Feral Sins Read Online Free PDF Page A

sniffing out a person’s weakness and leaping on it. He would see how much Trey needed him and would exploit it. Probably by demanding some of his territory or by insisting he owed him a ‘favor’. Being indebted to an Alpha like him was never a good thing. Alliances formed through a mating, on the other hand, were more balanced.
     
    “ There’s a very big difference between what it would mean to mate with me and what it would mean to mate with Roscoe.”
     
    “ What’s that?”
     
    “ With me, it doesn’t have to be permanent.” And he’d never hurt her, unlike Roscoe.
     
    Confused, Taryn shook her head. “Wolves mate for life.”
     
    “ Yes, but I don’t want cosmic, soul-moving, imprinting shit in my life.” In fact, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be capable of feeling the kind of emotions that kept a mating alive. “Of course we have to make everyone believe this is the real deal and that we’ve mated for life, but all I need is for you to remain with me as my mate until the battle is over.”
     
    “ Well then you don’t necessarily need me to mate with you. You just need me to act as though I’m mated to you.”
     
    He shook his head. “That wouldn’t work because I’d need to mark you. The second I do, you’ll be classed as my mate. It will be a real mating, just not a forever-after one.”
     
    A big issue, though, was that Taryn was sure her wolf would be accepting of his mark and wouldn’t understand that this was to be a short-term thing. It still wouldn’t be difficult to break the mating link because she and Trey wouldn’t imprint on each other, but it would be very uncomfortable for her wolf. And that was just one of many problems. “Look, even if I wanted to take you up on your offer, I couldn’t. My dad and Roscoe have signed contracts and my dad’s elated at the idea of having an alliance with Roscoe. He won’t stop it.”
     
    He had thought as much. “Unless you make him believe that we’re true mates.”
     
    Her tone was flat as she spoke. “I told you, my mate is dead. Everyone in the pack knows I lost him.”
     
    “ Many times shifters have mistaken a close childhood friend as their future mate. You’ll just need people to believe that was the case with you.”
     
    She shook her head. “I couldn’t do that to Joey, I couldn’t shit on his memory like that. I won’t shit on his memory like that.”
     
    Knowing he needed to tread carefully, he kept his tone gentle. “You think he’d prefer for you to be stuck in a mating with a wolf you don’t want? Do you think he’d want that for you? Would you have wanted it for him?”
     
    “ It still doesn’t seem right,” she mumbled.
     
    He was impressed by her loyalty. “It’s not like we can make it look as though we met, fell head over heels and then decided to mate. We don’t have the time, and given my reputation, it wouldn’t look realistic. It would also give your dad room to argue your choice of mate. If it’s believed that we’re true mates, he can’t oppose that – it’s beyond his control.”
     
    “ What about your pack? Won’t they know it’s bullshit?”
     
    Not wanting to go into the specifics, he kept his reply vague. “It’s a shitty story, but let’s just keep it at I hadn’t acknowledged to others that she was my mate.” That had made her death all the worse and then he hadn’t felt like he had the right to speak of her. Not many knew the complete truth and that was how he liked it. “When I informed my pack a few weeks ago of my plan to mate, I also informed them that my true mate died a long time ago. That’s all they need to know.”
     
    And that’s all you need to know , he didn’t say but Taryn heard. She might have bristled at that but it would have been hypocritical; losing Joey wasn’t a matter she spoke of unless she had to.
     
    “ They will play along that we’re true mates if it helps us keep our territory and stops my uncle from taking over the