Page 34 of Her Fake Mate

Oh.

Shit.

Fuck.

“I have to go,” I bark into the phone. Briony makes a sound of protest, but I cut her off and open the GPS tracking app.

Whether or not Mia thinks our relationship is fake is unknown. But I have a feeling she wants this as much as I do.

Because if she saw me holding Terra’s hand… and she didn’t think that our relationship was fake…then she’d be upset. Very upset. Upset enough to drive seven hours back to New Mexico.

I slam on the gas, and my truck roars down the road.

I have to find her before she walks straight into a den of literal mountain lions. I have to ask her how she feels.

Mostly, though, I have to tell her how I feel. Because for me, this isn’t fake.

Not in the slightest.

Chapter 9

Mia

Leaving without eating was, admittedly, a little dumb.

The whole point of going to the store was that I would have something to feed the kids... and myself. Now, however, I’m absolutely ravenous. I’m about an hour away from Oakwood and just outside of Oakwood pack territory, and I need three things.

Food. A bathroom. And some gas.

Reluctantly, I pull into a small town. The sign says it’s Hayden, Colorado, home of world-famous breakfast burritos.

I chuckle. There’s a long-standing debate between Colorado and New Mexico about breakfast burritos. Namely, the ones in Colorado are only good because they use green chili from New Mexico.

So, while I appreciate the effort, it’s probably not as good as what I’m used to. Still, I could really go for a breakfast burrito. I get some gas before wandering into the restaurant advertising said culinary delights and sit down at a table directly opposite the breakfast bar.

This town is technically not in any shifter territory. Oakwood’s territory line is just before the town limits, so in theory, it could be considered part of Oakwood pack, but Thorne told us he doesn’t consider it such. It’s too close to Steamboat, which is fully human, so everyone kind of stays away from the area. Thorne was very clear with us when we arrived that the wolf territory was the farthest northwest corner of the state, since that’s where the natural wolves from Wyoming were reintroduced.

There shouldn’t be any shifters here unless they’re passing through.

Like me.

It’s surprising, then, when I see four wolves sitting at the breakfast bar in the dining area.

I don’t recognize them, but that’s not unusual. I don’t recognize anyone from the Oakwood pack, not on sight. Not except for a couple of key people, of course.

I look down at the menu. Hopefully they won’t recognize the pack car. Hopefully they won’t think that I stole it.

My anxieties are poking at my mind when a shadow falls on the table.

“Is this seat taken?”

I blink. One of the wolves is smiling at me.

He doesn’t look like he’s doing something malicious. His smile seems genuine, and he’s got a hand on the back of the chair, clearly actually asking instead of just pulling it out to sit.

He’s probably wondering if he can take the chair, so they can have it for someone else.

“No,” I say studying the menu again. “You can take it.”

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