments manageable

I bit my lip and texted back.

Me

I’m not making you do that, or taking your money

I’ll be fine

My best friend worked as a waitress at the diner, but she’d gotten off an hour earlier. Though she’d offered to stay for moral support, I’d turned her down. I didn’t want to make her life any harder than it already was.

And my problems were my own.

Well, they were my dad’s—but they had become mine when I buried him two months earlier.

Hence the meeting with Hudson.

My childhood best friend who I’d been secretly in love with through our teenage years, and the only adult bear shifter I was still in contact with. We only talked two or three times a year, and hadn’t been face-to-face since our high school graduation eight years earlier, but he would always be family to me.

Well, not family , family.

I didn’t think I’d ever stop wanting to screw him.

But family, because he was so familiar.

Anyway, supernatural beings had been a part of human society for a long time. We had been at peace for more than a century.

Cub Lake was a small town with the highest percentage of bear shifters anywhere , which meant everyone in town knew them. The bears were usually born male, and there weren’t a lot of them by any means.

I happened to know why there weren’t a lot of them—because they refused to stay with their mates after breeding with them.

And I was going to use that fact to save my ass.

Wren had grown up in Cub Lake too, though we hadn’t become close until we realized we were at the same university. Two semesters in, she realized she wanted to open a bookstore in our hometown, and moved back.

We’d talked every day since then, and when I moved back after getting the news about my dad, had started spending a ton of time together in-person instead of just texting. I helped her at the store or with her toddler when I could, and had a ton of fun doing it.

She didn’t agree with my plan—she’d even called it insane—but it was the best option as far as I was concerned.

The bell over the door dinged again, and I looked up once more.

False alarm. Again.

The middle-aged man in the doorway was one I knew well, though. Small town problems. He saw me, and his eyes lit up as he crossed the room.

Conversation incoming.

Dread flooded me, but it couldn’t make me feel any worse than I already did. And the fact that he was a bear shifter only increased my worry.

“Callie Jones,” he said, offering a hand as he approached my table. “It’s been a while.”

I stood reluctantly, and took his hand. “Kevin Carter,” I said, forcing a smile. “It has been a while.”

The feelings that surfaced when I shook his hand were strong ones. He had been one of my dad’s best friends, and felt more like family than anything.

But missing dad made those feelings bittersweet, and the bills I had hidden under my bag made me wonder whether or not he’d known what my dad was up to and just didn’t get involved.

Suspicion was a bitch.

Kevin chuckled, and pulled me in for a hug. I hugged him back, and he let go after a brief moment. “How are you doing? I heard you were only staying in town for a few days after the funeral.”

“That was the plan,” I said, laughing a little awkwardly. “Going through everything took longer than I expected.”

And my shitty, full-time assistant job had been bad enough that I wasn’t even disappointed about moving back from New York.

“It always does. Can I sit?” He gestured to the bench across from mine.

“I’m meeting Hudson, actually,” I admitted. Everyone in town knew about our childhood friendship.

And as much as I would’ve preferred to keep the meeting a secret, it was bound to come out. People would see us and talk, like they always did.

Everyone would realize what I was signing up for pretty quickly. Since I’d have to stay in Cub Lake indefinitely, there was no point in trying to hide it.

Recognition crossed Kevin’s face. “You’re not…”

“I’ve got to go,” I said, forcing another smile. “But it’s good to see you.”

He frowned. “If you need money, I?—”

The bell over the door jingled again.

The hairs on the back of my neck raised, and a masculine smell had me taking in a small breath.

It was Hudson.

Definitely Hudson.

“Bye.” I gave Kevin another smile, slightly more genuine.

A man stepped up next to him, and my eyes landed on the newcomer—then widened.

Hudson had definitely grown up. And though we’d video-chatted and talked on the phone, that was nowhere near enough to understand the full impact of a six-and-a-half foot bear shifter built like a tank.

He still had the same piercing green eyes, tan skin, and dark hair, but I was standing in front of the man version of my best childhood friend. Not the teenage punk I’d left behind when I moved away for college.

“Holy shit, Hud.” The words slipped out before I could stop them.

He cracked a smile, his eyes moving down my figure before landing on my face. “Fuck, Cal.”

