Page 106 of His Rejected Mate

“The old ways led us to this. Old prejudices pushed us to hate one another. But now we know the truth. It wasn’t the upper packs versus the lower packs. It was a spoiled god wanting to have fun.

“That’s the whole problem.Upper?Lower? Who gives a damn? We weren’t meant to be shoved into these massive packs with no connection to our alphas. We should do things as we did in the distant past. Small packs, normal hierarchies—family, friends, fated mates. It was never supposed to be so cold and calculated as sending in a vial of blood.” Kira’s face creased with distaste. “We were supposed to find our mates naturally. Everyone deserves to be in a pack full of people who care about them.” She glanced at me. “They deserve to be with someone they truly love. I hope we can do that. All of us.”

Kira nodded to Eli, who unplugged the camera again.

Crew stood over the cowering showrunners, hands on hips. “Sit down.”

“We are sitting,” said one.

Crew sighed. “At the table. Don’t be dense.”

The group scrambled up. August escorted the celebrities, who had likely been brought here at Von’s behest for added star power, to the elevator.

Once the board members and our small group were seated, I once again witnessed Crew’s ability to lead and command a room.

“Okay, everyone,” he said. “Time to figure things out.”

Chelsey glanced at him. “The alphas?”

Crew grinned at her. “Exactly. You people,” he said, addressing the showrunners, “are going to call all the upper-pack alphas. You may not be successful, since after everything we just saw and heard means they’re probably running for the hills. Fucking cowards. If they won’t answer, call their betas, or the pack elders. We needsomeonein charge of these packs here to answer for these crimes.”

As Crew and Chelsey worked together like only fated mates could, my mind drifted. We still had a dangling thread. Von.He’d run off the moment I let him go, and that irked me to no end.

Sensing my annoyance, Kira leaned over, putting her lips to my ear. “I think these two have it handled. Wanna go hunt a vampire?”

Grinning, I took her hand, and the two of us hurried out of the room, leaving Chelsey, Crew, and Eli to do the work the council should have done years ago. We hurried down the hall to the elevator.

“He must have gone downstairs, right?” Kira asked.

“Yeah. He’d never stay in this building. He may have hidden at first, but he would have gone for the lower levels as soon as the coast was clear.”

The elevator trip was spent in silence, each of us basking in the other’s happiness and relief. Kira’s emotions bounced through my mind, and I was ecstatic that we hadn’t lost this deep, binding connection.

At the ground floor, the doors slid open and we were met with two voices, one mewling and begging, the other pissed.

“Told your ass not to run, didn’t I? And my name is fuckingAugust,not Autumn!”

What the hell was going on?

“Please, you must let me go, you must. I have fans. Oh, gods, it hurts. What do you want? Money? I can get you girls. Boys, if that’s your speed? Whatever you want!”

Von?

I turned to look at Kira, and her eyes were as shocked as mine. We sprinted from the elevator and around the corner. Von was pinned to the wall with the broken leg of a chair. The makeshift stake pierced him in the shoulder rather than the heart. August stood before him, using a hand to hold the vampire’s head up. Seeing us coming down the hall, he let Von go, letting the host dangle six inches off the ground.

“Found this piece of shit hiding down here when I escorted the celebs out,” August said. “The little bitch made a run for it when he saw me. Told him to stop, but I guess his ears are as full of shit as his mouth.”

“You didn’t kill him?” I asked. August wasn’t exactly known for his self-control.

August shrugged. “I figured we could use him. He knows a ton of dirt. He may even know more about Simon’s lab and how it was funded. That deserves to be investigated, too. Plus…” He trailed off, looking embarrassed.

“Yes?”

“Well, maybe Imissed. It all happened so fast,” August said with an embarrassed shrug.

I laughed and patted him on the shoulder. “Probably for the best that you did. You’re right. We can use him.”

“Let me go, for fuck’s sake!” Von howled, thrashing against the stake, then wincing in pain.

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