Page 21 of Her Fake Mate

I can’t keep the tears from falling. One by one, they trickle down my cheeks. Until a warm thumb wipes them away.

“That makes sense, Mia,” Zander murmurs. “Whatever’s there, it sounds valuable. Whatever the lions did to you… it’s not right,” he adds.

“It was so bad,” I cry.

I don’t think I’ve cried about that night, ever since it happened. I don’t think I’ve spent any time thinking about the way they came after us in the middle of the night. The way they forced my dad’s signature, then…

I squeeze my eyes shut.

Zander’s arms fold around me. I lean into him.

And I sob.

It feels like forever. I’m a different person when the tears stop, and I look up at him.

He’s looking down at me with a little smile on his lips. “I bet that felt good.”

I nod.

“You keep everything together for your family, Mia. You’re a heck of a leader, despite the fact that you’re not the alpha. If you want to find another resource for your leash, I want to help.”

“Zander…”

“I will, Mia. Whatever it takes. We’ll figure it out,” he murmurs.

We.

I want to melt into those words. Into his arms.

It’s a fantastic feeling.

We spend the rest of the day going over my appeal. Zander has some helpful thoughts, and he says he knows the wolf delegate to the Bureaucracy. He says he’ll reach out.

The whole time, I’m flabbergasted. Zander is being so helpful. Thoughtful. Kind.

The kids come home from school, and we’re about to make dinner when Zander’s phone rings. He picks it up, holding AJ in one hand, the phone in the other.

I see the moment when his face falls.

“Sounds good,” he says into the phone. He hands AJ to me, and I take him. AJ wiggles out of my hands, ready to crawl away. He’ll be walking any day now.

I watch him go before turning back to Zander. “What is it?”

He sighs. “It’s your brother.”

From there on out, panic is the only thing I feel.

We take Zander’s truck down to the pack headquarters. Zander barely puts the truck in park before I’m flying out.

Inside the building, there are a bunch of people milling around a huddled group. I recognize one of the figures on the bench in the middle of the room.

Josh.

He and the other teenage wolves are sitting in handcuffs. Handcuffs.

The sight makes my chest feel like there’s a thousand-pound weight sitting on it.

When Josh sees me, his face falls.

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