Page 39 of Twisted Desire

Nikolai still hasn’t spoken a word. Maybe he can’t.

I step in front of Nikolai, so the boy has to look at me. “Who. Are. You?”

“Aaron. Aaron Sterling. I’m his son.”

Nikolai exhales harshly from behind me and wraps his fingers around my wrist.

“Nik...”

“Move, Skylar.” His voice is low, shaking with uncertainty.

After a moment of hesitation, I step back.

Nikolai moves forward and shakes his head, confusion knitting his brows. “My son is dead.” His voice is flat.So much for thehe didn’t knowtheory.What the fuck is going on right now?

The boy—Aaron—arches a brow. “Ouch. I’m standing right here.”He definitely has Nik’s sense of humor.

“It’s not possible.” Nik’s throat bobs when he swallows. “The doctors, they—”

“Lied to you,” Aaron cuts in. “The day I was born, they took me away and then they told you I was dead.”

“I don’t understand,” Nikolai says, his jaw clenched tight as he tries to piece together this twisted puzzle.

“The doctors there when I was born were part of The Experiment. They knew you were fae, and they knew my mother was human.”

“So what?” I cut in. “They stole you from your father because he was fae?”

“Sort of. I’m technically part fae. Or, I was. They took care of that when they figured out the correct way to do it.”

“So you’re human now?” I ask.

Aaron nods.

“Why didn’t you try to find me?” Nikolai asks.

Aaron frowns. “Do you blame me? Aren’t you a fae leader or something now?”

The Experiment raised this kid. We’re lucky he hasn’t called for backup or tried shooting us yet. Maybe he’s as surprised as Nikolai, but that’ll wear off soon enough, and then where will that leave us?

“Nik, we need to call this off,” I say in a voice only he can hear.

He shakes his head. “We can’t just—I can’t—I can’t leave him here.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stand as my pulse picks up speed. “We can’t trust him,” I hiss.

Aaron glances between us, his gaze sharp, calculating. “If I wanted you dead, there would be Experiment guards here already,” he comments.

“You’re one of them,” I point out. “We don’t trust you as much as you don’t trust us.”

“Fair enough, I guess.” Shifting his attention back to Nikolai, he says, “What are you going to do now?”

Before Nikolai can answer, three Experiment guards storm the hallway, their heavy boots filling the space with sound with each stomp. Our element of surprise is officially ruined.Fucking hell.

A gun goes off, echoing through the hallway, and an iron bullet embeds itself in the wall near my shoulder. I hiss out a curse and send a glare at Aaron. “You son of a bitch,” I growl, turning to advance on him. Before I can get two steps, Nik wraps an arm around my waist and hauls me away from Aaron.

“What are you doing?” I seethe, struggling to break free of Nik’s hold with no success. Damn him. “He sold us out. Let go of me so I can deal with this.”

“I didn’t. I swear,” Aaron urges, jumping out of the way of oncoming bullets. Evidently, the people shooting at us are unconcerned about hitting one of their own.Taking Nik and me out is more important.

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