Page 1 of Beary Mated Christmas

Chapter One

Denali

The Christmas season was a really big deal with my family, especially Christmas Eve. My mom would make enough food to feed the entire town and then wonder why there were so many leftovers. My father had the place decorated to the point where a visitor could easily think they’d stepped into the North Pole.

You wouldn’t look at our tree and think, “Wow, that needs more ornaments,” but you’d be wrong. The finishing touches were always the ornaments my siblings and I made over the years and hung up last. My father said it wasn’t Christmas without them.

We’d would feast, drink gallons of hot, spiced cider, and then, after we couldn’t eat another bite, it was story time. My father would put on the Santa suit he picked up when my older sister was born and had never been in good shape but was now completely tattered, and read usThe Night Before Christmas. He went all out on his performance and always gave his best Santa “Ho Ho Hos.”

Our night would end with my siblings and I begging to open “just one gift.” My parents would pretend we had to wait because it wasn’t Christmas yet and then, just before bedtime, they would cave and “randomly” pick out a gift for us to unwrap. That gift was always a pair of pajamas, and they would all match. It was the best.

This year was going to be even better. My parents had agreed to have Christmas Eve dinner for lunch, and then, before our evening festivities of tree decorating and Santa time, I was going to have dinner at my best friend Abel’s house.

I called him my best friend, but he was so much more than that. We met when we were maybe five and had beeninseparable for years, but over the past year, my feelings had changed…deepened. I found myself wanting to always be by his side and not in a friend way. I longed to touch him, hold him, kiss him…all things I was far too scared to do but often dreamed about.

It was too risky to tell him how I felt. What if I confessed and he didn’t feel the same way? Or worse, what if I did, and then he found his true mate years later? He’d leave me, and our friendship would be over. No one wanted their mate to have a friend who was in love with their other half. No one. I didn’t care how understanding his potential future mate was, they wouldn’t want me in his life anymore.

So I kept my feelings to myself, hoping that maybe one day we’d shift for the first time, scent each other, and know instantly that we were our forevers. But until then, I kept my desires hidden away where no one could see…or at least I thought I did.

“Why did you change your shirt for the third time? You’re going to Abel’s.”

I gave my brother some serious side-eye. “Yes, exactly. I’m going to Abel’s for Christmas Eve. I should look good.”

“He likes you already.” My brother winked. Asshat.

“What?” I played stupid, but my brother didn’t say things he didn’t mean. It was one of his best and worst qualities.

“You heard me.”

I closed my eyes, willing the conversation to be over.

“You think I don’t know what’s going on with you two?” He just laid it out there. Why couldn’t he pretend he didn’t notice, like a normal brother.

“Nothing. I repeat, nothing is going on with us.” Despite my wishing it were.

“Well, if nothing’s going on between the two of you, that’s because you’re both stubborn mules.”

I pushed him away, told him to shut up, and left. Not because he was wrong, at least not about my feelings, but because I wasn’t ready to have this conversation.

I hopped on my bike and headed the three blocks to his house. Unlike mine, his family wasn’t huge into Christmas Eve and, when I walked inside, there wasn’t a Christmas decoration in sight. Their family had always been different from ours about that. Not a wolf vs. polar bear thing but family traditions.

Tomorrow morning, they would decorate their tree, make cookies, and open presents. They weren’t scrooges, just different. I’d actually been surprised they invited me for dinner tonight. To them, it was usually just a random day of the year.

“Hey, Denali, Abel’s in his room waiting for you.” His father went back to the book he was reading, and I walked straight into my bestie’s room.

“Took you long enough.” He popped up, grabbing his hoodie.

“It’s not like I’m late. Dinner isn’t on the table yet.” He wasn’t usually the one to worry about punctuality, but we’d been out of school for a half a week already. He was probably bored.

“No, but I have something I want to do first.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me out to the woods behind his house. “I’m itching to hike.”

It was a weird day for that, but I was game. Anything to spend time with him, even hiking when we could be playing video games.

“What’s going on?” I was so confused.

He sped up his pace. “I haven’t even told my parents yet, but I think it might be close to my first shift.”

Two minutes later, he stopped and took his clothes off.