Page 150 of Taken By the Fae

I blink once. Twice. My lips are glued shut and my throat is too tight to speak. “I don’t understand,” I finally whisper, my voice cracking.

“Myself, along with a team of scientists, doctors, and others are what’s known as the Experiment. We’re a group of professionals working against the fae.”

“You’re hunters,” I mutter. “Killers.”

“No,” she snaps. “The fae are killers. We’re the ones fighting to protect humankind. The fae are a danger to humanity and must be eliminated.”

Realization hits me like a ton of bricks. The missing fae. It wasn’t the courts attacking each other at all… it was the Experiment.

“You brought me here to kill me?” I force down the panic rising in my chest with a shallow breath. “Seems like a waste of time to string me up to your concoction of drugs and lock me in here if you’re just going to get rid of me.”

“I’m not going to kill you.” A smile touches her lips, and it makes my stomach roil. “I’m going to fix you.”

My brows shoot up. “Fix me?”

“We’ve been researching and testing the process of turning fae human for years, long before you were even introduced to their world. Many fae before you sacrificed their lives so we could create the reversal process. Such is the reality of an experimental procedure, I’m afraid.”

How many have they killed in creating a procedure to turn fae human?

“You’re insane,” I sneer. “I won’t let you do this to me.”

She frowns. “Oh, honey, you don’t have a choice.” Her tender, motherly tone makes my eyes narrow. “Look on the bright side. If it works, you’ll get your life back. This is a blessing.”

I cough out a brutal laugh as tears prick my eyes. I sure as hell don’t subscribe to the damsel in distress narrative, but I’d give anything for Tristan to break through the door right now and take me away from this place. “You’re kidding, right? Do you want me to lie here—strapped to this bed against my will—andthankyou?”

“I expect nothing from you, Aurora.” She steps away from the bed after turning a dial on a machine above me and heads toward the door. Her form gets fuzzy, and she pauses a few feet away. “If it brings you any comfort, I’m sorry you have to endure this, and I truly hope it works.”

“And if it doesn’t?” I snap. “You’re just going to let me die?” I don’t want to think about how many fae were put through whatever the fuck Collins plans to do to me and didn’t survive. The more I think about it, the faster my heart pounds. Exhaustion floods through me until it’s impossible to keep my eyes open. The last thing I see before the darkness pulls me under is the door closing, locking me in this prison.

* * *

Dr. Collins is sitting on a chair near the end of the bed when I come to sometime later. It could be hours or days, I have no idea. I choke on the dryness in my throat before I can even speak.

“Would you like something to drink?” Her tone is that of a friend asking—causal—as if she’s not forcing me to be here.

My jaw clenches hard. I won’t ask this woman for anything.

She sighs. “Aurora, there’s no reason for you to be uncomfortable. I know you’re not like the others. I met you as a human, and it will bring me great joy to give you your life back.”

The thought of Dr. Collins assuming she knows anything about my life as a fae—albeit the short period I’ve lived as one—is cranking my pulse up. The beeping of the machines increases, measuring my heart rate. “You don’t know anything about me.”

She tilts her head to the side, studying my face. “You want to be fae, then?”

“I don’t want to be here,” I counter in a flat tone.

“I understand your anger and confusion. That will change,” she says in what I perceive as an attempt at reassurance.

“How long have you been part of this?”

She leans back. “Since just after my daughter was killed. The murder was covered up, of course. I was told some extravagant lie about her being in an accident.” Her expression darkens. “That’s the thing about humans. We can lie. I got no proper answers. They wouldn’t even let me see her body.”

I sit up by digging my heels into the mattress. “How did you know it was fae? You didn’t know they existed before your daughter died.”

She offers a tight-lipped smile. “Shortly after it happened, the Experiment found me and explained everything. How the fae attacked my daughter, draining her energy before she had a chance to scream for help. They told me the police covered it up, that the fae who killed her manipulated them so he’d get away with it and the humans would be none the wiser about the existence of fae. At first, I didn’t believe them. I couldn’t. But once they showed me one ofthemin action, I couldn’t deny it. So I joined the Experiment. Amber isn’t the only innocent human who's been killed by the fae. They don’t care about the people they share this planet with, and consideringtheymovedhere, I’d say they should’ve known better than to kill our people.”

I clamp my mouth shut; I can’t dispute her words. So long as fae require human energy to survive, there will be a predator-prey relationship between us and them.

I’ve barely had enough time to adjust to life as a fae and now I’m facing the harsh reality that I’m going to be forced back into human life? This isn’t—this can’t be happening. I need to have a choice in this.

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