I rolled my eyes, but stepped into his arms the moment they opened for me. It had been a long eight years, but he would always feel like home to me.

Kevin excused himself with a murmur, but I barely heard him leave.

Hudson inhaled deeply, a typical bear thing to do, and I smiled against his chest when he rumbled like he always had. “At least you still smell like you.”

“You know I look exactly the same as I did when I left.”

“Like hell you do. You were pretty when you left me—now you’re sexy.”

I snorted. “Shut up.”

He chuckled, rumbling again before he released me. Though I would’ve rather stayed in his arms and avoided the coming conversation, I sat down on one side of the booth.

He took the other, somehow moving smoothly despite the massive brick wall he resembled.

“So,” he said.

“So.” I bit my lip.

The waiter picked that moment to come by and take Hudson’s order. He recognized that we were just seeing each other for the first time in years and didn’t bother trying to stay and chat, which I appreciated.

“Your text said you needed help,” he said.

I hadn’t talked to him since before the funeral, and he didn’t live in Cub Lake, so I didn’t think he knew what had happened. I’d assumed his family would let him know at the time, but he never called. And I knew him well enough to be sure he would’ve called if he’d heard.

Though I’d known I should send him a text or just pick up the phone and call him, the idea of a conversation about it had been overwhelming.

So I just… didn’t.

“My dad passed away two months ago,” I admitted. “He had been fighting cancer for a while without telling me. He didn’t want me to leave my life in New York. The hospital called me a few days before I lost him.” I tried to stick to the facts, so I wouldn’t get emotional.

“What? Why the fuck didn’t you call me?”

“I dealt with it,” I said. “That’s not why we’re meeting.” I grabbed my sheets of paper off the seat beside me. They had been tucked under my small crossbody bag, so no one would accidentally see them.

I slid them across the table, and Hudson glanced down at the pages.

His eyes narrowed when he saw the numbers on the bottom.

I didn’t need to look.

One was from the hospital. The other was from the bank.

“He told me when he was dying that he’d started gambling again while I was gone. Remortgaged the house. Spent his retirement fund and maxed credit cards. He didn’t have life insurance, so all of my savings went into the funeral and other expenses. The mortgage transferred to me. Then the hospital bills came in. Apparently in our state, adult children are responsible for their parents’ medical debt. Some weird law about it passed a few years ago.”

“Is there a repayment plan?”

“The monthly payment is on the bottom right on both pages. I can sell the house, but I’ll still owe too much money,” I said. “It’ll be hanging over my head for the next two decades. Maybe more. And that’s even if I throw every extra penny at it.”

“I’ll cover it,” Hudson said, without pause. “I can afford it.”

“I’m not taking your money. That’s not why we’re here,” I said firmly. “I’m going to fill out the paperwork to become a breeder. With the money that comes with growing a little bear shifter, I can pay everything off, and have enough left over to fix up my dad’s house.”

“No, Callie.” He leaned over the table, his hands on the surface. The man was so big, most people would’ve felt threatened by the motion. Not me, though. “That’s not the only answer.”

“It’s the best answer.”

Hudson growled at me, and I didn’t let myself look around the diner. We had everyone’s attention, without a doubt, and it was far from the first time he’d growled at me. Wouldn’t be the last, either. “I’ll find you another way.”

He stood, taking my papers with him as he stormed out.

He wasn’t going to find anything. I’d paid a lawyer to look through it already. Couldn’t afford not to, in my situation.

I could choose to spend the next two decades struggling with money and barely making ends meet, or I could agree to let a bear shifter breed me, and raise my baby without having to stress.

Considering I’d always wanted to start a family, the second option was clearly better. Sure, it wouldn’t be a traditional family, but I would love my baby enough to make it work.

Hudson had always been protective, so his response was exactly what I expected. There was no way I could’ve gone behind his back and filled out the paperwork without talking to him first, though.

With every eye on me, I grabbed my bag and slipped out of the diner.

An hour later, I was leaving Hudson’s father’s house with a signed contract and a card that listed my upcoming appointment times . There was a bear shifter tailing me, as there would be until the breeding was done.

And though my heart was beating insanely hard, I was still confident I’d made the right choice.

My life was going to change—but it would change for the better.