Page 8 of Bearly Mated

I went still.

He captured my wrist and gently pulled me toward the chair next to his, where he’d set up one of the trays. I didn’t sit down, though he clearly wanted me to.

“You think of me as a sister,” I finally said.

“I think of you as my best friend.”

“You’ve never been attracted to me, Hud. Even in high school. I tried to kiss you at the beginning of sophomore year, remember? You completely shut me down.” My face warmed with memories of the one time things had been weird between us. “I’ll call your dad and ask him to find someone else.”

“He won’t,” Hudson said. “Eat your food. We have a doctors’ appointment soon.”

“That’s not…” I dropped the plastic fork he’d given me and stepped back. “You arenotbreeding me. You’re not even attracted to me! We’re not?—”

He stood again.

Then he calmly stepped closer to me, and put his hands on my waist.

I sucked in a breath at the sudden touch.

He’d never held me that way before.

And I could feel his erection against my lower belly, already proving me wrong about attraction.

“I shut you down when we were sophomores because I’d been fighting the urge to claim you for more than a year, Cal. If I’d kissed you that day, I would’ve ended up biting you.”

When a bear shifter bit a woman, he was hers for the rest of his life. He could never be with anyone else, physically or mentally.

That didn’t make him stay, though. It just made him loyal no matter the distance between them.

“You’ve told me everything about bears, remember? I know exactly what it was like for your mom. I saw it. I’m not doing that withyou,” I said firmly.

“Why not?”

“Because it’ll break me, Hudson!” I tossed a hand toward his chest. “It’ll be hard enough dealing with a flaky bear I barely know. But you? I actually care about you. So, no. I’m not doing it.” I closed the lid on the takeout food he’d brought for me and put the container on top of his. “You need to leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” His voice was still calm.

Calm enough to make me want to rip my hair out.

I pushed his hands off my hips and stormed back to my room, pulling my phone from my pocket and lifting it to my ear.

It rang four times before Hudson’s father answered. “Hello?”

“Hi, Mr. Claw. It’s Callie again.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes, it’s just—” I let out a short breath. “Hudson is in my kitchen, claiming thathe’sthe one who’s going to breed with me.”

“That’s what the clan decided,” he agreed. “It’s standard to pair a woman with the male she’ll get along with best, for the sake of the child. Considering your history, he was the obvious choice.”

“Respectfully, I disagree. Because of our history, Hudson and I won’t be able to coparent peacefully. He spent most of the day,everyday, with me for more than thirteen years. I’ll never see a reason he can’t give his child even more dedication.”

“That’s something to discuss with him. The assignment has been made and the contracts signed. Hudson is the only one who can cancel it now. Have a good day, Callie.” He hung up.

I groaned, shoving a hand through my hair.

Hudson knocked on my bedroom door. “We need to leave in twenty minutes, Cal. Come out here and eat.”

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