27

Was that a smile I detected? I tried to convince myself it was a good sign. Hope started to flare in my chest, pushing back against the despair that had been growing in my gut from the moment Jayson rejected me.

The half-demon raised his head, sweeping his eyes up and down my body once more. “There is an entrance f*e for all contestants, including the lead. You do realize that. Is that something you can afford?”

He must have been referring to my old T-shirt and jeans. The decision to come here had been spur-of-the-moment and desperate enough that I hadn’t even thought to change into something nicer like the other women had. Gods, I knew the f*e was steep. I’d checked my account in the waiting room to ensure I could pay it. It would basically deplete my savings, but I could swing it. Barely.

With a nod, I said, “That’s no problem. I can pay.” Throwing caution to the wind, I added, “Besides, I’m going to win. What’s a little money now when I’ll have that much more at the end?”

“Ooh.” The half-demon smiled. “Cocky. We haven’t had that in a while.”

The woman pointed her pen at me. “Go ahead and shift. Let’s see what the wolf looks like. We’ve had a lot of gray wolves in the last two years. I’d like something different.”

Damn. The audition had been going so well. Now all the hope that I’d begun to grab onto was draining away. Thankfully, I was trained not to let my emotions show on my face. There was no way around it, but I’d need to play it perfectly if I had any chance.

Pulling my shoulders back, I said, “I don’t shift.”

The two judges looked at me as though I’d said the dumbest thing they’d ever heard.

“Um, wait…what?” the woman asked.

“Hang on,” the half-demon said, voice vibrating with rage. “You silly girl, you do realize this is The Reject Project, right? Every contestant is a wolf shifter. What are you? A human who was adopted into an Eleventh Pack family or something? Why would you even show up if you weren’t a shifter?”

I couldn’t back down or show weakness. Not now. This was my only shot.

“I assure you, I am a shifter. A blood test will tell you I am. I was, after all, fated to a mate. I’m simply unable to shift. I’ve seen enough of the show to know that you don’t have to shift to compete, win, or survive.”

They both looked at me for several seconds before bursting into laughter. Having them laugh at my expense set my teeth on edge. I clamped my jaw. Just as I was about to say screw it and unload on them, I saw the man in the back stand and walk toward me.

At the sound of his footsteps, the two judges abruptly shut up. That alone told me I’d been right about him being the true power in the room. He stopped about two paces from me, slowly slid the sunglasses off his face, and tucked them into the pocket of his tailored black suit.

His eyes pierced into me, and I had the strange sensation he was looking even deeper than surface level. There was a hint of something at the back of my mind, an idea of what this man was.

“My dear Miss Durst,” he said in a deep baritone. “The mysterious and enigmatic owner of The Reject Project won’t even look at your application if you can’t shift. You must realize this.”

Glaring at him, I said, “Then make them.”

The two judges gasped at my audacity.

If the man was upset, he didn’t show it. Instead, he gave me a sad smile. “I’m afraid I don’t have that kind of pull.”

My years of training kicked in. I watched the strange twitch in his cheek as he spoke, the barest flicker as he tried to avert his gaze from mine. He was lying. The tell was there, and I could read it.

“Bullshit.”

I had to keep myself from rolling my eyes when the two judges gasped again. The strange man tilted his head and studied me more intensely.

“In what way am I, as you so eloquently put it, bullshitting you?”

“I’m a senior Tranquility operative. I can read a room, see deceit, smell a lie from a mile away. You wouldn’t be sitting in the shadows, silently watching every contestant come through here if you weren’t important. You’re the one vetting the contestants, not those two,” I said, gesturing at the two judges with a wave of my hand. “And if that’s a job only you have, then it means someone very powerful assigned it to you. How am I doing so far?”

He stared at me with a stony expression before bursting into a good-natured laugh. Some of the tension in my chest evaporated, but not all of it. He could still tell me to get the hell out.

Finally, he said, “Fair enough, Miss Durst. Fair enough. I admit, I am…hmm, what should I call myself? The invisible host of the show, I suppose. Von is the face. I act behind the scenes. I’m here to hand-pick half a dozen serious candidates for the final pool.”

He looked at me through half-lidded eyes before sighing with pleasure. “We’ve never had someone who couldn’t shift or someone with such a strong psyche before. It truly is delicious.”

That sealed it. Talking about my psyche had given him away. This man was a psychic. A mind reader. Quickly, I thrust up walls around a certain set of memories I didn’t want him to access.

He grinned, and his eyes glittered. “Oh my. You are an operative. You know how to guard yourself. Hmmm. Now, I wonder what those memories you just hid contained. What else is in that…” He trailed off, and his smile grew even wider. “Well, well, well. A female alpha? You are full of surprises.”