Page 24 of Her Fake Mate

I follow him into the woods.

I haven’t been a fox in so long. Everyone else takes turns shifting, but I always offer to stay back. Being on four legs feels… wonderful. Freeing.

I love it.

The forest is alive with sights and smells and sounds. I can hear every small animal scurry away from me. I can hear every rodent squeak and shriek as we run by.

Eventually, a weird smell crosses my nose. I snort. It smells… sulfuric.

When we stop, I see why.

Zander brought me to a little hot spring.

I creep down, following him as he picks a path down the steep hill to the spring. There’s a river right next to it, and the combination of the cool-smelling water and the hot spring is fascinating.

Zander shifts. I turn my head away from his naked body, but not before I get a glimpse of a hard chest. And a little more.

“You can come in,” he murmurs. “I won’t look, and the water is pretty dark.”

Do I trust him?

He shuts his eyes and turns away, and I decide that I do. If I trust him with the water rights, I can be naked in front of him.

The two things, however, do feel very different.

I shift and step into the pool. “You can open your eyes now,” I mumble.

“I was prepared to keep them very much closed,” Zander says with a little laugh.

“It’s okay. I trust you,” I say.

Zander’s eyes pop open. “You do?”

“I kind of shared my biggest secret with you. Plus, I’d want to be able to trust my boyfriend.” I smile at him.

Except it doesn’t feel like I’m describing something fake.

Zander puts his head back. “I found this when I was out on patrol. Not that it was hard. Stinks for miles.”

“I know. I noticed that.”

“Still. It’s relaxing,” he sighs.

I let my hand play in the water. “This is the type of stuff the pack could make a ton of money on,” I say idly.

“Stinky water?”

“Yeah. People love this stuff. Pitch it as a health retreat and boom. You’ve got a business.”

“Interesting. What makes you think of that?”

I lean my head back as well. “Water rights. They’re such a big thing out here. There’s a whole resort near us in Santa Fe that did that. Made a destination out of some hot water in the middle of the desert.”

“I’ll have to tell Thorne,” he says. Reluctantly.

I grin. “Or not.”

“I think maybe for now, I’d like this secret to just stay between us.”

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