Page 69 of Escaping Rejection

Before I could talk myself out of it, I left my room and made my way to her suite. After I knocked, Chelsey answered by peering out, eyes suspicious until she saw who was there.

“Oh, Kira. Come on in.”

She stepped out of the way, and I stepped inside. She closed and locked the door quickly behind her. She looked stressed and haggard.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

She ran a hand through her hair and glanced at the door again. “Stay away from Tate.”

“I wasn’t planning on asking him out on a date. No worries there.”

“Ugh, no, I meanreallystay away from him. He left a few minutes ago. He spent, like, an hour trying to convince me that he and I should team up to knock you off the show. He said it was a great idea because of the extra bonus Von gave me. He could be my mate, and we could claim the favor from Heline.”

Wow. Tate had gone that far? He’d thought he could talk Chelsey into helping him either murder me directly or put me in a position where some other creature took me out. The guy really hadn’t gotten to know Chelsey well.

“That’s not good,” I said.

“Right? He said that since you’ve been lying for the duration of the show, it was obvious the showrunners were targeting you and you’d be dead soon, anyway. His theory was that we should take you out first to get the biggest prize possible. That I might as well benefit if you were going to end up dead regardless.” She shook her head and shivered. “It was creepy. He was almost too convincing with how romantic he was being, acting all concerned for me.”

Tate had flown under the radar until the alphas had been whittled down. He’d since shown that he was more calculated and conniving than the others. He’d been able to hide it when other assholes like Omar and Nathaniel had been around, but now that most of the remaining guys were all decent—I still wasn’t sure if Gavin fell under that umbrella—his true colors were showing. It also sounded like he was getting desperate to win. Didn’t surprise me.

“Thanks for the heads-up,” I said.

“I thought you should know to watch your back.”

“Well, don’t worry about me. Better men than Tate have tried to take me down, and they’ve all failed.”

Chelsey grinned. “I wish I was a badass like you sometimes.”

“You’ve survived the show this long,” I said. “That makes you stronger than almost the entire population. Now, let’s talk about stuff that doesn’t have to do with this stupid show.”

Chapter18

Wyatt

There had been an obvious change with the other alphas. The tension in the alpha den was thick as oil, almost suffocating. Abel sat on his bunk, fingers interlocked, staring at the ground, not at all like his usual self. J.D. lay on his bed, staring morosely at the ceiling. The only bonus was that Tate and Gavin were nowhere to be seen, so I didn’t have to suffer their snide comments.

With only five of us left, things were looking grim. Every day might bring a challenge that would leave us dead. Of the five of us, only two were getting off the island alive—one, if the show killed me and Kira off—and that knowledge was starting to weigh on the others.

The stress of everything was having an effect on them, and part of me wondered if it would be better if I went ahead and told them the truth. If they knew Kira and I were faking eliminations to safely get them off the show, it might bring us all together as one team. If there was more hope that they could survive, it would be better for everyone’s mental health and give them something to strive for other than the show. They could help us bring down the entire show.

As nice as that thought was, I had to brush it away as soon as it crossed my mind. Telling all of them at once would be too dangerous. While I was almost positive J.D. would be down for it, and possibly Abel, I had no such illusions with Gavin and Tate. Those two would be the most difficult to persuade. In fact, I had a suspicion that if they knew our plans, they’d go tattle to Von. The promise of getting a mate, prize money, and membership in the First Pack was too much for them to turn their backs on. Tate would throw Kira and me under the bus, and Gavin would try to find some way to make it all my fault to keep Kira for himself.

No. I had to stick to the original plan.

I headed straight to the bathroom to rinse the mud off myself. I stayed in the shower, letting the water soothe my aches away until the hot water ran out. By the time I came back out freshly washed, everyone but J.D. had left. He looked less devastated than when he’d thought Leif was dead, but he was still mourning for Mika.

“How’s it going?” I asked as I sank down beside him on his bed.

J.D. sat up, a tired sigh leaving him as he did. “Fine, I guess. I’m sitting here thinking how stupid it was to come on this show. How stupid it was forallof us.”

I patted his shoulder. “It’s all gonna work out.”

“I’d love to believe that, but at this point, I don’t know.”

I glanced around the room. It was clear. My bracelet showed no cameras were nearby. Even so, I kept my next words low and quiet. “There’s more going on here than you understand, man. Things aren’t as bad as they seem.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Wyatt. All I know is that I’m sick of seeing good people—my friends—get killed. I’ve never been an angry person. My inner wolf has always been mellow and laid back, but I’ll tell you what—it’s ready to jump out and tear Von’s throat out. I’ve never been so fed up in my life.”

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