Page 37 of Rejected Mate

He walked to a shelf, pulled out a leather-backed tome, and cracked the spine. “If you’re looking for light reading, I fear you’ll come up empty-handed.” After flipping through a few pages, he slipped the book back on the shelf and regarded me.

“Yes, thank you for walking me here.”

Except he didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving.

“Um, why are you here, Callan?” I took a few steps, putting the table between us.

“To finish what we started.”

“Don’t act like you’re dense. You know what I mean. You clearly hate Ares, and I assume William as well. Why would you agree to play this game?”

He flicked his eyes to a dusty bookshelf. “You assume I had a choice.”

“Did William force you? He’s very powerful, isn’t he?”

Callan shrugged in answer, which was admission enough.

“How old is he?”

“Fucking old,” Callan shot back.

I raised my eyebrows to indicate that was not an answer.

Callan waved a hand in the air. “Oh, I don’t know. Six hundred, seven hundred years old.”

Holy shit!He was so much older than my grandfather. No wonder he was powerful and filthy rich. He’d had plenty of time to fill both wells.

“Do you belong to his coven?”

Callan squinted at me, his expression suggesting I was stupid. “No, but almost everyone else here belongs to William. None more than Ares.”

“Is that because William sired Ares?”

Callan huffed. “I didn’t come here to talk about them.”

Uh-oh, distraction wasn’t going to work anymore. “Well,” I gesture toward the books, “I’m sure I can find what I’m looking for on my own.”

“I’ve already found what I’m looking for,” he growled, stepping closer. “And now that we’re alone, you don’t have to pretend you didn’t like our kiss.”

I inhaled, trying to figure out what the best course of action was: pretend I liked Callan so he would continue to help me or punch him in the balls? I knew which option sounded best right now, but was it wise to mangle his equipment? How would he respond?

He had shut the door, sealing us in together. A few steps and I could be out in the hall, but then my purpose of coming here would be ruined. But Callan was stalking toward me in a determined way that let me know reading a book was the last thing on his mind.

His large body caged me until he had me backed against a bookshelf. “Now, where were we?”

Callan leaned toward me, his mouth angling for mine.

I couldn’t help myself.

My knee came up, hitting him right where I’d intended.

It turned out that vampires didn’t like getting kneed in the balls any more than shifters or humans.

Callan groaned and bent over, clutching his tender bits. “Oh, you bitch.”

“I told you not to touch me without my permission,” I said, realizing I’d likely lost any help I might have gotten from Callan, but, to be fair, I had warned him.

He straightened up, still groaning. Angrily, he turned to me. His eyes flashed with a rage I had not seen in him before. A million thoughts seemed to flash behind his blue eyes as he seemed to search for something to say.

At last, he spat, “No wonder your parents are paying to whore you out. No one in their right mind would want you for a mate without a bribe.”

What had he said? My parents were paying bribes to get me matched? I stared, my jaw dropped as Callan turned and stormed out of the room.

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