Page 27 of Her Fake Mate

I have plans to build out more. Extra bedrooms. Another bathroom. Mia said they used to raise chickens in New Mexico, so I need some supplies to make them a coop.

Lumber is necessary. And lots of it.

The hardware store has everything I need for a chicken coop, so I go ahead and get it, then place an order for chicks. Getting chicks in the mail will be fun for the kids to see, so I make sure that the delivery is to the fox cabins. The other supplies, though, I buy on site.

Mia wants to feel like she belongs? Like she’s part of the pack? I’m going to show the pack how smart and useful she is.

I’m loading the last of it into my truck when I hear a familiar voice.

“Hey, stranger,” Terra says.

I turn. “Hey, Terra.”

“How are you?”

I nod. “Fine. And you?”

She gives me a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.

Terra is a beautiful woman. I’ve always thought so. She dresses flawlessly, and she’s always so composed. But now, I look at her auburn hair and think about brighter, curlier red hair. Her green eyes are too dark, too mellow. I like my green-eyed girls with a little more spark to them.

“I’m okay,” she whispers.

I know her better than that. Terra and I have been friends for a long time. I put the last two by four in the bed of the truck and turn. “You don’t sound okay.”

“It’s just… I think he might be dead.”

I sigh. Rylan was banished from the pack a while back. I don’t know the particulars, but I was there when Thorne gave the command. He should never come back.

“He’s not dead, Terra,” I say softly. No one knows except Thorne, Evander, and some of the other enforcers. I can’t tell her the truth.

She thinks that Rylan left. Ran away. Abandoned the pack.

I want to tell her that’s not the case. Badly. But I can’t.

“You don’t know that,” she murmurs.

I hate this. “Still. You’ve held out for him for so long. Why give up on it now?”

“Because…” Her voice trails off.

Suddenly, I know why.

“I always thought Rylan and I would be together. I love him. Loved him,” she corrects herself.

The past tense crushes my heart. “Terra…”

“But that was a long time ago. He’s not coming back. Not when it’s been almost two years.”

I grimace. “Two years isn’t that bad.”

“It is when you have a timeline, Zander.”

I have nothing to say to that.

Terra sighs. “I know you introduced me to your girlfriend, but… Speaking of timelines. Is that something serious? Or something like you’re just helping her out while they get settled and something sparked between you?”

My heart thumps. “Why do you ask?”

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