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“He’s right,” J.D. said, leaning forward with a new fire in his eyes. “You love who you love.”
“I agree with them,” Mika said. “If I ever found someone I truly loved, I’d never let them go. Doesn’t matter if they were a shifter, human, or even a damn mermaid. As long as she let me love her completely and we could be faithful to each other, it would be all I needed. Who gives a shit about tradition?”
Chelsey and I gaped at him. Mika wasn’t one for a lot of words, so it was a bit funny, seeing him act all romantic now. I’d never have believed it from the broody, tortured alpha.
“Enough softball questions,” Von added with a grin. “Let’s get dirty. If you could eliminate one contestant right now, who would it be?” His eyes glimmered with malice.
The question made me uncomfortable, not only because he wanted me to answer it, but because it might stir up a lot of drama. Of course, that was exactly what Von wanted.
Abel, Chelsey, and I passed on the question. When J.D. also passed, Von rolled his eyes and groaned. “Oh, come on. We all know your lives would be a little easier if a certain person was gone. Tate, surely you have an answer?”
Tate chewed at the inside of his cheek and glared at Wyatt, then grinned. “You know, Von, now that you mention it, I wouldn’t mind seeing Wyatt kick the bucket.”
“Same here,” Gavin chimed in, staring daggers at Wyatt.
Wyatt also passed on the question, though he gave Gavin and Tate a wink after doing so. Mika, obviously a little more confident, went last and glanced over his shoulder at Tate. “I’m tired of this guy’s mouth, so I’d pick him.”
Tate blinked at him in surprise. “Damn, what did I ever do to you?”
“Again,” Mika said, “that mouth just won’t stop, will it?”
“All right,” Von said, interjecting before Tate could retort. “One more question, and I think it’s a fitting one. This isThe Reject Project, after all. As all of you here have been rejected in the past, would any ofyoureject a mate now?”
A lead ball settled into my gut while shame and remorse flooded my mind. From the very beginning, my plan was to reject whoever I ended up with if I won. My reasoning was based on the greater good of everyone, not only my pack. The favor from Heline could quite possibly prevent an entire war with hundreds of lives saved, and daily life wouldn’t be turned upside down by pissed-off wolf shifters. The good should have outweighed the bad, but all I could see now was the mental devastation I would put one of these guys through. I didn’t even know if Icouldreject anyone after everything I’d been through. Even if they didn’t die and I somehow managed to get them to Haven, I had to consider the mental and emotional toll my rejection would exact. I’d never liked Jayson, but the rejection had still been painful. How could I possibly do that to someone else, especially if that someone was Wyatt?
Almost as though he heard me thinking about him, Wyatt caught my eye. Through his facial expression alone, I saw he understood how this question made me feel. He sat stoically, but his eyes spoke volumes.
Von went around the room, asking the others, but Wyatt and I maintained eye contact, communicating everything while saying nothing. Finally, he lifted a hand. Crossing his middle and index fingers, he slid his palm down his chest. Another TO hand signal—everything is fine.I nodded and tried to push my inner turmoil to the back of my mind.
“Kira?” I flinched at the sound of Von’s voice. “How do you feel about that? Would you reject someone?”
For a few seconds, I thought I might come up with a diplomatic answer, but the truth came spilling out. “It’s a disgusting thing to do. I’d feel like a terrible person for putting another shifter through what I’ve gone through. Unless there’s physical or emotional abuse at play, I think you should honor the person you are fated to.”
It was the truth, but it still didn’t erase the reason I’d come on the show. In fact, admitting how I really felt in front of an audience made me feel like an even bigger piece of shit for what I had planned.
After Wyatt and Abel gave similar answers to mine, Von put the note card down and grinned at the camera. “There’s a lot to unpack here after all these deep questions. I’m sure everyone at home will be discussing this on the message boards. Make sure you all tune in later this afternoon for our next jungle challenge. I can assure you it’s going to be extra fun. You will not going to want to miss it. Be back here, and never forget, everyone loves an underdog.”
The camera stopped recording, our bracelet lights flashed to yellow, and Von sighed as though he’d just finished some grueling race.
“There, now,” he said to us. “That wasn’t so bad was it?”
“Better than last time,” Chelsey muttered. “At least I didn’t almost die.”
The last time we’d answered questions, she’d ended up drinking wolfsbane, so I supposed she was right on that account.
Von pointed at Chelsey and let out a belly laugh, slapping his knee as if she’d said the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “It looks like Kira’s sass is rubbing off on you, Miss Rein.” He made a show of wiping away tears of laughter before looking at Chelsey and me again. “I know I keep saying this, but remember, this is all a game. None of this is personal to me.”
I wondered if that was true. The vampire may have been following orders, but to me, he seemed to take an unusual amount of pleasure in our discomfort.
Hopefully, we could makehimuncomfortable soon.
Chapter16
Wyatt
Von’s last words struck a chord with me. We were all a bit more relaxed after the Q&A, including him. Maybe now was when I could dig.
“Hey, Von?” I called.
