Page 36 of The Chosen Fae

"Which you didn't accept."

"Yeah, I know. Did I mention I'm a beta? Despite wanting to be on your side, I'm part of a pack, and I don't want to be an outcast."

"Like Lolita?"

"Uh, yeah. But you and Stone started winning and helping others. I mean, you're clever and resourceful. When we were all fighting each other to get across the rope bridges, you cut our ropes and sent us into the river. I was shocked. But then I realized something. You got us to stop fighting. And we lost the chance to get the idol."

“Hmm,” Rune said.

“Of course, my packmates think I'm going to reveal stuff to them about you, but I'm not."

Which was just what Rune had thought.

"I'm willing to help you win the challenges in any way that I can. Oh, and Caspian, Elon, and Silas feel the same way."

Well, that was good news if Rune could trust them. She needed to tell Stone privately when she could.

“Vesper is furious though. He said you’ve already forced two of our people to go home, reducing our chances of one of the packs winning. He believes he is the only one alpha enough and smart enough to win. But you and Stone keep thwarting him.”

Rune knew Vesper hated Stone because he was a true alpha and real competition. But she hadn’t expected Vesper to feel that way about her too. Though she knew he was really angry with her for selecting him last to be on her tug-of-war team.

11

Stone was surprised when he saw Fang had vacated the room, his bags gone, his bed sheets replaced with fresh ones. He wondered if he was sent home for some reason that hadn’t been relayed to the competitors.

Then there was a knock on the door, and Storm hurried to open it.

Silas shook his hand, as if they were best friends. “The room coordinator ordered Fang to move to stay with Vesper, and I was told to come here.”

Stone figured Silas was going to be a spy for his pack, just as he figured Fang was, though Stone never talked to Fang when they settled down for the night.

"I’m really glad the room coordinator made the changes. A few of us want to help you and Rune win the last few challenges."

Stone raised a brow, not believing their change of heart unless he witnessed it himself.

Silas unpacked his bags. "Okay, look, at first, we were rooting for our own pack members."

"Which is understandable." Even though Rune and Stone were lone wolves, he still protected her, and she looked out for him, so he understood that.

"Right. So we want to help you both win. We realized after you began winning so many of the contests, and you were helping us get across No Man's Land, unlike Vesper, who saved himself and didn't care about anyone else, we needed someone who really cared about the packs."

Well, Stone wouldn't exactly say he cared about the packs, but then again, he wouldn't have let anyone die in No Man's Land, so he guessed he cared enough about them to do that. It wasn't just a case of believing they might be more successful in the challenge if they did that.

“Oh, and the room coordinator said that your sponsor, Ena, was the one who wanted me changed out with Fang.”

“Why?”

“There are gamer spies everywhere. I suspect one of them overheard Iris and me talking about helping you and Rune out in the challenges.”

"So who else feels that way? That they don't want Vesper to win?" Stone asked, if this wasn’t a ploy to mess them up.

"Most of us. Not Xena. She's just as awful. But Elon, Caspian, and Iris want to help. Iris was just assigned to be Rune's roommate. She's telling her what I'm telling you."

"Okay." Stone listened, but that didn't mean he fully believed it. Though he could understand that they wouldn't want Vesper or Xena in charge. Both were narcissists and only cared about themselves.

"So there might be more who are willing to join us then."

Then there was a knock on the door, and Silas got it. “Hey, Elon.”