Chapter 7
seven
CALLIE
I smelled bacon cooking when I woke up at 10 AM. The scent made my stomach rumble, and I forced my eyes open.
The blankets were rumpled, and the bed was warm.
Hudson had stayed all night.
I didn’t want to get hopeful about that, but with his scent on my sheets and the stickiness of his release dried all over my thighs and core, it was hard not to.
He’d said I was his.
I slipped quietly out of bed and into the bathroom across the hall, staring at myself in the mirror.
My long, honey-colored hair was a tangled wreck.
My face was red.
My eyes were a bit dazed.
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 dressed and 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?”
“I’m not leaving you alone here while you’re growing my cub. And I’m sure as fuck not leaving my cub. There are jobs in town.”
“Jobs you don’t want.”
“I don’t need money. I’ve got a paid-off house on the edge of town and have barely used a dime of what I’ve made in the last eight years, on top of the clan’s inheritance money. If I do need to work, I’ll join the construction crew.”
I blinked.
The bear clan had founded the town more than a century ago and invested wisely, so they had more money than all of them could spend in their lifetimes. Most of them still worked construction to stay busy, and though we lived in a small town, it was growing so they were always needed.
“That will be good for the cub,” I said, focusing on my food.
“Good for us , Cal.”
There wasn’t an us .
He knew that.
But I wasn’t going to start a fight over it, so I just ate my breakfast.
After we were done, he headed home to shower and change. Though he emphasized that he would be back in a few hours, I didn’t let myself get my hopes up. His dad had rarely kept the promises he made to his mom, or to Hudson.
Neither of us had ever said it aloud, but his dad was a shitty father. He was inconsistent, unreliable, and unavailable most of the time. He had been there when Hudson needed him sometimes , but most of the time, he didn’t show up when he said he would or didn’t answer phone calls.
I did the dishes after Hudson was gone. As I was putting them away, I found a stack of cash on the countertop, next to my car keys.
My eyes widened when I picked it up, silently counting out a few hundred dollars. All of them were crinkled, like Hudson had pulled them out of his pockets or something.
Either way, he’d known my bank account was running on empty, and he’d done something about it.
That was…
Well, I didn’t want to think about what it was.
Shit, I needed to get out of the house.
I put on some mascara and left, headed to Wren’s bookstore. There would be adorable little kids to play with and spicy books to read. And my best friend to talk to, of course.
I parked on the side of the building, surprised by the number of cars in the lot. I counted them as I headed inside—eleven.
It was almost as busy as the diner, which was basically the town’s hot spot.
The bell over the door dinged as I stepped inside, loving the feel of the building as much as always.
Fairy lights lined the ceilings, making the dark green walls feel cozier. The bookshelves were made of light gray wood, and the tile flooring was made to look like dark wood, with rugs and furniture softening it.
Altogether, it felt like some sort of cozy magical forest pulled right out of a fairytale.
The smells of coffee and paper rounded out the whole place.
Most of the chairs and couches were full of people curled up with books. As usual, many of them had coffee cups in front of them. Some had pastries, too.
The checkout desk was off to the side, tucked away enough that it didn’t catch your attention immediately. I knew that was by design.
When the person in front of the counter stepped away with a paper bag and a coffee cup, my gaze met Wren’s, and her lips curved upward.
She had light skin and straight, dark hair cut just above her shoulders. Her eyes were bright, and she had one of those personalities that put everyone at ease.
She stepped out from behind the counter as I reached it, and she pulled me in for a hug. I hugged her back tightly, my emotions burning in my eyes.
“Let’s sit,” she said, towing me by my arm to an empty couch nearby.
I sat, blinking fast as I wrestled those damn emotions.
“What happened?” she asked, her voice soft. We had to be quiet in the shop. The town would gossip no matter what, but I didn’t want them gossiping with accurate, intimate details.
“He says he’s staying, Wren. What am I supposed to think about that? He’s never left me before, but he never even called or texted me, and now he’s saying he was always in love with me, and?—”
“Take a breath, Callie.”
I sucked in air, leaning back against the couch and closing my eyes. “I’m still in love with him. I’ve always been in love with him. What am I going to do when he leaves? You were right—it’s the feral cat all over again. I’m screwed. I’m so screwed.”
