45 pages • 1 hour read
Lana FergusonThe Fake Mate
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 21-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 21 Summary: “Mackenzie”
Priya meets with Mackenzie for a consult, and they talk about Noah, focusing particularly on the fact that the rumors of his grumpy demeanor have been grossly exaggerated. Dennis finds Mackenzie and comments on her unexpected heat. He asks her if Noah has decided to accept the position in Albuquerque, and Mackenzie gives him an evasive answer. After he leaves, however, she feels unsettled by the possibility that Noah might leave. That evening, she and Noah watch Grey’s Anatomy together, and Noah criticizes every example of malpractice. They also discuss his mother, and Noah inadvertently mentions that his mother would like to meet her. When he tells Mackenzie that he refused his mother’s invite once already, she feels gut-punched and is suddenly unsure where they stand with one another. She brushes off her emotional reaction, but she can no longer deny that she wants their relationship to be real.
Chapter 22 Summary: “Noah”
Noah struggles with how to move forward with his unexpected romance; he is starting to believe that his mother was right and that Mackenzie might be the one for him. As Noah deliberates over how to deal with the opportunity in Albuquerque, Dennis comes in and reveals that he knows about Noah’s fake relationship with Mackenzie. Noah tries to defend himself, but Dennis tells him that he overheard her speaking with Parker before her unexpected heat. He demands that Noah take the Albuquerque job and leave Mackenzie. Dennis believes that the department head position should have been his all along, and he wants to destroy Noah’s reputation in retribution. When Noah is willing to fight him on this point, Dennis threatens Mackenzie’s career, referencing the fact that she lied to the hospital board about her relationship with Noah. Dennis gives Noah a day to think about the issue. Once alone, Noah finds his heart breaking and is reminded of why he has always kept people at a distance.
Chapter 23 Summary: “Mackenzie”
As Mackenzie is helping her grandmother hang curtains, Moira comments on her obsessive phone-checking and suspects that Noah and Mackenzie have had a fight. However, according to Mackenzie, Noah has simply been absent of late, which is making Mackenzie worry. Her grandmother reveals that she knew about their fake relationship the entire time, given that Noah was not aware of Mackenzie’s omega designation. She accuses Mackenzie of intentionally closing herself off to others because she is afraid of losing control over her life—like her father did when her mother died. Mackenzie admits to being afraid that Noah will find she’s not enough for him. She fears that he won’t fight for her, recalling that her father hadn’t fought for her when he abandoned her as a child. She admits that she really likes Noah. Just then, Noah texts her and asks to meet her at the coffee shop. There, he tells her that they should end their arrangement.
Chapter 24 Summary: “Noah”
Noah watches as his announcement crushes Mackenzie. She initially lashes out at him, then locks up her emotions under a calm veneer. Privately, he wishes that she would fight for their relationship a little, but all he can do is apologize for hurting her and remind her that their arrangement was always meant to be temporary. After delivering perfunctory congratulations on his new job, Mackenzie leaves the coffee shop and Noah behind. Noah tells the Albuquerque board that he will accept the job, and he announces his resignation at his current hospital despite the pay raise they offer to keep him. He tries to pack but is unable to enter his bedroom because it smells like Mackenzie. After a week, Paul finally manages to speak with him on the phone, and Noah tells him about Dennis’s attempt at blackmail. Paul scolds Noah for denying Mackenzie the opportunity to decide for herself if their relationship is worth her career, but Noah thinks that it is now too late to change anything. He drowns his sorrows in whiskey.
Chapter 25 Summary: “Mackenzie”
Parker convinces Mackenzie to go out for a drink, trying to find a way to shake her out of her misery. Whenever she is alone, she struggles to think about anything besides Noah. When her shift is over, she waits for Parker at the hospital entrance but encounters Liam first. When he inquires how she and Noah will make things work with his new job in Albuquerque, she still finds herself protecting Noah; she lies and claims that she and Noah will attempt a long-distance relationship. Liam gets angry and confesses his feelings for her, but she rejects this and asks to remain friends. Liam agrees despite his claim that he won’t get over her easily, then leaves. Parker arrives, and they go to a bar, where Mackenzie gets drunk. Over the course of their conversation, Parker tries to distract her by telling her about some of their coworkers’ questionable internet usage. When he tells her of Dennis’s intensive searches on alphas months ago, Mackenzie realizes that Dennis was the one to reveal Noah’s designation to the board and that he did, in fact, overhear her conversation with Parker. She correctly assumes that Dennis threatened Noah. Now, she asks Parker to go back to the hospital with her and remotely access a computer that will give her the confirmations she needs.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Noah”
Noah’s mother berates him for deciding to leave without properly informing his parents. He tells her that his relationship with Mackenzie is over, and just as she tells him how worried she is about him, someone knocks incessantly at the door. When Noah opens the door to find Mackenzie, he quickly ends the call. She accuses him of being a liar and of breaking her heart over Dennis’s threats. She reveals that Parker helped her to break into Dennis’s computer, where she found pictures of Noah’s physical reports that had left on his desk. The pictures prove that Dennis snooped in Noah’s office and broke a HIPAA violation by keeping unauthorized records of someone else’s private medical information.
