65

All I could do was sit there for a few minutes and think about what Zoe had just revealed. Ryan had a mate back home? He’d been so charming and flirty with me the night before. I felt dirty and nauseated just thinking about it. I still didn’t think he deserved whatever fate had taken him out in the woods, but he most certainly didn’t deserve any more of my sadness and pity.

Zoe was right—I needed to worry about my own survival. I wasn’t here to get a mate, either. Did that make me as bad as Ryan and the others? I supposed it did.

“What other rumors or drama have you heard? Spill it, sister.”

Zoe quickly looked away. “Uh…oh jeez. Let me get your next outfit first, then I’ll get into it.”

She grabbed the clothes I’d be wearing. Once she started working, juicy tidbits of info started tumbling out.

“So, neither Mika nor Leif wants to be here. Their packs forced them to come as some kind of severe punishment.”

“Punishments for what?” I asked, gaping at her. What could be that bad?

Zoe shrugged. “No idea about Leif, but the rumor is that Mika had a falling out with his father when Mika rejected his fated mate. No one really knows anything more than that. Kinda weird, though. His dad is the alpha of the First Pack. The most powerful pack in the world, and Mika was set to inherit that. It’s crazy to think about.

“I did hear that Tate guy is legit. He’s absolutely desperate for a mate. His died unexpectedly, and it broke the poor guy’s heart. All he wants is a new fated mate. Though, it seems like he doesn’t give a shit who that is, as long as he gets one. Basically, he’s still in love with his dead mate, and if he gets you, there will be, like, zero passion or love.”

“Good gods,” I said. “What else?”

Zoe bobbed her eyebrows. “Omar. What a piece of work he is. He’d already gone through an official mating ceremony when he lost his mate.”

I gasped and put a hand to my mouth. “Dead? Like Tate’s?”

Zoe barked a laugh. “Um…no. See, he’s got what the ladies call a wandering dick. He had a pretty intense taste for vampires.” She shook her head. “A lot of guys do. Vampires look eighteen but have the sexual experience of centuries under their belt. His mate was supposed to be away for a few days on business. She got home early and found our boy Omar in an orgy with six vampire chicks.”

“No!” I whispered.

“Yes. It all came out in the background checks. I’ll be honest, after seeing and hearing everything over the last two days, I don’t know if I’m still a fan of this show. It’s all really fake and staged. I liked the idea that at least some of this was real, but…” She shrugged sadly.

All these guys, and most of them were fake. It irritated the shit out of me that it was looking more and more like Wyatt might be the only good guy, the most honest guy in the whole group.

I groaned. “And Von told me to ‘remain impartial.’ Said I should let them all think they were winning me over. How do I even act remotely interested around these guys? Especially a creep like Omar?”

Zoe scoffed and waved that question away. “Ignore the immortal sadist. Take it from a fan—if you want to get the audience on your side, forget about ninety percent of these dudes and focus on one or two. You’re already well on your way. Keep it up.”

“Keep what up? What are you talking about?”

Zoe frowned at me. She looked like she thought I was lying. When she realized I had no clue what she was talking about, she rolled her eyes and grabbed the TV remote.

She turned the TV on and switched channels to The Reject Project. The show was popular enough that it had its own channel that ran reruns of past seasons, in-season discussions, challenge breakdowns, as well as interviews with past cast and crew members. The channel was currently showing highlights of the day so far. Zoe fast-forwarded, then paused.

Wyatt was holding me in his arms, carrying me away from the forest. We were caked in dirt, smeared with blood, and shiny with sweat. The cameras had caught us as we’d been looking into each other’s eyes—Wyatt looking down at me with concern, me looking right back at him.

My cheeks flushed red as I looked at the screen. I hadn’t realized we’d been that close, gazing at each other like that. I’d been irritated with him at that moment. I hadn’t been injured and hadn’t needed to be carried. I’d been about to bite his head off and tell him to put me down, but without context, the image looked like two people on the verge of falling for each other.

Shoving the thoughts out of my mind, I laughed and pointed at the screen. “This? That’s what you want me to do? Snuggle up with Wyatt and make the viewers think I want to bump uglies with him?”

Zoe shrugged. “I mean…you’ve already bumped uglies with him. Why not keep the charade going?”

“Because, Zoe, he’s Wyatt Rivers. There’s no way that’s gonna work. He’ll drive me fucking crazy. Hell, he’s already driving me crazy, and we’ve been here less than twenty-four hours. We hate each other, and that’s not going to change.”

Zoe sat on the bed and studied me, a knowing smile on her lips. “Sure didn’t seem like you hated each other when he swept you out of the bar the other night.”

I stared back at her, unblinking. “I thought you were hammered that night? I kinda hoped you’d blacked out and wouldn’t remember.”

Zoe laughed. “Fae can hold their liquor pretty well. Plus, no matter how drunk we get, we don’t black out. We remember everything. I remember how flushed your face was, how intense Wyatt was when he looked at you. I remember all of it.” She raised an eyebrow at me.