Page 71 of His Rejected Mate

Jayson opened his mouth, but I cut him off. “This is a make-or-break moment. You understand that, right? Either make peace with me and the Eleventh Pack now so we can move on and survive this war, or be an idiot. Keep fighting for nothing. Your pack will end up broken, your packmates dead or scattered,and you with a hollow throne to sit on. I am not messing around. Look into my eyes and tell me I’m lying.”

Jayson considered my words, and for the first time since I’d known him, he actually looked impressed. “I have to say, you surprised me on the show,” he said. “Finding out you weren’t latent after all? Seeing that gorgeous wolf of yours reveal itself? Very impressive indeed.” Musing to himself, he said, “It would be really nice to have a second alpha around to help manage things in my pack. What if…” He looked at me with suddenly hungry eyes. “What if we made up? The two of us form an alliance, and youfinallytake me as your mate. As you said, they’re all fake, anyway. We can do whatever we want.”

“The fuck you can,” Wyatt growled, taking several steps forward and then shifting. He stood at my feet, snarling and glaring at Jayson.

The Ninth Pack contingent stepped back, nervously looking to their alpha for orders. But Jayson was still eyeing me, wholly unconcerned with Wyatt.

“What do you say, Kira?” he cooed.

After everything that had happened, all we’d told him, his only takeaway was power. He was too blind by all the stuff he thought was important to see the truth. With one word, I could start a fight that would end with bloodshed.

Instead, I snorted a laugh and stroked Wyatt’s fur. “Jayson, if we’d been on the show together and by some weird twist of fate you and I became the last two contestants? I’d ask Heline to kill me rather than mate with you.” I shook my head in disgust. “Peace talks are over. I gave you a chance to end this the right way, the only way that wouldn’t end badly for you. We could have done this quietly. Too late.” I turned to Gavin. “Tell them their alpha doesn’t give a damn that the Seventh Pack and the Tranquility Council orchestrated their last alpha’s assassination.”

“What?” one of Jayson’s men gasped. “Are you serious?”

Jayson flew into a rage. “Did I fucking say you could talk?”

The man glared at Jayson, as did some of the others. Maybe things in the Ninth Pack weren’t as good as they seemed on the outside.

“It’s true,” Gavin said. “Jayson never investigated. All he did was point fingers like a child. Your alpha was murdered, and he didn’t—”

“Enough!” Jayson snapped. “We’re done here. Let’s go.”

Jayson strode away, and his men trudged along behind him. Several looked back at us, doubt in their eyes. If I had to guess, Jayson might have to watch his back in the coming days and weeks. The information we’d just dropped would spread quickly.

“Good luck, Jayson,” I called sweetly.

He kept walking and didn’t acknowledge my words.

It wasn’t over between our packs. Regardless of how things went, we’d probably end up facing off again, unless a miracle happened. Jayson obviously had no intention of doing anything peacefully. The fact that he’d had the audacity to try to get me back when I was obviously with Wyatt made me want to laugh again.

“Well, sweetie,” Mom said when they were out of earshot. “I’d never want to besmirch the goddess Heline’s choices for mates, but I’m really glad you don’t have to bed down with that walking pile of dogshit.”

“Same, Mom,” I said. “Same.”

Chapter 18

Wyatt

As Jayson walked off into the forest, my eyes burned into his back. Right before he shifted to run home, Jayson glanced over his shoulder at me. He was too far away for me to make out any emotion on his face, but I told myself there was a hint of fear there.

As there should be.

Once they’d shifted and sprinted off, I huffed out a breath through my nostrils. I wasn’t scared of a fight, but Kira was set against more bloodshed. Jayson had been the exact version of himself I knew he’d be. He hadn’t even tried to be charming or affable. Even greasy salesmen put the charm on to trick buyers.

But Jayson hadn’t come here to negotiate peace. He’d come to see me and Kira, and try to get under our skin.

If there was anything about this meeting that put me into a good mood, though, it was the way Kira had refused Jayson’s half-assed attempt to woo her back. When she’d rebuffed him, it had been all I could do not to smile. Not only had Kira told the world she loved me, but she’d rejected herfatedmate in front of her family once and for all, turning the tables on Jayson and making sure everyone knew she wanted to be with me.

“Let’s get out of here. I hate this place, and it’s getting worse by the minutes,” Kira said.

“Yes, uh, I can see what you mean,” her dad said, still glaring off into the forest.

Our entourage shifted and padded toward the trees. Kira’s father followed his people, limping slightly because of his injured foreleg. When Kira and her mother shifted and fell in behind him, I marveled at Kira in her wolf form. I followed, staying at the rear in case Jayson or one of his goons got any ideas about a sneak attack. While I ran, I watched Kira sprint through the forest, running free in her home land. Hopefully, she was enjoying it as much as it looked like she did. She deserved it.

She’d spent years suppressing an integral part of her and had been understandably miserable. Thinking about doing the same thing to myself made my heart hurt. I cursed Simon for subjecting her to experimentation, but I was happy that she now had access to this most basic and primal part of her soul.

Once we were far enough away from the mating grounds to be safe, I decided it was time to play. Running up beside Kira, I nipped at her flank. Never breaking her stride, Kira turned her bright golden eyes on me and broke off from the main pack to follow me. We sprinted through an open field ahead of the others before tumbling together and wrestling. If Kira still held any residual stress or anger from the showdown with Jayson, she wasn’t showing it. If anything, she seemed more at ease and happy than ever.

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