Page 7 of Twisted Desire

“So what exactly is your plan?”

“Excellent question,” Nikolai praises with an inviting grin, stepping forward.

I shift back, letting him take the podium.

“We’re going to break you into teams,” he starts to explain. “You will travel with these people for a while, so try your best to get to know them, like them, but most importantly,trustthem. They’re your backup, and you’re theirs. We have rental cars ready to go, along with weapons for protection and money for food, gas, and accommodations. A lot of you work for Tristan in some capacity or another, so the time off you’ll be taking for this mission isn’t a problem. Everyone else, see what you can do. If leaving for a long period of time isn’t an option, we’ll have you helping out locally. Please speak to one of us after the meeting.”

“How do we know where to start?” someone in the audience asks.

“We have contacts in many of the cities in the surrounding area. We’ll start with them and try to gather as much information as possible. Face-to-face contact is important. These people need to trust us if they’re going to work with us. Each team has a lead to follow—a contact out of the city who has information we don’t have on The Experiment. From there, you’ll have to follow leads to the facilities The Experiment is working out of and shut them down. There will be check-ins with us to make sure things are going as smooth as possible, but we’re counting on you to rely on and work with your group.”

“When do we start?” someone asks.

“As soon as possible,” Nikolai says. “Our group will be heading out tomorrow. We understand you’ll need to make preparations to leave. Do what you need to do, and I suggest you make a point to stop at a feeding unit. Make sure you’re prepared to fight, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that yet.”

Allison stands and walks to the podium with a tablet in her hand. Nikolai shifts to the side to let her speak. “As Nik said, we’ll break you into teams.” She points to the screen in her hand. “Each group will receive a tablet with all the information. Bank accounts, hotel and feeding unit locations, and contact information for the other groups.”

“You make it sound like a scavenger hunt,” a guy near the middle of the room comments.

Nikolai shrugs. “Essentially, it is. One that if we lose, we die.” He smiles. “So don’t lose.”

3

“It’s too early for this,” Allison grumbles as she fills her travel mug with coffee. When she suggested last night that we meet at her apartment, I happily agreed. I’d much rather this than have the entire gang in my suite. I shudder at the thought—I like my privacy.

Our “gang” consists of me, Allison, Oliver, Nikolai, and two fae guards that Tristan employed while he was leader. He trusted them, which made me want them on our team.

Allison exhausted herself spending hours putting together the teams. Out of the massive group of fae that were in attendance at the meeting, she was able to organize sizable groups, keeping ours smaller than most. Of course, there were some fae who requested to be placed with others—friends or family—and Allison did her best to accommodate. It was no small feat, but by the end of the night, she got the job done.

Nikolai struts into the room, looking far too chipper to be awake at five o’clock in the morning, and wraps his arm around her shoulders, giving them a squeeze. “Oh, come on, Al. Lighten up. Today is the beginning of the end.” He shifts his gaze to me. “Of The Experiment.”

She tries to shrug him off and fails. “Yeah, yeah.”

He pulls back and pats her head. “That’s the spirit.”

If I were Allison, I’d beat his ass for that move. The look he sends me tells me he knows it, too.

I push away from the doorway as Allison leaves, and walk into her tiny, outdated kitchen to make a mug of tea for the road. I open three different dark wood cupboards before I see a box of orange pekoe at the back of one. With heels, I’d be able to reach it without an issue, but I figured flat footwear was a more sensible choice for traveling.

Frowning at the height of the shelf, I hop onto the painfully fake marble countertop. The box is within reach now, so I grab it and pull a bag out, dropping it into my mug. Nikolai steps closer with the kettle in his hand and pours the boiled water.

“Thanks,” I say, watching as the tea bag floats to the top then slowly sinks to the bottom.

He sets the kettle back on the burner and screws the lid on my mug. “Sure thing,” he replies, standing in front of me. “Are you ready?” We’re the only ones in the room, but he still keeps his voice down.

“Ready for this to be over,” I deadpan. “Ready to kick some ass to be completely honest.”

“Sky—”

Finally, I look at him. “I know this isn’t about revenge, but damn it, Nik, they took so much from us.” My hands curl into fists in my lap. I want to squeeze my eyes shut and push away the memory of Max because it hurts too fucking much.

His brows inch closer as he places his hands on my knees. “I know,” he agrees, his thumbs tracing slow circles over my leggings, warming the skin underneath. “Remember the endgame.”

Exhaling a harsh breath, I fight the urge to glare at him. I hate that he feels the need to remind me—hate that I need the reminder. “Okay,” I mumble.

“Okay?” he checks, searching my eyes.

I stare back at him. “What else do you want me to say?”

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