Page 69 of Twisted Gift

He frowns. “Aurora, please just listen.”

“Move,” I bark.

He shakes his head. “I can’t do that.”

I shrug, grabbing a scalpel off the other, upright table. “Hard way it is.”

He arches a brow. “We’re going to do this again?”

“It’s going to go a little differently this time.”

Max coughs, sputtering more blood onto his shirt, and my face blanches. I have to help him. I have to get him out of those chains and out of this place so he can feed and heal.

Carter advances, and I pedal back, whipping my gaze to him. Max is going to have to hold on long enough for me to deal with Carter.

“We don’t need to fight, Aurora.”

I scowl. “Are you kidding? You’ve been torturing my friend, and you think I’m going to let you walk away from that?”

He blinks. “Your friend?”

I pause, looking toward Max. He might not have started out that way, in fact, I sort of hated him, but things are different now. He’s part of my life—part of my family. Even though we bicker most of the time, no family is perfect.

“Blondie,” Max says in a cracked voice, nodding his head toward Carter as his eyelids start drooping.

Shit. I have to do something. Now.

“You won’t win this fight, Aurora,” Carter says in a matter-of-fact tone that makes the urge to punch him in the face much stronger.

“Why have you made thisyourfight?” I taunt. “Do you actuallywantto be human?”

He crosses his arms. “We’ve been over this. The Experiment saved me.”

“Bullshit,” I spit at him. “They didn’t give you a choice.”

He shrugs, seeming indifferent to that fact. “In the end, it was for the best.”

It’s useless—they’ve brainwashed him into believing this life is what he wants. That was clear from the start, but I was hoping that now, faced with danger and the chance to make a choice for himself, he would choose differently.

I inch closer to him. “You don’t miss being fae? The power, the possibilities?”

His facade cracks ever so slightly. “I know what you’re doing.” A grin touches his lips. “It’s not going to work. I know where I belong. You won’t convince me otherwise.”

Max nods toward him again, and I incline my head enough that he knows I’ve acknowledged him.

“Fine,” I say. With one more step forward, I’m close enough to touch him. Instead, I shove him toward Max. He stumbles back and whirls around to face Max.

The corner of Max’s mouth curls, and then he headbutts Carter, sending him to the floor in an unconscious heap.

Max gives his head a bit of a shake, blinking a few times before looking at me. “Get to it. We don’t have all damn day, blondie.”

I choke on a laugh and hurry toward him, reaching for the metal secured around his wrist.

It’s ironic—I’m fighting to break the chains off the same guy who chained me up months ago. It takes several minutes—and techniques—before I manage to loosen the restraints enough for Max to break the rest of the way out of them.

He rubs his wrists where they’re swollen and bruised.

“Are you—?” I ask.

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