83

Kira looked away from me. “That’s fine, but what if something happens to you? Who gets the blame then?”

Her words ricocheted through my mind. Kira was worried about me. I wasn’t sure if that made me happy or terrified. I didn’t want her worrying about me when she needed to focus on staying alive.

“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “Like I said, we all knew the risks. I’m not here to win. My only goal is to make sure you win and get out alive. That’s it.”

“You’re a really loyal friend,” she whispered. “Doing all this for Kolton.”

It was like she’d kicked me in the stomach. Even after everything, she still thought this was about me protecting my best friend’s sister. I wanted to shout at her that I wasn’t doing this for Kolton, but perhaps it was safer for her to think that instead of knowing the truth. If she knew the real reason, her head might not be in the game. I couldn’t risk her getting hurt because I wanted her to know the truth—that I wanted to save her for me, not Kolton.

“I need to go get cleaned up,” I managed to say. “You should, too. We don’t want Von getting pissed at us.”

Kira gave a barely imperceptible nod. “Yeah. You’re right.”

I watched her trudge up the steps into the mansion before I followed. I was still peeved that she’d tried to send me away, but what made it all the worse was that she couldn’t see what I felt for her. She truly couldn’t believe that I was doing this for more than my friendship with her brother.

To anyone else, it would have been clear what was going on. Was Kira really that blind? Or was she forcing herself to ignore what was obvious? As much as she wanted me to go, I wouldn’t. I couldn’t stay away from her if my life depended on it.

Chapter 27

Kira

“You’ve got to calm down. Seriously.” Zoe was doing her best to pick dirt and twigs out of my hair.

“I can’t, I’m too damned pissed—ow, shit!”

“Sorry,” Zoe squeaked, brandishing the tangled twig she’d ripped out of my hair. “This one was really in there.”

Wincing, I rubbed at my scalp. “It’s fine. Do what you’ve got to do.”

Zoe sighed and kept poking through my hair. “It’s still bullshit.”

“What? The crap Von pulled with the gem?”

“Yes,” Zoe barked. “I think they’re making up rules as they go. That’s never been part of the deal. It’s always been simple. The lead chose an alpha to leave, and he went, whether he wanted to or not. Now, the whole glowing gem thing is new, but it’s still the same basic idea. I hate to say it, but I’m probably never watching this show again.”

I didn’t speak again until Zoe had all the crap out of my hair. She leaned me back into a shampoo basin. I could see her face as she rinsed and washed my hair.

“I’m still shocked by how brutal it was out in the swamp. It was like being back at work on a terrible assignment. The fact that the showrunners put untrained people out there is crazy. I’m surprised anyone lives. I don’t want to think about what might have happened if Wyatt and I weren’t there.”

“I know. I saw,” Zoe said.

“When?” I asked, surprised she’d seen it.

Zoe rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing else to do here. The only show that plays is The Reject Project. There’s zero Wi-Fi or cell service. They don’t want the staff accidentally leaking storylines before the episode airs. I can teleport, but the other fae informed me I wouldn’t be able to while I was here—some fancy spell they conjured. So, my choices are to watch the show, read a dusty old book, sleep, eat, or flirt with the cute people working on the show. And everyone who works here is boring. So, I watched the live feed of you guys out there.”

“How’d it look?”

Zoe shrugged, her brow furrowing. “Well, the episode will be more dramatic. They’ll edit it to make it all climactic and add music and stuff, but the live feed?” Zoe massaged conditioner into my hair. “It kinda looked like a bunch of monkeys humping a football. I mean, no offense, you and Wyatt did great, but those goofy magic clubs they gave you? And the way some of the macho alphas screamed like little bitches? Ugh, it was not a good look. The directors and editors are gonna have to work some magic to make that look entertaining. They’ll probably focus on you and Wyatt, and Nathaniel…uh…well, you know.”

Nathaniel. He hadn’t been my favorite person. He’d been an arrogant and cocky asshole, but that didn’t mean he deserved to be ripped to pieces by ghosts. No matter what Wyatt had said, I still felt like it was my fault he’d died. If I’d held onto him longer, led us in a different direction, or one of a hundred different things, he’d still be here. What Wyatt was right about was me needing to put it behind me. I couldn’t focus if I was beating myself up for something in the past.

“All I can say,” Zoe went on, “is I’m glad you and Wyatt made it back okay.”

“Ugh. Damned Wyatt,” I growled. “He should have just accepted his ticket home. He’s too dense to understand I was doing him a favor.”

“I’m not surprised, actually.”

“What are you talking about?”

Zoe turned the water off and started toweling my hair. “Listen, I hate to break this to you. But…” She leaned down to whisper in my ear. “You two have been bumping uglies.”

My jaw tightened. “You know that was a…well, not a one-time deal, but you know what I mean.”

Zoe snorted. “Really? Is that why you two have been trading those sultry, ooey-gooey looks? I can see you two doing that shit when the cameras are on, you know. Which means everyone on Earth sees it.”

I gave her a stern look but was secretly mortified. Everyone on Earth? Tens of millions of people, or more like hundreds of millions? All thinking Wyatt and I were drooling over each other? It was mortifying.