Page 44 of Twisted Desire

My gaze whips around to him, and my pulse jumps at his suggestion. His eyes were on me as he spoke to Allison.

“Huh,” she muses, “that’s not a bad idea.”

“Yes, it is,” I say. “We’re not here to feed on the staff. You want human, go to a feeding unit.”

“Quit being such a hard-ass, Skylar,” she says.

“You won’t feed off your friend, but stealing a stranger’s energy is no problem?” I cross my arms. “Where’s the logic in that?”

“You’re telling me you’d feed off your friends?” she counters.

I swallow then clear my throat. “I’m telling you Ihavefed off my friends.”

Her eyes widen slightly. “Oh.”

“You’re making it a bigger deal than it needs to be. You’re not going to hurt Oliver. Let him help you.”

She bites her lip, glancing toward him, and he offers her an encouraging smile. “Okay,” she finally says.

Oliver sits beside her, and I walk out of the room.

I escape to the restaurant bar attached to the lobby. The older man behind the counter is very generous with my drink, and I tip him accordingly. I’m lifting the glass to my lips when Nikolai slides onto the stool next to me.

“Shouldn’t you be babysitting or something?” I mutter. When he frowns, I immediately feel stupid. “Shit, I’m sorry. That was a dumb thing to say.” I’m way out of my element here. Me... and kids... I don’t exactly know how to handle them. Or the guy I’m in love with having one. But if it makes him happy, having Aaron in his life—inourlives—then I’ll get used to him being around. Hell, I might give him a chance. Maybe I’ll like him.

He only nods.

I offer him my drink, sliding it across the sticky mahogany bar top. “How are you doing with all of this?”

He swallows half the glass before handing it back, and I’ve got my answer.

My hand lifts to his face and rests against his cheek. “You’d be a good father, Nikolai,” I say softly.

His eyes hold mine. “You think so?”

I smile and drop my hand from his face to lace my fingers through his. “Damn right. Any woman would be lucky to call you their baby daddy.”

Chuckling, he squeezes my hand and leans in to kiss my cheek. “Thanks, Sky.”

“Anytime.”

“So, I’ve been thinking and chatting with some of the other group leaders. We should gather as many of the teams as possible and anyone they’ve managed to recruit. I can’t see the Vancouver branch being small. We’re going to need the numbers.”

“Right. By the sounds of it, everyone who’s anyone within the fae community has called in every favor they have to get people to join forces.”

“Good. Let’s see if we can pull together a meeting in a couple of days. That’ll give people enough time to travel and give us an opportunity to suck that woman dry of information before we wipe her memory.”

“Allison asked me if she could handle it,” he comments.

“Really?” I ask. “We need to be sure we’ve gotten everything we can out of her.” The reservation is clear in my tone.I should do it myself.

“You trust her.” It’s not a question. I don’t make it known on a huge scale or anything, but he’s right. Allison has been in this since the beginning. She’ll get the job done.

“Okay,” I concede. “Now, what are we going to do about Aaron?”

He hesitates. “I’m not sure there’s anything to do. He’s my kid, sure, but he’s an adult. Mentally, at least. He was fae for a long time, but now that he’s human, I’m struggling to see him that way when he looks like a fifteen-year-old.” He sighs. “I guess it’s up to him whether or not he wants to know me.”

I wet my lips, taking a sip of my drink. “Okay. What doyouwant?”

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