Page 6 of Her Fake Mate

I give them both a curt nod. “So?”

“So, if you were seen with the foxes more, I think it would help the optics.”

“And,” Thorne adds, “you genuinely could make sure there’s no teen foxes out stealing shit.”

Foxes have a little bit of a stigma around that. Some of the most notorious gangs in the shifter community have been made of foxes, and while there are plenty of well-adjusted fox leashes in the world, the ones that stand out are, of course, the worst.

“No,” I say flatly. “I’m already distracted from my job as it is.”

“With what?” Thorne shoots me a glare.

I look down at my feet. “I’m turning thirty in a year,” I mutter.

While I can’t see it, I can feel Thorne and Briony exchange a look.

Briony sighs. “Zander, we aren’t asking you to abandon your search for a mate. We just need you to be seen with the foxes more. Can you do that?”

“As part of your job, since I’m the one who determines what that is?” Thorne adds.

Well, fuck. If it’s a command from my alpha, I don’t have a choice.

“Fine,” I grunt. “Anything else?”

Thorne beams at me. “Nope. Thanks, buddy. I’ll expect an update soon.”

With a final parting look that makes my skin crawl, Thorne and Briony leave.

I grab a beer and then flop down on my couch. My mind is spinning.

I really have been distracted by trying to find a mate. Terra, who I’ve been hoping would be up for the job, is still in shock about Rylan leaving. She just needs time.

But I need to find a mate. I have less than a year before I’m 30, and if I don’t have a mate by then…

I’ll be the last Black in my family line. And I’ll lose everything I’ve ever known.

The thought is chilling. Unfortunately, so is the idea of a mate. I’ve dated plenty. Enjoyed that. But when I think of mates, I think of my parents, who were devoted to each other.

My dad would put my mom’s towels in the dryer while she was in the shower, so she could come out to warm, clean towels. My mom would make my dad’s favorite meal once a week, and every time, she’d be delighted when he said it was better than he remembered.

Their love is my model. I don’t feel that way about anyone in the pack. More than that, I haven’t felt that way since they died.

They were hit by a car on a midnight run, right after I started shifting.

I sip my beer, the old pang of hurt fresh as I think about them. Hanging out with Mia, and the foxes, socially to increase public favor for them? It isn’t going to work.

At least, it’s not going to work fast enough. I need to wrap this up so I can get back to the whole mate search. We don’t have time to just hope people will eventually see them in a better light. We need to do it faster.

I sit up on the couch, a wild idea popping into my mind.

There’s a lot of stupid talk about the whole fated mates thing. The fact that both our alpha and beta found their fated mates, something that hasn’t happened for hundreds of years, is getting to people’s heads.

Unfortunately, it’s the perfect way to do exactly what Briony and Thorne are asking me to do.

People love a stupid love story. They love the idea that just the average person can find their fated mate. If they thought that Mia and I were mates, everyone would be looking at us, ready for that fated mate bond to happen.

It would also mean that the assholes who want to raise hell about the foxes wouldn’t have a freaking leg to stand on. You can’t talk shit about someone’s mate. Not unless you want to bring them, and their family members, down on you.

There’s a bonus here, too. If people think I am courting Mia, then they’ll be less concerned about her brother starting shit. Everyone knows a teenage shifter can be bad, and a teenage fox shifter can be worse. But if they think that the pack’s lead enforcer is there as a role model…

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