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Wyatt grabbed me and ran, pulling me hard enough to make my wrist pop. “Hurry!”
As we ran, I glanced down at my bracelet. We had less than fifteen seconds to get in. I could see the courtyard through the foliage. I could even see Von standing under that ridiculous umbrella of his. The fucker actually waved at us like we were friends walking up the path for a goddamned tea party.
I watched it happen. A silvery shimmer appeared near the top of the mansion’s roof and spread out, lowering itself around the entire property. The standard spells kept out all the creepy nasties that would love to murder anyone in the house, but this was a spell intended for the contestants and any other sentient, sane creatures. Von was going to watch us get locked out.
Wyatt let go of my hand. “You’re faster than me. Go. Leave me.”
“No fucking way.”
I grabbedhishand and poured on even more speed. It was faster than he’d ever run in his life, I knew. He might lose his footing, but either way, he’d be stuck outside. Might as well push as hard as we could.
The shimmer of the boundary spell lowered further, inching closer to the ground as the last few seconds ticked away. My mouth was stuck in a rictus grin of determination as I dragged Wyatt along behind me. Five feet from the periphery, I jumped, diving like a baseball player stealing home. Wyatt dived along with me. We slid under the lowering spell an instant before it slammed down. Rolling over, I sucked in gasping breaths as I tried to recover.
The translucent spell vanished. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have never known it was there.
“My goodness!” Von shouted. “Douglas! Did you get that? Tell me you caught that shit on camera!”
“Three different cameras got it, boss,” one of the techs said.
“Magnificent,” Von chuckled. “Welcome back, you two. I’m being honest when I say we were all sure you two were done for. Even when I saw you coming down the path, I didn’t think you had time.”
I rolled over, still panting, and glared at him. “What were you doing? Waving fucking goodbye?”
Von shrugged and knelt beside us. “Well, actually, yes. Though, I am glad you made it. Things just wouldn’t be the same without you.”
Having caught my breath, I looked around and surveyed the damage. It seemed everyone had returned except Mika. J.D. and Gavin were being attended to by healers. Gavin still looked rough, but the wounds on his face and neck were already fading. J.D. had several bites on his neck and shoulders that had to have been from vampires. Near them, Abel paced back and forth, his golden suit torn and tattered almost to the point that it was falling off him. From the looks of it, Tate had gone through the worst. He was wrapped in a towel and appeared to be naked underneath.
Wyatt, on his hands and knees, stared at Tate. “Where the hell are your clothes?”
Tate scowled at him. “I found a sharp rock and cut them off. Did the whole thing naked.”
“That poor jungle,” Wyatt said with a smartass grin. “It’s gonna need therapy after seeing that.”
“Fuck off, Wyatt.” Tate turned and stalked away to stand near Chelsey. She looked unhurt, but pretty worn out and disheveled.
Von stepped in front of a camera and clapped his hands while looking at all of us. “Bravo, everyone, bravo. I do have to let our fans know that we’ve had another unfortunate elimination, finally. Poor Mika Sheen is no longer an option for Kira or Chelsey. Our staff says his camera malfunctioned during the event. Thankfully, we had a backup nearby that caught the action.” Von snapped his fingers, and a large flat-screen monitor floated from a tent off to the side of the courtyard. It hovered toward him like the cameras. “We don’t want anyone to miss the show. So, a quick replay.”
I hurried over to watch. Good or bad, I had to have some sort of closure. Part of me worried that if Zoe had taken Mika, this secondary camera might reveal them, and then the showrunners would know something was up. But even that possibility was better than the thought of Mika being dead.
On screen, Mika backed up, growling at the banshee. His wolf form had a few injuries, but he otherwise appeared healthy and mobile. He was in the clearing where we’d found Gavin, but Gavin was nowhere to be seen. His fight must have happened after this.
The banshee swept in close to Mika, opened its mouth, and let out its ear-shattering scream. As soon as it did, a flash of light obscured the camera, flickering and pulsating.
“Our team tells me,” Von said, “that some types of banshees emit a flash of light when they scream. Something about the tenor and volume interacting with electrons in the air—well, far above my pay grade. Which, I have to say, is pretty high.”
Von chuckled at his joke, but I kept my eyes glued to the screen. He was right—some banshees did emit a light, but it was always more of a quick flash that tended to be deep in the thing’s throat. You’d only see it if you looked straight down its gullet when it screamed. It wasn’t bright enough to do this. Only a TO with experience dealing with them firsthand would know that, though.
After about two seconds of the flash, the screen reappeared. The banshee was slinging chunks of wolf flesh and body parts around. Mika’sactualdeath was never seen, and what was shown on screen looked exactly like Zoe’s style of fae magic. That had to be what it was.
It was a hell of a convincing death. A wolf did die, but it must have been a feral. Zoe had seen enough of the season to know what Mika’s wolf looked like, so she and Crew must have found one that matched Mika’s. I clamped a hand over my mouth to cover my smile. Happy tears sprang to my eyes as I realized Mika had made it out. To anyone looking, I probably looked devastated.
Von gave me a simpering, paternal frown. “I know, Kira, I know. Quite tragic. Another life cut down in his prime, but…” his smile returned. “We know this is all for love, and who wouldn’t risk their lives for one of these two ladies?”
Even though I was almost positive Mika was still alive, I wanted to kick Von in his shriveled-up vampire balls.Hethought Mika had died, yet he still used him as something to get ratings. I called on all of my training and acting skills to keep the angry scowl off my face. Instead, I buried my face in my hands and pretended to sob. Wyatt grabbed me and wrapped me in a hug, acting along with me.
“It’s okay,” he murmured to me. “He’s in a better place now.”
All around me, the others looked stricken and upset to varying degrees. J.D.’s face was the one that sent the worst shame through me. He looked ready to cry himself. He kept staring at the screen in shocked horror as Mika’s fake death replayed over and over again. I wanted to tell him the truth without the others knowing, but J.D. had a hard time lying and keeping secrets, so it would have to wait. Maybe until right before we tried to get him off the show, too.
