Page 41 of Twisted Desire

“Where are they?” he snaps.

Fuck. Seeing Aaron—finding out his son is alive—has really messed with his usual levelheaded demeanor. I’ve never seen him this angry before.

Robyn’s voice is monotone. “Two are in the command room, and the others are in an exam room with a test subject.”

Nikolai stiffens, and the anger swirling around him is stronger now. “Take us to the exam room,” he orders in a tight voice. “Don’t fight us. Don’t tempt me to snap your neck like a twig.”

Fear radiates from her in waves. “Follow me,” she says in an unsteady voice.

Nik turns back to me, meeting my gaze before his eyes shift to Aaron. “I don’t want him a part of this.”

“I’ll deal with him. I’m right behind you,” I tell him, and he nods, allowing Robyn to lead him down the hall.

Aaron’s eyes go wide, and they shift anxiously across my face. “Listen, I swear I didn’t—”

I put up a hand, stopping him. “I’m not going to hurt you, kid. You’re Nikolai’s problem to deal with. However, you do pose a risk to our mission.”

He frowns. “So what does that mean?”

“I’m going to compel you to behave,” I say with a little smirk. “I don’t trust you to be good on your own, so I’m going to help.”

His heart pounds against his ribcage, and I almost feel bad for him, but I have to keep my head in the game.

I close in on him, and his eyes bounce all over the place as if he’s looking for a way to escape me. “Relax,” I tell him. “So long as you’re telling the truth about not working against us, you have nothing to worry about.”

He bites his lip then finally nods, focusing his gaze on me.

I blink, quickly shifting into a headspace that makes compulsion as easy as speaking normally. “Aaron, you will not lift a hand against Nikolai or myself. You will not aid The Experiment in doing so, either. You will leave this building with us without a fight. Repeat that back to me.” I wait while he does. “Good. Another thing: you will tell the truth when asked a question. Understood?”

“Understood,” he says, and I drop my hold on his mind. He sways a bit from the energy surge, and I grab his shoulder to steady him.

“Stay here and make sure those guards stay down. I’m going after your—after Nikolai, and then we’re getting the fuck out of here.”

“You cuss a lot,” he comments.

“Yep,” I say over my shoulder as I jog away from Aaron, heading in the direction Robyn led Nikolai. Listening for any indication of them, my stomach drops when I hear Nik’s voice. I race toward the sound, stopping dead in the doorway of an exam room. My eyes land on the table in the middle of the creepily sterile room where a young fae woman lies, her face as white as the gown Aurora wore on her wedding day.

“Jesus—”

“She’s alive,” Nikolai cuts in, glaring at a couple of humans in lab coats standing on the other side of the table. “Barely.”

I shove Robyn out of the way and stop at the edge of the table, reaching for the girl’s hand. Energy immediately flows out of me and into her, healing her from whatever twisted shit they were doing to her.

“Easy, Sky,” Nik warns. “We need you charged enough to get out of here.”

“Don’t worry about me, Sterling,” I mutter, focusing on the girl’s face. Her cheeks start to regain their color, and her eyelids twitch as if she’s starting to wake. My stomach churns as the room tilts, and I grip the table to keep upright.

Nikolai is quick to pull me away. “Enough,” he says in my ear. “She’s good.”

I stop, pulling back, and swallow past the dryness in my throat. “What are we going to do about them?” I jut my chin toward the lab coats staring at us. Nikolai must have them under his influence.

“Robyn seems to be the one with the answers.”

I grit my teeth. “So we don’t need to spare them all.”

With a frown, he says, “Stick to the plan, Sky.”

My lips curl into a snarl, but it’s not directed at him, and he knows it. “Fine.” It seems we’re going back and forth, reminding each other not to kill everyone here. It’s a good balance if you ask me.

---