Page 28 of Her Fake Mate

She shrugs. “I’m almost thirty. You’re turning thirty this year. Maybe we could… you know. Just to stay in the pack?” She’s hopeful.

Just a few weeks ago, I would have been overjoyed. The answer to all my problems. Something easy. Without any effort.

But, since then, something big has changed.

Mia.

I don’t want to be with Terra anymore. I know who my mate is. And it’s not Terra.

My heart aches for her.

“Terra,” I say, taking her hand. “I really would. But…”

Her smile is sad. “But things are serious with Mia, after all.”

I nod. “Yeah. She’s great. I think you’d like her.”

“I know I would.”

“Maybe we can all hang out sometime?”

“Maybe,” she says sadly.

I give her hand another squeeze. “Someone is out there for you, Terra. You’re going to make someone a very happy mate.”

“I’d like to think so. But it also hasn’t happened.”

“Yet,” I remind her. “It hasn’t happened yet.”

“Time’s definitely of the essence,” she laughs. Terra removes her hand from mine and gives me a smile again. “I’d like to give Mia that moisturizer. Bring her by. Mom and I will be happy to get tea with her and talk botanicals.”

“I think she’d like that. She was a farmer. In New Mexico. I’m building them a little chicken coop and a garden plot,” I beam.

She gestures to the truck. “You’re going to make her a very good mate as well, Zander.”

I smile, letting all the hope inside me out.

“I sure hope so.”

Chapter 7

Mia

It felt like a normal day. Better than normal, I guess.

When I woke up, I still smelled like Zander and sulfur. I didn’t want to wash the smell of him from my skin, but… I did also smell kind of bad.

In the shower, my mind replayed all of the highlights from the night before. And there were a lot of them.

Zander. Pretty much everything about him was… perfect. Flawless.

I can’t wait to get him naked again. And, more specifically, inside me.

While I wouldn’t say I’m a particularly sexual person, I am definitely more interested in Zander than I’ve been in any man in a long, long time.

And, I realize as I’m hopping in the car to go to get some groceries, I’m not really sure what the boundary is anymore between our fake relationship… and what’s real.

The thought makes me grip the steering wheel tightly. Zander whispered something to me right before I fell asleep that’s still ringing in my ears.

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