AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Enola, can you please escort Kira to her room? I want to take Wyatt to the alpha den to have some time with him and the other alphas on camera. We want some male-on-male tension before the females are brought back into the mix.” Von pushed a button on his phone, and within seconds, two cameras rushed in from around the corner. The light on my wristband suddenly glowed green.
The witch nodded. “Absolutely, Mr. Thornton.”
“Kira, I’ll fetch you in a bit,” Von said. “Come, Wyatt.”
“Am I a dog now?” I asked bitterly.
Von laughed and patted me on the shoulder. “No, my boy, though you are in the canine family. Come on, drama awaits.”
Kira reached out and grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze before I followed Von down the hallway. Thankfully, the vampire was too concerned with sending emails and texts to pay me much attention as we walked. A small blessing.
On the ground floor, he finally tucked his phone away. “Good news. All the alphas are in the den. It’s going to be fantastic.”
“Yeah. Can’t wait.”
A camera floated directly behind my left shoulder. It was all I could do not to grab it and slam it against the wall.
“Here we are,” Von said, twisting the doorknob.
He opened it and gestured for me to step inside. The camera followed, but there was already one in the room. The others had been relaxing, but upon my entrance, the mood changed palpably. Abel glanced at me warily, J.D. and Mika gave me worried looks, but Gavin and Tate looked like they wanted to tear my face off. Gavin just glared at me, but Tate couldn’t hold back.
The large alpha jumped off his bed and walked toward me. “Wow, he’s still alive. I guess the showrunners didn’t want to kill your ass off yet.”
Behind me, I heard Von clapping faintly. “Oh, good. Right off the bat.”
Tate pressed his chest against mine, pushing me back. “You know, I wish I could say I’ve calmed down, but that’d be a fucking lie. How about you and I figure out who’s the top dog right now, huh?”
I raised an eyebrow. “I suggest you back the fuck up unless you want to spend the next ten minutes picking your teeth up off the ground. I’ve dealt with enough in the last hour. I don’t want you chirping in my ear.”
Tate laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Oh-ho, big man. Still thinks he’s the best. Liars usually do, don’t they? Let’s go, then.”
Tate clenched his fists and was in the process of raising his hands when Mika leaped between us. He shoved a hand into my chest, pushing me back, and did the same to Tate. “Enough. You two both need to cool off.”
“Right,” J.D. said. “Can’t we just talk or something? I’d like toactuallyhear the truth.”
“Oh, shut up,” Gavin snapped. “We already know the truth. Wyatt is some damn lovesick puppy. Kira turned his ass down back home, then came here to find arealmate, and he followed her here like the little bitch he is. It’s pretty simple. And because of him, Kira’s in danger. This whole charade has been her trying to make the best of a bad situation.”
“Please, bro,” Tate said, rolling his eyes. “You’ve got your nose shoved so far up her ass, you can’t see what’s going on. She played us. All of us, andthisprick,” Tate pointed at me, stabbing his finger in my direction, “helped her.”
“Stop,” Mika barked at Gavin. It was the most worked up I’d seen him since getting on the show. “Everyone chill, okay? Gods.”
“Is what Gavin says true?” Abel asked. “Did you follow Kira here? Is that what all this is about?”
The cameras whizzed around the room, getting different shots and angles. Von was probably drooling over how this would be one of the juiciest and most dramatic situations ever. All live-streamed, I was sure. No time for editing when you could broadcast the bickering and fighting to the masses immediately. I could almost feel the vampire vibrating with excitement behind me.
Something Von had said up on the patio came back to me before I answered Abel. He’d talked about how the fan vote would influence things. Kira and I staying was already set in stone, rigged by these assholes. But there might be other votes that could help or hurt us depending on how things went. I could still play the game, even if it meant bending the truth to my will. Even if it was only a one-percent chance of helping keep Kira safe, I had to do it.
Plus, it wasn’t a true lie. Kira had no any idea I’d be on the show until I stepped out of that limo at the premiere.
I held my hands up in surrender. “All right, fine. You guys want the truth?”
“Uh, yeah,” Abel said.
“Okay. I’ve been in love with Kira for years. She had no clue and basically hated my guts most of the time we knew each other. I had to live knowing she was fated to another. It made me miserable, but then, he rejected her. I thought it would finally be my chance to swoop in and steal her away. Except instead of coming to me like I’d hoped, she tried out for this show.”
“I fucking knew it,” Gavin muttered bitterly.
“Anyway,” I continued, “I couldn’t handle the idea of her being here without someone to protect her. No offense, but I didn’t trust any of you to keep her safe. I hadn’t even met you guys. For all I knew, you’d be idiots or douchebags. I would do anything to keep Kira from danger. I’d die if I had to. Nothing would be too far.Nothing. I didn’t come here to win her, I came here to make sure she gets back home alive. Even if that means I die.”
