Page 79 of Rejected Mate

The last trial? My ears perked up again. “What do you know about the test?”

He shrugged and sipped his red wine. “Only that it will decide the matches. After that, The Mating Games are complete.”

Henri had said, “the matches.” Not the “final matches” or the “remaining matches.” Did that mean the females who had gone home weren’t getting paired with anyone?

One more trial. One more day. I was running out of time to find answers to the Dark Match question, but Henri had reminded me I already had a clue. I just needed to find the answers and find them quickly.

Dinner dragged on impossibly long. I made more small talk with Henri, but he could tell we weren’t mating material and spent his time broodingly staring at Laurel. That gave me an idea.

When everyone was getting up to leave, I grabbed Henri’s sleeve. “I can see you like her. You should ask to see her later,” I whispered.

He turned to me with intrigue on his face. “Who? Laurel?”

I nodded. “Ask quietly if you can come by her room later. I think she likes dangerous men who break the rules.”

His eyebrows went up, and he gave me a nod. I watched as he walked up to her and pulled her aside.

Quickly, I darted up to Ares and leaned in close.

“The library. Come get me in an hour. We need answers before the trial tomorrow.”

He gave an almost imperceptible nod, then smiled and complemented Loba on her diamond earrings.

He was so good at being nonchalant that it made me nervous. Maybe the sex and all the words in the limo had all been to keep me docile. Maybe this was someone still part of William’s plan.

No. I couldn’t second-guess myself. If I was going to win this game, I needed all the confidence I could get.

Still, I sat in my room, waiting for Ares, on pins and needles. Time flowed like molasses in spring, each second lasting an eternity. I’d nearly given up hope when I heard the faintest knock on the door.

Silently, I tiptoed to the door and pulled it open. Ares gave me a small smile.

“Library escort,” he whispered.

“Is the coast clear?” I glanced up and down the quiet hallway.

“It is right now. Guards are switching. We need to move fast.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I slipped into the hall and shut the door. Then we walked without a sound until we found the library. Ares reached for the door and held it open, closing it only after he’d scanned the hallway on either side.

“We don’t have long, but I’ve been doing some digging. Look at this.”

He clicked on a lamp and then angled the book on the table towards me.

One of the oldest books I’d ever seen was splayed open, its yellowing pages dull in the lamplight. I skimmed the letters, some of them unfamiliar, until I realized the script was an ancient font with lots of flourishes.

“It’s about the Dark Match,” he whispered. “It took me seven trips here to find it, but I think it’s what we are looking for.”

“You came here seven times?” I asked, getting distracted by his closeness and his haunting cologne. I wanted to reach out and touch him, but I held back.

“Every chance I got.”

Seven times. He came here seven times for me because he thought this knowledge could give him an advantage against William and help us be together. I swallowed, not allowing myself to feel the giddy lightness threatening to steal my attention from a clearly important task.

“What does it say?” I asked, trying to decipher the strange scrawl.

“It says the Dark Match is an ancient witch prophecy tracing back to at least 200 B.C. that talks about vampires and shifters together. A pair will form the Dark Match and become so powerful they can be the salvation of both species. That or…”

“Or?”

---