Page 113 of The Seducer
Boulder groaned. “Don’t get your hopes up, okay?”
I was already getting out of bed and searching through my medical equipment. “I’ll call you later when I get a result.”
“Good. And Finn?”
“What?”
“Please don’t tell anyone about this, okay?”
“Ha!” I snorted. “That’s a promise I can’t give you. If Tristan is my son, I’ll make sure the whole world knows.”
Boulder groaned. “Fuck, Khan is going to kill me.”
“Gotta go,” I said and got a test kit before turning to Athena. “Wait here, I’m just going to get a sample from Tristan.”
“It’s five in the morning, Finn, he’ll be sleeping,” Athena objected from the bed. I was putting on my boots and jacket and was out the door before she could stop me.
I ran to the main building where the boys’ dorm was. The thought that I might be Tristan’s biological father had my heart racing. The thought of passing on my genes and leaving a footprint in the world was exhilarating. Most Nmen lived and died without procreating, or at least we had always thought so. Now it was possible that many of us had children that we didn’t know about.
The boys were sleeping when I opened the door to their room, but the light that I let in from the hallway shone down on Tristan, who was sleeping on a mattress in the middle of the room.
“Psst…” I whispered. “Tristan, come here.”
Making a grimace, he lifted his hand to shield his eyes from the light.
“Finn?” he asked in a drowsy voice. “Is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me, come here for a second.”
The gangly teenager got untangled from his blankets and pillows, and with a big yawn he joined me in the hallway. “What is it?” he whispered while rubbing his eyes.
“I just need a quick test from you, that’s all.”
“Now?” he asked with another yawn.
“Uh-huh,” I said and instructed him to open up wide so I could do a buccal swab on the inside of his cheeks.
“Is that it?” he asked.
“Yes, that’s it.” I smiled and suppressed my need to tell him what I had just learned. “Go back to bed and dream of hybrid races and cool designs,” I told him, and Tristan gave me the same lopsided smile that I had perfected since I was a child.
Slipping the test kit into the pocket of my jacket, I made my way back to my cabin chanting one thought over and over in my mind.Please let him be my son.
Athena was already dressed when I walked in. “Can you run the test here?” she asked.
“No.” I shook my head. “But the Gray Mansion has a small lab in the basement that I use sometimes. It’s a simple test so it shouldn’t take long.”
Athena swung her hands to the door. “All right, let’s do it then.”
“You’re coming with me?” I asked with a smile, my eyes shining with excitement.
“Wouldn’t want to miss it for the world.” She chuckled and put on her jacket.
We were mostly quiet on our way to the Gray Mansion. My mind was running amok with thoughts about what it would mean to me if I truly was Tristan’s dad, and the simmering anger at Khan for keeping something this big from us.
“I hope we don’t wake up Pearl and Khan,” Athena said, when we parked outside of the Gray Mansion.
“I don’t give a rat’s ass if Khan is woken up early – the man has a lot of explaining to do.”
