Page 24 of Twisted Desire

After making him stand there a bit longer, I finally shake his hand. “Yes, it is,” I say instead of returning the sentiment.

He laughs again. “Delightful.” His gaze lingers for a long moment before he moves on, shaking the hands of the rest of our group, learning everyone’s names.

Jackson leads us into another room, one equally as fancy with dark wood floors and sparkling chandeliers.

Nikolai quickly makes himself at home, dropping onto one of three black leather couches. The rest of us follow a bit slower behind him.

“Can I offer anyone a drink?” Jackson asks.

“If your alcohol is as fancy as your decor, hell yes.”

He grins at me. “Excellent. Anyone else?”

Nikolai shakes his head, so do the others.

“Your loss,” I say, following Jackson to the bar in another room. When we’re out of earshot, I ask him how he knows Nikolai. “He didn’t seem thrilled about asking you for help,” I explain.

Jackson laughs. “Not surprising. Kol and I go way back. We grew up together out west.”

“Your family was light fae.”

He shrugs. “My dad was.” His tone implies that perhaps his mother isn’t—or wasn’t.

I blink at him. “Oh.”

He scoops ice into a wine glass, smiling faintly. “Yeah, I came from a mixed family. It sounds ridiculous, I’m sure, considering the things you’ve probably heard about me.”

“Well, yeah,” I offer.

He shows me a bottle of rosé, and I nod. He keeps his eyes on the bottle as he pours. “You don’t really need to hear about this.”

It’s my turn to laugh. “No, no. I want to know how you know Nikolai. You wouldn’t happen to have any juicy secrets that could be used against him, do you?”

Jackson’s eyes meet mine. “You’re pretty cute. For a dark fae.”

My eyes narrow. “We abolished the titles,” I remind him in a stern tone.

“Of course. I apologize.” He hands me the wineglass, and I murmur my thanks. He pours himself an amber-colored drink and sighs. “Nikolai and I are cousins. My mother was Kol’s aunt.”

“What?” There’s no hiding the surprise in my voice. “There goes my test tube theory.”

He laughs again. “Yeah. That’s it. That’s the connection between us. A little cousin rivalry to keep eternity entertaining. It’s harmless, really.”

I take a sip of my drink. Holy hell, it’s good. Making a note to come back in here to steal the rest of the bottle before we leave, I walk back into the other room with Jackson. I’m not completely convinced when it comes to Nik and Jackson’s ‘harmless rivalry,’ but we have far more important matters to deal with right now.

Jackson walks over to the couch across from where Nikolai is sitting and plants himself between Oliver and Allison, pushing her closer to Monica. The couch is massive; there’s room for everyone, but the movement seemed deliberate.

I swallow another mouthful of wine and join Nikolai on the other couch.

“So what’s your gameplay?” Jackson asks.

“Don’t you listen to anything I say, Jax?” Nikolai mutters. “I laid it all out for you over the phone.”

He grins from behind his glass, tilting it back against his lips as he takes a long drink, emptying it and setting it on the coffee table between the couches. “Let me rephrase. What exactly do you want from me? I’ve put the word out and told people where to meet.”

“That’s all we need,” Allison says. “We can talk to the fae. It seems like that’sallwe’ve been doing.”

“You want to get your hands dirty, little fae?” Jackson asks. “I can give you a list of addresses of potential facilities. Ordered by location and labeled with codenames based on major cross streets they’re located near.”

---