“You are not screwed.” She smacked my arm lightly. “Maybe most bears don’t stay, but Hudson did. Right? You guys were together every day for more than a decade. He didn’t get tired of you. He didn’t leave you. He didn’t run when things got hard, or when they got intimate.”
“But what if he leaves me after the baby? Or before? Or ten years down the road? Or what if?—”
“There will always be what-ifs. If you marry a human, he could divorce you. He could cheat on you. He could fall out of love with you, for fuck’s sake.” Her words were blunt, her eyes sharp.
“You’re right. Humans can be just as bad in relationships as bears.” I pushed a few strands of hair out of my eyes.
“But maybe bears can be just as good at relationships as some humans, if they decide to.” She gave me a small smile.
We both knew what she wasn’t saying.
Her mate wasn’t included in that possibility.
He’d been amazing to her while they lasted, but ghosting her sure as hell didn’t fit that definition.
“I’m terrified, Wren,” I said quietly.
“So am I. We just have to ignore the terror and enjoy our lives in spite of it.”
A door opened at the back of the shop, and a toddler with Wren’s dark hair came rushing toward us. She’d built a short-term childcare in the back of her bookstore, like some gyms had, so there were a handful of kids playing in the room.
Wren’s mother followed Parker to my best friend’s side. Even if I hadn’t known who his dad was, the shape of his face and those gorgeous golden eyes would’ve told me immediately.
The Pawsons were the only shifters in town with gold irises, and they only had one son. Reed.
Instead of the adorable little smile the toddler usually wore, his eyes were watery. He lunged for his mom immediately, babbling something I couldn’t translate.
Wren scooped him up and snuggled him right to her chest. Something within me ached at the sight.
Having my own little kid…
I wanted that.
“What happened?” she murmured, looking to her mom for an answer.
“I think he’s sick,” Wren’s mom admitted. “I can’t get him to eat anything. Sylvie’s on her way, she offered to run the shop so you can take him home.”
Sylvie was Reed’s mom, so one of Parker’s grandmas. Between Wren, her mother, and Sylvie, they made sure Parker always had plenty of love and attention. Wren was lucky to have so much support, and she knew it.
I wouldn’t be in the same boat.
Hudson’s mom would help me from time to time, but we had never been very close. And my pride wouldn’t let me lean on her.
Luckily, I’d have the clan’s money as a cushion for the first little while. I’d need to find a job to afford to eat after the first year or two, but I’d make it work.
Anyway, Sylvie.
She obviously knew that her son was the father of Wren’s child, but she had agreed to keep it a secret unless Reed specifically asked. Her mate had been the worst of the bear shifters, and I’d heard some of the shit he’d done from Hudson when we were kids.
Even though Reed wasn’t anything like his dad, he’d still left his mate after sealing their bond. Every bear shifter knew that knocking a woman up inevitably followed claiming her, unless she was on birth control. They’d been using condoms when they were together, but no condoms during the claiming?—
So basically, he had to know he’d knocked her up.
Parker started crying, turning his head away from his mom’s neck so he was facing me.
His cute little lips parted as he sobbed—and the sob quickly turned into a gag, which turned into vomit.
I was so shocked when it hit me, I didn’t even jump.
Wren hurried him to the bathroom, apologizing over her shoulder as she rushed away. I called after her not to worry about it, following her there.
Her mom and I sent her home with Parker as soon as she was done washing his face and making sure he wasn’t going to puke again immediately.
Her mother took my shirt from me and scrubbed it in the sink while I hauled the shop’s portable upholstery cleaner to the couch in my bra and leggings. I took care of the rest of the mess, pausing to help someone check out halfway through. Considering the size of our town, everyone understood the situation and was understanding about it.
When she congratulated me on my new mating, I knew everyone in the shop had heard the drama I’d whispered to Wren about.
All of Cub Lake was going to be gossiping about me and Hudson even more by the time I left.
Yay.
An hour later, I finally made it back to my car. I smelled strongly of hand soap, and any bear shifter worth their weight would definitely be able to scent the vomit beneath the fragrance. But that didn’t matter.
I just kept thinking about Hudson and I having a baby.
About the possibility of him staying .
Of us being together.
Had he even told his mom that he mated me?
He probably hadn’t.
But she deserved to know.
I reached the intersection I’d taken so many times. The one that would lead me to his mom’s place.
And, without missing a beat, I turned there. She needed to know as soon as possible—even if I smelled like soap and puke.