Page 81 of Rejected Mate

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“Weleaveintenminutes,” the vampire guard said, staring at me from the doorway.

I gave him a wave, the only thing I could muster to let him know I’d heard. When he shut the door, I slumped down on the bed and put my head in my hands.

How could I be going home? After all I’d done, all I’d been through to stay here, it just didn’t make sense.

Had I broken William’s rules?

Technically, yes, but so had others. And where had it said that if the rules were broken, you were excluded like some sort of Willy Wonka morality clause?

I gripped my head, wanting to tear my hair out and cry myself to sleep all at the same time. If I left now, I would leave with nothing. I had no mate—shifter or otherwise—to secure my standings and help my pack, and I had let my grandfather down. Being kicked out made me look weaker than the girls who were sent home. I would leave in disgrace and likely be portrayed by the media as some sort of rotten apple.

The worst part was, I knew who was responsible for this, the two people who stood to gain the most from my departure, Laurel and Callan.

Laurel… that bitch. She’d said she would pay me back. And she had.

And Callan? He’d been gunning for Ares this entire time and saw a chance to hurt him by tearing us apart. I’d thought William would protect his so-called son, but I had been wrong. It was clear that William didn’t care what Ares wanted. Their relationship was not on good terms. He’d made some sort of deal with those two snakes. Anything to solidify power.

William was more dangerous than Callan and Laurel combined. I’d underestimated him.

Ares had tried to reason with him. We’d stood there in the library, pleading our case, but William wouldn’t hear it. Ares had tried diplomacy, and when that failed, violence, telling them they’d have to get through him to get to me. William had come prepared with seven vampire guards. Even then, it took every single one of those vampires to get Ares out of the library. He raged and fought like nothing I’d ever seen. Some of those guards would not be feeling so well right now.

Oh moons, Ares. What would happen to him?

Laurel was the next best match, and I had no doubt she’d try to claim him. Would William force their match? Would Ares consent? It felt as though my heart were being split apart by two teams of horses every time I thought about Laurel wrapping her claws around Ares, dragging him to her, and…

I reached up, grabbed the vase on my nightstand, and chucked it across the room. The sound of porcelain shattering made me feel better for a millisecond, then the depression descended once again.

What would I say to my mother? I’d told her Grandfather’s words about finding the best match, but I didn’t find one. I’d failed in every possible way.

Worse than disappointing my family was the fact that I’d let my pack and all the packs in this region down. My grandfather always ruled with mercy and reason. The Grimhowls were power-hungry monsters. If Laurel managed to pair with Ares, she would gain power and money, two things that would help her subject everyone to her pack’s whims and demands.

There would be fighting, maybe war. Death.

Tears burned at the backs of my eyes. I smashed my fists into my eye sockets as if that could hold in all the anguish. As if anything I did could fix this situation. Everything had been futile. Every action I’d taken from the moment I set foot in this cursed castle had been for naught.

The worst part was… I hadn’t cheated. I’d won those games fair and square. It was Laurel who cheated, making Violet pin me. She’d likely cheated in other ways too. I just didn’t know it. If only I could force her to tell the truth.

I blinked and sat up, thoughts reeling.

She would never do it willingly, but if she were compelled…

My hand went to the necklace I’d dug out of its hiding spot and now wore beneath my shirt. It rested on my breast bone, but I could feel its power like a quiet thrum against my chest. The necklace should give me the power to compel any shifter who belonged to the packs in our region. I’d never used that power before, but I knew it had that ability. My grandfather used it all the time. If I could compel Laurel to tell William that she cheated… If I could get her to do it in front of the cameras so there was no way for anyone to dispute it…

That just might work.

But how?

The door opened. The guard was back.

“Time to go.”

“I need a few more minutes,” I said, getting up and wishing like hell I could shift right about now.

“No more time,” the guard said, nodding over his shoulder at his partner. The two bulky guards marched in. One of them had a scar on his face. Scarface. He was the bastard from the very first day that I’d promised to see again. “We leave now.”

I gritted my teeth behind closed lips, then put on a compliant smile.

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