Page 163 of Taken By the Fae

I flip him off—with both hands. “What’s the plan?” My hands clench into tight fists at the sight of at least five Experiment members turning the corner a couple hundred meters in front of us. One of them shouts when they spot us, as if they think that’ll make us comply with their order to stay put.

“Get through these bastards, find the self-destruct remote, and bring this place down—preferably with us outside of it.”

I almost laugh, but the dark look on his face tells me he’s serious.There’s actually a self-destruct mechanism somewhere in here?“What?” I shriek, my heart slamming against my rib cage. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I heard one of them mention it when they thought they’d knocked me out.”

“Mention what?” I say in a high-pitched voice, fighting the urge to turn and run away from the mob of white coats heading toward us.

“They have a plan in place in case their mission is compromised.” He’s talking so fast I can barely keep up. “They can’t have the public finding out about their organization, so they have a contingency plan.” He shoots me a dark grin, lowering his voice as they get close. “Bombs in the building's basement. Enough to bring the entire place to the ground.”

I don’t have a chance to respond. I’ve never been in an actual fight, but I don’t hesitate, kicking out hard and catching the first woman in the gut. She doubles over, groaning.

Max makes quick work of snapping a few necks, leaving me shaking as I go head-to-head with another woman. The sound of their bones breaking so quick and easy at Max’s hands echoes through the hall and around my head.

“Stop fighting us,” she says to me. “You’re safe now. You’re not like them.” She flicks a glance at Max. That’s when I strike. My fist flies toward her face, and when it connects with her nose, I hear a satisfyingcrunchas her nose breaks. Blood gushes from her nostrils and she cries out, stumbling back into the last guy.

Max and I exchange a look. I nod at him, and he advances. I close my eyes, unable to watch as he snaps their necks.

“Aurora.”

My eyes fly open at the sound of my actual name on Max’s lips. He’s standing in front of me. I blink a few times, then glance down to see his hand held out to me.

I nod once, grabbing it. “Let’s bring this place down.”

* * *

We’ve been running through the building for what seems like forever. Any time we run into more Experiment members, we fight through them, leaving more bodies piled on the floor in our wake. They must know we’re making our way through the levels, but hopefully they don’t knowwhatwe’re doing.

Max is about to finish another member, but I grab his arm. “Wait.” I pull the badge off the guy’s jacket. “He has a higher security clearance than the rest of them. He might know where it is.”

Max’s lips twist into a smile that would turn anyone’s stomach. “Wonderful.” He flicks his tongue over his bottom lip and jerks the guy’s face toward him, snaring his gaze. “Where’s the self-destruct remote detonator?” It’s a toss-up whether fae influence will work, considering feeding does but shifting doesn’t.

But then the man’s eyes pop wide, and he stutters, “It’s… in the… control room one… level below.”

“How does it work?”

“Once the button is pressed, the building locks down. The doors seal, keeping everything already inside here. Then the explosives detonate, ensuring the building and everything inside are destroyed.”

My entire body feels cold and my voice trembles when I say, “Ask him if the room is protected.”

Max repeats my words, using his manipulative influence over the man.

He nods. “Of course.”

“How?” Max snaps.

“By guards.”

Max looks as if he’s struggling to keep himself from killing this guy before we get the information we need. “How many?

“Th-three, sometimes four. The detonator remote is locked in a cabinet. It’s heavily guarded. You can’t get in.”

Max’s responding smile is slow, wicked. It shoots goosebumps across my arms. “Thanks for your help,” he says. "We’ll take it from here.”

I don’t have time to turn my eyes away before Max snaps his neck and lets his body drop to the floor.

He wipes the sweat from his brow and settles his gaze on me. “You still breathing over there, blondie?” he checks.

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