Page 33 of Rejected Mate

But why did I care if Ares liked me? I reminded myself I didn’t. I was here to get one thing: the chance to see my grandfather again.

“Ares, I have a favor to ask of you,” I said, completely avoiding his question.

He shook his head and then took a big gulp of his wine. His eyes were red, and it was clear now he was drunker than I’d first imagined.

“Answer the question.” He reached out to the table for the decanter of wine.

“I need to see my grandfather. He’s—”

“Answer the question!” Fangs appeared, long and sharp in his mouth, and his eyes burned with a rage I’d never seen from anyone, let alone him. The wine glass cracked in his fist, and the remnants of wine slid down his arm and dripped onto the bedspread.

He was drunk and brutish, yet somehow more vulnerable than I’d ever seen him.

But I hated him at that moment.

“I liked kissing you better,” I whispered. It was the truth. Despite how I loathed him, my traitorous body felt much differently about Ares Raith. Much,muchdifferently.

A situation I needed to remedy.

He threw his head back on the bed as his eyes rolled up to the canopy. “It doesn’t matter. None of this matters.”

Fear and rage roiled in me. How dare he scare me like this? Yet the anguish in his voice was raw and real. He was hurting. But why?

“What are you talking about?”

“This stupid game. The matches. We think we can save something? What’s worth saving?”

“What do you mean?”

He staggered up and strode to the tapestry. “See here? See this? This is supposed to mean something, but it’s all nonsense.” Ares reached up and yanked the fabric to the ground. Then he put his fists to the wall and set his forehead between them.

I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but I did know a few things. First, I was witnessing something important, something I did not understand. And second, if I was going to unlock the mysteries of this game and the vampires who ran it, I needed to pay attention. And, third…

I could use my limbs again.

Run or stay?

My eyes flicked to Ares. He seemed to be fading. His words were mumbled rants. No secrets would be revealed tonight, and, with the mood he was in, I doubted he would consider my request of seeing my grandfather. I needed to ask when he was sober.

Slowly, carefully, I eased out of the chair and took a step toward the door.

He moved like the wind.

Ares was across the room and pinning me to the wall before I could even utter a gasp. His hands gripped both my wrists and pushed them above my head. His body caged me there as he loomed over me, his chest heaving. His eyes were wild.

“Get this through your head,” he said with wine-laced breath, his mouth so close to mine it made me tremble. “You aremine. If anyone else touches you,especially Callan, I can’t be blamed for what happens next. Understand?” His nose brushed my neck as his breath pulsed against my throat.

His command lanced through me, making me tremble, but what was stranger was the urges his attack was stirring up inside me. I wanted to fight him and kiss him, make him beg, and scream my name.

But I wasn’t his to command? What gave him that idea?

“You don’t get to tell me what to do,” I breathed, turning to face him until our lips were centimeters apart. “Not now. Not ever.”

His hands clenched my wrists, keeping me steady while his nose trailed along my neck, sending more shivers down my spine. Would he bite me? Would I let him?

Damn him. Why did he affect me like this?

“I can smell him on you.” He inhaled my scent and growled again. “Here,” he said, at my neck. “And here.”

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