Mackenzie demands that they go to the board and retaliate against Dennis. She then demands the truth from Noah, who admits that he succumbed to Dennis’s blackmail attempt because the man had threatened Mackenzie’s job. He apologizes again and explains that although he has never felt about anyone like he feels about her, he doesn’t think he’s good enough for her, even now that the truth is out. Mackenzie recognizes that he hurt her but demands that he make it up to her for years to come. They reconcile and have sex, then joke about how Mackenzie is now the one protecting Noah.
Chapter 27 Summary: “Mackenzie”
Noah and Mackenzie go to the board and admit to their fake relationship. When the board members comment on the unethical aspects of their subterfuge, Mackenzie argues that the board’s practice of asking people to reveal their designations is discriminatory. Noah asks to be reinstated in his position with the pay increase that they offered him, and he also calls for Dennis’s resignation, threatening to pursue a discrimination lawsuit. Mackenzie also officially discloses their relationship to the board. The board members discuss the matter privately and call for Dennis for a meeting. As they leave, Mackenzie and Noah encounter Dennis, who labels Mackenzie with several slurs. Noah pins him to the wall and tells him never to look at Mackenzie again. Dennis agrees, and Mackenzie and Noah leave. In the hall, they declare their love for each other. As they go to the hospital entrance to watch Dennis be escorted off the premises, Noah asks Mackenzie to meet his mother.
Epilogue Summary: “Noah”
Noah and Mackenzie drive to his parents’ house, where a gathering of both families—as well as Parker and his boyfriend—is set to occur. Mackenzie worries that the evening will go badly and that Noah’s parents won’t approve of her, but Noah believes that everything will be fine. He assures her that everyone will love her because he loves her. Mackenzie finally asks Noah to solve the hospital mystery of why he allegedly made a nurse cry. He reveals that her tears had nothing to do with him. With more assurances that the night will go well, they go to the front door, and Noah feels that fate has brought him and Mackenzie together.
Chapter 21-Epilogue Analysis
In this final section of the narrative, both characters address The Lasting Impact of Trauma upon their adult lives, overcoming the final obstacles to pursuing a meaningful life together. To this end, Ferguson describes Mackenzie addressing the scars left by her father’s abandonment, and Moira plays a key role in inciting the cathartic dialogue that allows for this breakthrough. Throughout the narrative, Ferguson suggests that Mackenzie never reconciled with her father or overcame the emotional wounds of this childhood abandonment, and it is only through the final dialogue with her grandmother that she uncovers the true source of her misgivings toward the idea of mating. When Mackenzie realizes that she must improve her own feelings of self-worth, this critical moment of realization is emphasized as she admits, “I wasn’t enough for Dad. I couldn’t make him stick around. How in the hell can I expect to be enough for anyone else?” (310). In this anguished confession that carries the echoes of a child’s pain, Mackenzie implies that her habit of people-pleasing and making herself loved by others is fueled by the desperate desire to seek external acceptance because she innately devalues herself. This psychic wound explains her reticence in the context of romance, for her habit of gatekeeping her heart is derived from a mixture of unresolved grief over the loss of her parents and a fear that her childhood trauma will be repeated. However, this emotional reckoning also instills a hitherto unforeseen resiliency in Mackenzie, which, despite her breakup with Noah, culminates in their shared triumph over Dennis and the medical board.
Ferguson also uses this section to resolve several issues associated with The Harmful Ignorance of Stereotypes. Though the medical board takes on a peripheral role in the plot, the author nevertheless uses this looming presence as a metaphor for the greater concept of institutionalized prejudice within the workplace. This dynamic becomes clear when the board alleges it has “the responsibility […] to ensure the safety of [the] staff, even if it means asking uncomfortable questions” (356). This prejudiced reaction to the common stereotypes about alphas’ innate aggression forms the basis of the novel’s primary source of conflict, as expressed by Dennis’s exploitation of both Noah and Mackenzie. The issue also highlights the marked lack of professional rigor in the board’s knowledge about shifters. However, Mackenzie and Noah’s combined efforts reveal the hypocrisy in the board’s self-proclaimed stance on ethics, and the main obstacle to their happiness is overcome in the following exchange:
‘There was never any talk of any disciplinary measures in regard to your designation […]. This façade was entirely unnecessary. And unethical.’ […]
‘If [the board is] so tolerant, why ask for one’s designation at all during the hiring process? […] How does that affect a person’s skill set?’ (356).
In this scene, Noah and Mackenzie challenge the board’s stance, and Ferguson uses this scene to deliver a pointed commentary upon the moral failings that occur when prejudices become systemic. By resisting the board’s policies and the exclusionary environment that results, Noah and Mackenzie draw attention to the fact that such prejudicial practices instill fear and unease in all those who are burdened with a stereotyped designation.
Finally, Ferguson uses her epilogue to dispel the stereotypes surrounding Noah’s Boogeyman persona, dispelling the rumor that he allegedly frightened a nurse into tears. Just as his alpha designation has been largely misrepresented, so too has his reputation been similarly affected by a widespread misinterpretation of facts. As he explains to Mackenzie, what truly occurred on that memorable day was that the nurse’s “contact ripped,” which is “a very painful experience” (370). This scene indicates that uninformed perspectives on an issue often distort reality, and it is clear that Noah has been unfairly blamed for an occurrence that had nothing to do with his behavior. Because no one was willing to verify the rumor, Noah’s behavior was mythologized by word of mouth—similar to the unfair assumptions made about alphas. However, because Noah is now smiling and laughing about the memory, the narrative suggests that such misinformed opinions no longer affect him, and he has moved on to a happier stage in his life with Mackenzie at his side.
