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Various looks of disdain and disgust flickered across everyone’s faces. Most of these people were from high-level packs and had deeply ingrained prejudices against lone wolves and unofficial packs.
Garth’s face was a mask of derision. “Your uncle never said anything about his nephew being a lone wolf.”
“I’m not a lone wolf,” Wyatt argued. “I have an unofficial pack. When I left Second Pack, my parents and family were ashamed and covered it up. I sort of, I don’t know, disappeared from sight.”
A dark-skinned man sitting beside Garth leaned back in his chair and folded his hands in his lap. “So, not only did you have Rob pull strings to get you on the show, you also lied about being in a pack?The Reject Projecthas never had a contestant from an unofficial pack before. This is worse than I thought.”
Wyatt clenched his jaw, his body tense. I’d seen that expression before—he was about to argue. “Wait a minute,” he said. “I don’t see how—”
“Hold your tongue,” Von said, wagging a finger at him. “Let the board call on you if they want to hear anything from you.”
“Yes, sir,” Wyatt hissed through his clenched jaw.
Ignoring us, the group began to argue about what to do.
“We shut it down. Right now. Today,” the dark-skinned man said.
Another man with a bushy beard rolled his eyes. “Do you have any clue how much money we’ve sunk into this thing already? My gods, we’ve already sold the marketing rights to the finale. Do you have any clue how much money that was? How much we’ll have to pay back to the sponsors?”
“Clark is right,” a man on the opposite side of the table said. “We can’t write off tens of millions of dollars. It’ll hamstring the company for years, if not longer. Hell, if we cancel, the sponsors may be hesitant to come back. Then where would that leave us? It could cause us to fold completely.”
The dark-skinned man pointed toward us. “What does it matter if the show goes on if those two have already ruined that game? And thatthing,” he said, sneering at Wyatt, “has ruined the prestige. If some mutt from outside the pack hierarchy can have a chance to win, then why even bother?”
Wyatt growled so low and soft that only I could hear it. I wanted to rip that fucker’s head off. What a total bigot. Had that been the way I’d looked at everyone who didn’t belong to a pack? I tried to recall how I’d responded to lone wolves and others like Wyatt. Had I really been such a bitch? It sickened me to think about it now.
Garth waved a hand around flippantly. “I think we do shut it down. Send these two out into the jungle to fend for themselves and try for a quick turnaround on the new season. I’m not worried about the sponsors. Give me a day, and they’ll be begging to sign up for the new season. Maybe we can even play this as a new angle—we could take the remaining cast and add some more alphas. We can spin this however we want once the lovebirds are rotting corpses in the jungle.”
The way he heartlessly condemned us to death shocked even me. Mika’s childhood and upbringing must have been awful. It disgusted me. Garth was screwing with his son’s life, which meant far less to him than the profits and money brought in by the show. The remaining men and Chelsey had already gone through so much, and now he wanted them to start all over? To undertake even more dangerous challenges? That sounded like literal hell. He must really want his son dead if he was suggesting that.
“No, Garth,” the psychic said. “The reviews will tank us. If we try to reset with the current cast and throw a bunch of shit at the wall to see what sticks, we’ll get blowback. If it sounds lazy to me, just imagine what the fans will think.”
“Well, what the hell do you suggest?” Garth spat.
“Isuggestwe use an angle that will pull the viewers in. My best idea? We test these two,” the psychic said as he pointed at us. “We have Von really buckle down on them. Show the audience whether they truly are committed to each other. We could show them as star-crossed lovers. People eat that shit up. The lone wolf there had been pining away for her for years, then she gets rejected but still won’t be with him, so he weasels his way onto the show. Boom. Ratings bonanza.”
The dark-skinned man looked incredulous at the suggestion. “Well, she’ll obviously pick Wyatt at the end. Where’s the drama?”
“Easy,” the psychic said. “We keep Chelsey on. The remaining guys will pursue her. That’s the ‘traditional’ portion of the show,” he said, making air quotes. “Then we have these two fighting for their lives and their future together. It’ll be like having two shows in one.”
Everyone around the table took his words into consideration. Several of them looked like they thought the idea had merit. There was no way I could let this continue. They were literally playing games with our lives, so we should have some say in how things went. I couldn’t just stand here while they dictated what would happen to us. I opened my mouth to speak.
“Hush, child,” a voice whispered. It took me a second to realize it came from inside my head.
“Who is this?” I asked in my head.
The woman in white at the table tilted her head, the corner of her lips lifting into a knowing smile. “You know.”
How the hell had she barged into my head like that? I’d put up all the mental walls I could to keep the creepy psychic out of my mind, but this woman had slid in like the doors were wide open.
“We both know the real reason you came on this show,” the woman said. “And it was not to get a mate, but a wish. A favor?”
An icy-cold finger pressed deep into my belly. Who was this woman? A tickle at the back of my mind gave me a warning. I had to step carefully. As powerful as the men were at the table, this woman might be the true power behind the scenes.
“Tell me, Kira. Are you as sure of yourself and your plan now that Wyatt’s life is on the line? Now that his survival is solely in your hands?”
Chapter8
Wyatt
