He made a noncommittal noise. “Even if fate wanted me with her, I wouldn’t be interested.”
“Yeah, I know you don’t want a mate.”
“Not because of that.”
“Then why?”
Bo didn’t respond right away.
His hand lingered on my thigh. If we hadn’t spent a few hours tangled up in each other earlier, his grip would’ve been way too intimate. The touch was far from just friendly.
But we had been tangled up together.
And things between us were intimate, now. At least until I left in three to nine days.
I was crossing my fingers for nine.
“Ambrose.” I poked his knee. “Hello? Why don’t you want a mate?”
“I know what mating means for most bear shifters. It’s agreeing to be loyal to a woman, knocking her up, and walking away. A few guys in the clan have moved in with their mates and are trying for a real mate bond, but I’m not willing to risk putting a cub through the childhood I survived.” His voice was low, his grip on my thigh tightening as he spoke.
“I get that.” I nodded. “If I had the choice, I would never mate with someone I didn’t love. Forever is a long time with someone you don’t even like. Life on its own is too long for that.”
Bo grunted in agreement.
“I interact with a lot of kids, but I hadn’t heard that any of the bears were trying to live with their mates,” I added.
“Probably because you teach dance, and most of us don’t have daughters.”
“Probably.”
“It started a decade or so ago, with some of the older guys. I only heard about it a few years back. Two or three. Ran into Hudson at the grocery store. You remember him?”
“Vaguely. Wasn’t he always with that blonde? Callie?”
“Yup. They ended up mating and getting married. They’ve got a little girl now. She’s a toddler, I think. I don’t know much about kids. They live together, though. Seems like they’re in love.”
“Wait, they had a human baby?” My forehead creased.
That never happened.
Shifter genes were too strong.
“Nah, she’s a shifter. First female cub born in more than a century. You should’ve seen the party the clan threw.”
When I looked back, I found him rolling his eyes.
“Tell me they didn’t arrange a marriage for her,” I said.
“No. Someone mentioned it at the party, and Hudson nearly killed them.”
“Then it really was a shifter party.”
Bo snorted. “Guess so.”
“At least they’re protecting her. Hopefully Hudson and Callie’s marriage attempt keeps working.”
“The way he looked at Callie, I think it might.”
