Page 4 of Rejected Mate

CHAPTER TWO

Whatthehelljusthappened?

I stared open-mouthed at the balcony where the vampire had just been. My head spinning, I cast my gaze around at the other stunned females. They were all as shocked as I was, as were their parents and guardians. No one had been expecting to come here and be ambushed by vampires. No one was prepared to mount a fight against dozens of fit and dangerous bloodsuckers. Why had they done this? We’d had a tentative peace in the last few decades. Had it just come to an end?

And Ares Raith? What could he possibly gain from disturbing The Mating Games? I had no idea. Whatever the reason, we needed to do something.

Fighting in our human form wouldn’t work, but we were shifters. In our wolf form, we would be able to go toe-to-toe with these vamps. No problem. If I shifted now, I might be able to take out a few of the guards and get my mother and grandfather to safety.

I would teach them a lesson. I called my wolf forward.

Nothing happened.

I tried again.

Still nothing.

What the…?

Something was preventing me from accessing my shifting powers. It was as if someone had flipped off the switch. That ability seemed blocked, though, by magic or some other force, I didn’t know.

Shit.This was bad.

“We have to get out of here,” I said to my mother as the vamp guards turned and began to approach. It seemed they acted on Ares Raith’s whim.

The Golden God.It was what the magazines called him, but I only needed to think of him as a life-sucking leech, the one who had told the other vamps to take us inside. Why? Nothing good, for sure. And why didn’t the coward come down here and do it himself?

I’d like to see him try.

Instead of The Golden God himself,a disgusting incubus with dark eyes and pale skin came at me. He hissed as he approached, needle-like fangs bared. He was at least a foot taller than me, with a hundred pounds on my human form. Still, I squared up with him all the same.

“Come on, you sorry excuse for Dracula. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

“Wren, no,” my mother begged, clawing at my arm. “We can’t shift.”

She’d figured it out, too. We were vulnerable. However, I wasn’t going to just give in.

My hands formed into fists as the brainless Edward Cullen wannabe came within biting range.

“Everyone, stand down,” my grandfather’s voice boomed in my head. More than words, it was a command, something we could not disobey.

I had no choice but to drop my arms. An Alpha’s word was law. I knew he must be gripping the Alpha necklace in his fist as he gave the Alpha Command, one that no one could refuse once uttered. I stared at him, useless, impotent… and afraid. My worry mounted as I watched my grandfather. He was frail, ancient. A fight would put him in grave danger, so maybe he was doing the right thing. Maybe he meant to reason with the vampires. Maybe he knew something I didn’t.

But why had he given this command? Why not fight?

Survival.My brain came up with the answer as soon as I asked the question. The vamps had orchestrated this takeover to perfection. We were at their mercy.

The vamp in front of me smirked, moonlight glinting off his fangs. A scar ran down his cheek, likely a mark he’d had before he’d been turned into the dead thing that stood in front of me. “Come on, little doggy. Be a good girl.”

I sneered. “That ugly face. I’ll remember it for later.”

He laughed humorlessly. “Feel free. I’m sure we’ll meet again.”

I wanted to dig my claws into his cheeks, but, before I had time, two other vamps appeared and latched onto my arms. As I struggled, they dragged me up the steps into the castle.

My heart was pounding as I took everything in. Wide-open doors. The sickeningly sweet scent of hundreds of red roses in porcelain vases. Bright glittering lights burning above. A grand spiral staircase. The sound of many footsteps.

More vamps.

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