Page 45 of Wings of Ashes (Wings of Ashes #1)
CHAPTER
“ Y ou seem nervous.”
“Stop listening to my heartbeat,” Nix scolded Thierry as she ran a hand down the large button-down of Ryker’s that she wore and tucked her knees under her as she sat on the couch. “It’s rude.”
“Let’s get you relaxed before your classes this morning.” Bael rubbed his hands together and strode over to the kitchen. The open interior concept of the house allowed Bael to keep Nix within his sights as he ransacked the kitchen. “You want some calming tea? An orgasm or two?”
What Nix wanted was to think .
She did not have the one and a half years to prepare for her future that she thought she did.
My future captor might be on campus right now . Watching. Waiting. Stealing away others before he took Nix.
What if, in this timeline, he grabbed Nix earlier? Strange things were already happening…
Like Persius and Elle. The idea of it made her nauseous. And angry. Like she wanted to break something expensive.
Had I ever been such a hothead in my past?
Nix needed to see if Persius recognized her today. She finally looked like herself: hair fully red, eyes a different color, and body and skin tone altered. She hoped it was a sign that the last of the illusion potion was out of her system.
And maybe this time, Persius’s instinct will tell him I am his mate .
Yes, she was Thierry’s mate, and she appeared to be Bael’s favorite plaything of the month, but she knew Persius down to her bones.
He is a piece of me . And even more than that, she needed to get close to him and figure out how to steer their lives in the opposite direction of their future captor.
“You appear to be very in your head at the moment,” Thierry commented. “I know the feeling well.” Thierry’s long, warm arms wrapped around her and pulled her head to his muscular chest.
Cradled into him, his chocolate cherry scent distracted her. There was too much to think about to afford such a distraction.
His lips brushed over her hair, kissing her temple as he held her close.
Focus, Nix!
There was still the underlying mystery of: if I am not a cygnus, what kind of shifter am I?
Bael said that the students disappearing were of rare shifter species descent or that they were a type of shifter that Kellan Oadess felt threatened by. Nix had no super strength or powers, not like her peers. So, what was she?
Where do I belong?
“I am thinking she needs an orgasm before class,” Bael concluded. “Look at that brain working a mile a minute.”
As Bael moved back over to where Nix and Thierry sat in the living room, Nix abruptly stood from her seat and said, “Listen, what happened last night—in the dream…”
Bael blinded her with a sexy, crooked grin as he walked closer to her. “Yes?”
Flashes of images from the shared sex dream drifted through her brain.
Thierry’s glassy eyes as he desperately humped the air for her touch every time Bael pulled her away from him. Bael’s patient, amused, and almost loving smile on her as she learned techniques to drive Thierry wild .
She swallowed thickly before finishing her sentence. “Can only happen in dreams.”
Bael blinked, and his grin fell off his face and onto the floor. Even Thierry wore a distressed, concerned expression. Bael asked, “What now? Is this because of fear that I will steal your soul? Baby, as an incubus, I would have to come inside you three times for that to—”
“No.” The image of Bael coming inside her just left her blushing harder. “There are just, um, more important things that I need to focus on right now,” Nix told the men who slowly inched closer and closer to her. “And I need to maintain focus.”
“On important things?” Thierry echoed her. A man who listens . Was there anything sexier?
But if Nix ended up distracted by her lust and feelings for the men and was captured and ended right back in her cage, getting tortured, she would have wasted her second chance at life. She would never forgive herself.
Straight-faced and with genuine bafflement, Bael said, “I don’t understand what could be more important than sex with me.”
Nix sighed. “I have something I need to do this morning. Alone.”
“Masturbate?” Bael asked.
“Study?” Thierry inquired. “I could assist you—”
“No.” Nix side-stepped around Bael and began to head to the door. “I need to visit a, uh, friend on campus. Alone.”
“Alone?”
“Alone.” Nix offered a definition to the confused-looking incubus, “On my own.”
“I think you forgot that someone might have tried to kill you last night.”
Nix froze on her way to the door.
“What if they try something again today? You don’t have alpha healing, Nix,” Bael told her as if she did not already know and curse that fact.
“So?”
“ So? ” Thierry repeated in disbelief. “You were the one who told me that your kind require protection, that you are more likely to be taken and abused and—”
“I’m going to be fine,” she exclaimed, exasperated.
Okay, so maybe she wouldn’t be fine. In her past life, her room had never caught fire. She had never had someone break into her room and paint WHORE over her bed.
It was a new future already. What if she didn’t have until graduation before everything went to shit? I have an uncertain amount of time to change my future.
“You need one of us with you at all times,” Thierry said.
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
“The only sitting you need to do is on my face,” Bael commented.
Thierry shouldered Bael, sneaking in to stand between Nix and the incubus.
The professional professor loomed over her, holding her gaze hostage. “I have waited my entire life, knowing I had two options: to turn into inanimate stone or to find my mate. I will not lose you now that I have you.”
Nix sputtered, “I have important things to do before class this morning.” How was it that “Ugly Duckling” was having a hard time giving the two gorgeous, sexy men in front of her the brush off?
Thierry replied smoothly, “Then, we’re coming with you.”
“Even though I specifically requested to be alone?” Nix inquired. Okay, maybe her studly professor mate did not listen.
“I just told you that some students are disappearing. After your little room incident, we’re not going to be leaving you alone again.” Bael continued, “Even when you shower, I will take one for the team and watch you—”
“Whatever,” Nix said, grabbing the doorknob and gesturing for them to follow her. “Just hurry up.”