They Took Turns Pretending to Be My Mate Chapter 04

They Took Turns Pretending to Be My Mate Chapter 04

At dusk, I took Lola to the pack hall.

I struck my name from the pack rolls, then struck Lola’s as well.

From that moment on, Ella and Lola no longer belonged to Southridge Pack.

On the way home, Tyler’s mother hurried over and stopped me.

“Tyler told me you’re leaving. Is that true?”

“This is so sudden.”

“Everything seemed fine yesterday. You even said you were going to talk to Kane.”

“Did the two of you have a fight?”

I forced a faint smile and shook my head.

“No.”

“I just realized we weren’t right for each other.”

“Rather than wait for my deadline to pass and let the Council pair me with some stranger, I’d rather take Lola and leave.”

Tyler’s mother sighed, sympathy filling her eyes.

“Ella, life really hasn’t been kind to you.”

“After your mate died, you spent three years raising your pup alone.”

“Just when it finally seemed like you and Kane were getting closer, who would have thought…”

Before she could finish, laughter drifted over from the distance.

I instinctively turned toward it.

In the fading light, Kane stood beside a bonfire, laughing with a young she-wolf.

Her eyes crinkled as she smiled at him. In the firelight, Kane’s dark gaze looked soft and intimate.

As though sensing something, he turned his head and looked over.

Our eyes met across the distance.

He paused.

Instead of pulling away, he deliberately leaned closer to the she-wolf.

She blushed and gave him a light push, but she did not move away.

A moment later, they were locked in a kiss, neither of them willing to pull away.

Tyler’s mother saw them too. Her shock instantly turned to anger.

“That Kane…”

“It’s fine.”

I raised a hand to stop her.

Then I bent down and called to Lola, who was still playing with Tyler.

“Lola, it’s time to go.”

Lola reluctantly said goodbye to Tyler and ran over to me.

She instinctively glanced in the direction I had been looking.

Her little face immediately tightened, and then she buried herself in my arms.

I stroked her hair and said goodbye to Tyler and his mother once more.

After that, I never looked toward the bonfire again.