The Rival’s Fake Mate

Chapter 1 Silver

"Will you be my fake mate for, like, a year?"

The words rolled off my tongue before my brain could tackle them down and drag them back to where they belong…

I stood beside the moonlit garden behind the pack hall, clutching a bundle of white ceremony flowers while Lavender brushed my bare legs as the night breeze swept through the hedges. Lanterns glowed along the stone path, soft gold against the darkness.

And in front of me stood the most dangerous Alpha in the whole of North America.

Logan Thorn.

Tall. Broad-shouldered, dark eyes with silver strips and a jagged scar that ran down the side of his face. Dressed entirely in black, he looked like a terrifyingly gorgeous god that had stepped out of a nightmare, to play politics for a day.

The plan was simple.

Find a terrifying man, ask him a stupid question, piss him off and get killed.

That was the plan. So when I saw Alpha thorn, he looked like the perfect candidate and my brain thought it was a good idea to stop him on his path to the ceremony.

I mean, he could rip me apart limb by limb for being such an inconvenience to his day( stories had been told) and that would get the job done without me needing to embarrass myself. So when he looked at me, I just kept going…

"Look, I know it's a crazy ask, but I've heard you've terrified all the women in your life and no one wants you right now, so this is me, with zero survival skills and a death wish waiting to happen…”

I shifted from one foot to the other, the intensity of his stare digging holes under my skin. His face said nothing outside what probably looked like his own version of boredom but he was still standing in front of me without saying anything so i kept going….

"I've also heard your elders are threatening to overthrow you if you don't have a mate, so this is me asking to help you by accepting to be your mate for a year. Hopefully I die before the year ends but either way, your scary persona has one more legend to it and I finally find peace...".

"I'm twenty-two, never been mated, still have no idea how to shift on my own and yes I'm a werewolf with a formless wolf.”

There i Said it.

The flowers trembled in my hands, breaths coming faster than I wanted.

He stared at me, no words just stared at me with an intensity that made my stomach twist. His gaze moved over my face as if he were trying to decide whether I was brave, insane, or just an inconvenience he wanted to get rid of.

A muscle ticked in his jaw. Then only sign that i wasn't speaking to a brick wall then, slowly, the corner of his mouth lifted.

Not a smile.

Something far more dangerous.

Amusement. He was amused at my whole presentation!!

What do you mean this man found my proposal amusing? Clearly I had hit rock bottom and now, I was a clown.

"Could you at least say something?" I muttered. Heat crawling up my cheeks.

The lantern light caught the scar that ran along the side of his neck, disappearing beneath the collar of his shirt. And the stories about Logan Thorn flooded my mind—rival Alpha, ruthless strategist, death eater, the undefeated, cursed by the moon, feared and hated by his own pack Logan thorn.

Yep. I had really out done myself this time.

Logan took one step closer and my wolf stirred nervously beneath my skin.

He was close enough for me to catch the scent of cedar, smoke, and something wild that made my pulse jump and for one terrifying second, I thought he might actually answer.

Instead, he held my gaze, expression unreadable, then walked past me without a single word.

I blinked.

Seriously?

"That's it?" I called after him. “You're not even going to rip me apart limb by limb for being such an inconvenience?”

He kept walking.

The sound of his boots fading down the stone path until I stood alone in the garden, clutching crushed flowers and the remains of my dignity.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Goddess, Silver. Brilliant plan. Truly."

A laugh escaped me, shaky and miserable.

I looked down at the bent stems in my hands and groaned.

"Rejected by a man who isn't getting any offers has to be a new low even for me."

The distant sound of drums rolled from the pack hall.

The ceremony was starting and I was still alive and mateless Great.

*******************

Tonight wasn't just another festival. It was the Moon Binding Ceremony—the night unmated wolves of age were presented before the pack. Most found their fated mates by eighteen. I was already twenty-two, which made me an embarrassment wrapped in silk and expectation.

I had already stood in these halls for three years and the rumors had already started to spread. If I remained unmated after tonight, I would suffer a fate worse than death: I would be a cast away.

The rules of the pack were simple:

"All mates of age are brought to the mating ceremony where they find their mate. If any remains unmated by the age of twenty-two, they are cast out of the pack to leave among the rogues with no protection. Believed to be cursed by the moon herself."

The whispers had already begun to spread since the last mating ceremony, the words.

Late bloomer...

Defective wolf...

Unwanted Omega...

Being my name and title.

I straightened my shoulders, gathered the flowers, and forced myself toward the hall.

The music grew louder with every step and the knots in my chest tightened with dread.

—----------------------

The pack hall blazed with candlelight.

Garlands hung from the rafters. Wolves filled the room in their finest clothes, laughing, drinking, celebrating futures that suddenly seemed very far away from mine.

My father stood near the front, already looking tense.

His eyes searching before landing on me.

"You're late," he snapped under his breath as I approached.

"I was helping with the flowers."

His gaze flicked to the slightly crushed bouquet.

"Try not to embarrass us tonight, Silver."

The words hit harder than they should have.

I lowered my eyes. "I'll try."

Around us, unmated wolves were gathering in the center of the hall. My friends avoided looking at me directly, which somehow felt worse than pity.

The drums stopped and silence spread through the hall.

Alpha Rowan stepped onto the raised platform beside his son Keal.

Keal, stood tall and confident in dark ceremonial clothing, golden eyes scanning the crowd with the ease of someone who had never doubted his place in the world. He was the future Alpha of our pack and every unmated girl has had dreams of him at some point.

Unlike me, although he was unmated, he wasn't being considered to be a castaway because he had the Alphas blood running through his veins and that made him superior to the rest of us.

Once. Once I wished that he was my mate. Once before I learned how easily admiration could turn into humiliation.

The ceremony began with the traditional invocation. Wolves bowed their heads as the Alpha called upon the Moon Goddess to reveal the bonds she had chosen.

One by one, unmated wolves stepped forward. Some smiled in relief when they felt the pull, Others looked disappointed when nothing happened.

My turn approached and my pulse hammered loudly in my ear with every name called, I lost a little bit more.

This was it. My last chance at finding a mate before…

I saw Keal stiffen. His eyes locked on me like I had offended him somehow.

The air shifted, the room grew quiet and then I felt it a heartbeat later.

A sharp tug deep in my chest. Like something was being pulled from underneath me.

My wolf lurched forward so violently I nearly stumbled.

Keal stepped forward then held himself. Our eyes locked in as the bond flared between us like a spark hitting dry wood.

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

Someone whispered,

"It's Silver."