Page 5 of Rejected Mate

It was as if the beauty of the castle had rotted in a few minutes. Now the flowers smelled too sticky sweet, the colors seemed harsh and the light blaring.

“It smells like death in here,” one of the girls behind me said. Another was quietly crying.

It made me feel better to know that not everyone was giving in so easily. I glanced back to see a blond female being escorted in by two vamps. She was slender and beautiful, the type of girl made for these mating games. Her dress was still perfect, as were her long, gold tresses and fake lashes. The haughty expression on her face told me she wasn’t used to this type of treatment and was about to let someone know.

“Do you know who my father is?” was the last thing I heard her say before I was pulled away.

It only took a few minutes before all the females were dragged inside the castle. Soon, ten of us stood in a semicircle with our vampire handlers at our sides. We’d been led away from the main entrance and into a large gathering hall. Again there were flowers, crystal chandeliers, and ornate furniture, but now I saw them for what they really were?—props in the vampires’ game.

What I didn’t see were the parents and grandparents.

“Where’s my family?” I demanded, yanking against the vampires’ tight grip. The panic was real now. What if something happened to them? What if the vampires were harming them right now? “Where are they?! Let me go, you parasite!”

“Relax. They are safe.”

I glanced up to see two people descending the stairs—Ares, and another who looked much like him, but older. Father and son? Was it possible? Had they both been turned? Had one turned the other? The resemblance was too eerie, not to be real. I tried to remember what the magazines had said about the elder Raith, but it was clear I had not paid enough attention.

Another thing that was clear was that these two were in charge.

“Where are my mother and grandfather?” I growled, staring at Ares. “I want to see them.”

He arched an eyebrow. I didn’t want to notice that he was the most attractive man I’d ever seen. I didn’t want to marvel at the way his eyes sparkled or the perfect shape of his well-toned body beneath his expensive suit. Not to mention the raw masculinity he oozed. He could teach classes in male magnetism. No wonder all the magazines splattered him on their covers, why the room had suddenly grown silent. I could almost hear my female shifter’s counterparts panting with want.

I wanted to hate Ares Raith, but I couldn’t, which made me think he was using some kind of power over me. He had to be. Didn’t vampires have the ability to enthrall their prey? That must be why I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

“What’s your name?” he asked, evaluating me.

Our gazes held. A moment passed. Or an eternity. His eyes were so entrancing. I felt myself falling into them, swirling toward him on a trail of champagne bubbles that tingled my skin in all the right places. I wanted to giggle. I wanted to dance.

I wanted to fall into his strong arms, yank his shirt apart, and lick my way down—

I blinked and shook my head. Vampire trickery! That had to be it. Ihatedvampires. We all did.

I jutted my chin as I gave him a disgusted glare. “I’ll give you my name when you tell me where my family is, vampire filth.”

There was a hint of an amused smile on his mouth as he answered. “Fair question, Wren. That’s your name, isn’t it? Wren Ravenmoon?”

“Enough about her,” the blond female beside me said. “What’s going on here?”

Reluctantly, Ares’s eyes dragged away from mine. “Laurel Grimhowl. Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about your pack.”

She seemed to brighten at this, shivering a little under his gaze. It seemed she was also feeling his weird power. “Of course you have. Everyone here has.”

Ah, she was a Grimhowl. Pompous, arrogant, and power-hungry were the three words that came to mind when I thought of her pack.

“You both ask a fair question,” Ares said in answer. “Ladies, your families are safe and will be escorted off castle grounds. No harm will come to them or to you.”

“How can we know you’re telling the truth?” I asked, not liking any of this.

Ares nodded slowly. “I’m afraid you have no choice. But really you shouldn’t worry. You’re our guests for The Mating Games. We,” he said, gesturing to a few of the vampires who had gathered at the base of the stairs, “are your mate choices.”

What?!He couldn’t be serious.

“Are you high?” a dark-skinned shifter asked. “That isn’t possible.”

“Don’t worry, ladies,” Ares said, smiling in a disarming way. “We simply decided it was time for a little change.”

“This is lunacy!” I exclaimed.

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