Bearly Hanging On (A Werebear Shifter BBW Romance) (Laid Bear Book 3) by Marina Maddix Page B

that she was his fated mate, even if it had taken Chet’s stupid brain a little longer. But Crystal was still uncertain, he could sense it and couldn’t figure out why.
    “Chet? Earth to Chet.” His uncle snapped his fingers, jerking Chet out of his reverie.
    “Sorry, Uncle Max. What did you say?”
    “I was saying that I forgot to tell you before you bolted out of the office this afternoon, but the date has been set for your initiation into the clan. Isn’t that great?!”
    “Oh, yeah, great,” he said, trying to muster some enthusiasm. He’d almost forgotten about the rite of passage. It was only his sole reason for coming here — though, now he thought maybe the real reason was to meet Crystal. Somehow, he doubted his aunt and uncle would feel the same way. “When is it?”
    “Next week. Saturday night. After that, you’ll be a full member of your family’s ancestral clan. An adult were without a clan is a tragic thing.”  
    “Sounds like heaven to me,” Sandy snorted as she munched on a corn cob, butter dripping from her fingers. Good thing she’d taken off her lace gloves or they’d be ruined.
    “Don’t say such things, Sandra Jean!” Aunt Clea gasped. “And certainly not with a full mouth.”
    “Relax, Clea. She’s just being rebellious. She doesn’t understand what it truly means to be banished.” He laid his fork next to the hunk of barbecued salmon on his plate and soberly looked at his daughter.  
    “Sandy, being shunned is the worst thing that can happen to a werebear. You’re kicked out of your community and no one will speak to you or even acknowledge your existence. You no longer have friends or family. They’ll mourn as if you died! There’s no going back after you’ve been shunned, no second chances.”
    Chet had heard all this before. He was raised with it, and the thought of never seeing his family ever again curdled his blood. But he wasn’t worried. The crimes that got you kicked out of your clan had to be pretty severe, like murder, and he had no intention of committing any of them. In fact, even though they weren’t official members of the Xus Clan in Malibu, his family was privy to all the gossip, and he’d never heard of a single shunning there, like, ever.
    The old ways were enforced differently in each clan, though. Members of the Xus Clan could freely socialize with humans, for example, but not mate with them. Apparently, the Skookum Clan — his ancestral clan, even though the only members he knew were sitting at the dinner table with him — did things a little differently. It was a bit old-fashioned, in his opinion, but nobody was asking for his opinion.
    A tendril of shame wiggled through his guts that the thrill of new love had completely overshadowed his impending rite of passage. In truth, he couldn’t wait to become a full member, a ‘real’ adult. When he was younger, he’d ridiculed the ceremony as being archaic but the closer the time grew for his own induction, the more excited he’d become.  
    There wasn’t much he had to do to prepare for the ceremony. He just had to show up. The hardest part was being separated from kids his own age. His uncle kept spouting some bullshit about giving the initiants space and time to reflect on their new status in the clan, but he really thought it was just a way to keep them from getting into too much trouble celebrating the last days of their ‘youth’.  
    It was going to be weird getting inducted with a bunch of young people who’d grown up together, who all knew each other already. For them, it would be like a reunion. He’d be the loser from out of town that nobody knew. He was suddenly nervous to face all those strangers, but he didn’t have a choice. It was all part of being a werebear.
    “Chet,” Aunt Clea said, carefully setting down her third glass of Chardonnay and placing a perfectly manicured hand on his arm. “You’ve been such a big help to your uncle that we wanted to thank you. We