Page 46 of Wings of Ashes (Wings of Ashes #1)

CHAPTER

A s Nix walked down the hallway of the academy’s main dorm building, she received stares.

Every person she passed seemed to pause mid-conversation, look at her, and gape.

Maybe it was having the school’s infamous incubus and the heartthrob professor walking right behind her. Right behind her.

Their scents intermingled again and wrapped her in a delicious, woodsy chocolate atmosphere. Like a sexy picnic with melted chocolate being licked off someone’s body in the woods. That was what their combined scent brought to mind.

Distracting.

Shivering, she swore Bael’s fingers hovered just over her ass, but every time she turned, he wore an innocent expression with his hands deep in his pockets.

Then again, maybe everyone stared at her because she wore a large male’s button-down shirt instead of the official uniform.

Or maybe it was the fact that she looked like an entirely different person. There were no other redheads at the academy, other than Ryker. His spiky dark crimson hair reminded her of black ink mixed with blood.

The new golden amber color of her eyes was also rare and uncommon amongst any shifter species that she read about.

Maybe Thierry could do some research and help her figure out what she was. What her parents had been. I don’t…remember much before the age of ten . That was when her parents went missing, and Elle’s family took her in.

“Wow, everyone is staring at you,” Bael whispered into her ear as they strode down the hall.

Again, she swore she felt the heat of his hand lingering just above the curve of her ass under Ryker’s stolen button-down.

“Or they are staring at Professor Hard-As-Rock and wondering what he is doing in a dorm building.”

Walking with Bael and Thierry caused an obnoxious level of attention. Like clockwork, each female student, who spotted the men, was overcome by a swoony, lustful expression that twisted into vicious jealousy when they noticed Nix with them.

Great. Nix wondered if this little “show” would result in another painted “ WHORE ” somewhere in relation to Nix. Then again, what would they paint? All of her belongings were burned. I guess I’m officially living in the house with Bael and Ryker.

She had been told when she started at the academy that there were “no other rooms.” That was part of why she had lived in such a tiny, broom-closet of a dorm room.

Those with power and connections got first pick of dorm rooms. Nix was a powerless orphan with no money, other than what the Oadess family paid on her behalf.

“ P-Professor ,” one girl in the hall squealed as they walked by her. “Why are you with her? ”

Nix ground her teeth and walked faster. “I told you two not to walk directly behind me.”

The incubus clucked his tongue. “But we have a better view of your ass up close.”

“Everyone knows you don’t like each other,” Nix said, keeping her back to them but knowing their super hearing would pick up a mere whisper. “It’s suspicious for you to be walking next to each other.”

“I think we have crossed the don’t-like-each-other line,” Bael remarked. “After all, his dream-dick was in my dream-mouth—”

Bael cut off, and a loud banging sound occurred after Thierry shoved the incubus into the wall and continued walking away from him, at Nix’s side.

Nix rolled her eyes at the group of girls who rushed over to “help” Bael stand. “You pushing a student into lockers is even less normal,” she whispered to Thierry. “Are you not concerned about what people will think? Rumors that could affect your job?”

“You are twenty years old and my mate.” Thierry calmly told her, “If anyone tries to get between us, they will find a stone fist in their jugular.”

Nix’s eyes widened at the suited, glasses-wearing man. “You are surprisingly violent under that sophisticated, cold exterior.”

“I know, his violent side is the only side of him I respect,” Bael said when he appeared at her side again. Dusting off his blazer, Bael asked, “So, what were the ‘important things’ you needed to do this morning without us?”

“I am going to visit a…friend.”

“You have friends?” Bael asked.

She elbowed him.

“I like your violent side, too,” Bael huffed after rubbing the section under his ribs that she had injured.

“I’d like to be left alone with my friend,” Nix told them as they rounded the corner and drew closer to Elle’s dorm room. She had questions for her “almost” sister.

“You want us to stand outside? Are you embarrassed about being mated to an actual gravestone?” Bael questioned her, gesturing to Thierry.

Thierry pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

Nix still did not know if Elle had known the illusion potion was poisoning her over the years. She also did not know who had broken into her room the night before and tried to kill her.

Does Elle know anything about the student disappearances?

Nix shooed Bael and Thierry to stand around the corner of the hall as she knocked on Elle’s door.

Elle’s soft giggle sounded from inside the room, followed by the rustling of clothing. “ Hurry ,” she told someone.

After a minute, the door swung open, and Elle emerged, smiling like a smitten kitten. When she saw Nix, her smile ripped from her face. Paling, Elle opened her mouth but silently sputtered as she absorbed Nix’s new look.

Even though Nix looked different, the other shifters would be able to tell it was her. As Bael had worded it last night, she still had the same “essence,” so he had known it was her on the roof.

“Hey, I was hoping to borrow a uniform,” Nix said.

“Nix,” Elle muttered in shock and feigned concern. “You look…”

“Yeah, I know,” she said. “Pretty crazy, huh? Dropped my potion by accident and couldn’t drink it.”

“I have some more,” Elle offered quickly, staring at Nix’s hair with concern. “Let me get you a vial now.”

“Who is it?” a masculine voice asked from inside the room.

Nix’s heart stopped. Her stomach dropped.

That voice . A voice etched into her memories.

Nix leaned over to glance behind Elle, further into the room.

Persius. Shirtless.

Nausea rocked Nix on her feet, and she swayed lightly, falling into the doorway and palming the wall to stay upright.

Had Elle slept with him? Nix’s mate?

Would he recognize Nix now?

“Persius,” Nix whispered because she couldn’t seem to find her full-volume voice.

His tan hands rubbed over his sleepy eyes as he walked toward the doorway. It was obvious he had slept over in Elle’s room. Shirtless. Where was his shirt?

Nix wanted to cry. This was not how this timeline was supposed to go. She wanted to scream and rampage. I demand a do-over!

Persius scratched at his left pec and looked at Nix from under his wavy bangs of platinum white-blond hair. Those electric blue eyes speared her.

MATE.

After an intake of breath, his beautiful eyes widened for a moment on her. The fingers he used to scratch his chest flattened over it. Directly over his heart. Had his just skipped, too?

Yes . This was it. The moment they could start over, without cages there to keep them apart.

Just like he had told her with his last breath, “ Find me in the next life, my love .”

“Persius?” Elle asked and laid a manicured hand on his forearm.

The moment she touched him, his blue eyes blanked. He blinked, like waking up from a dream. He recoiled lightly from Nix and frowned, removing his hand from his chest.

“This is my friend, remember?” Elle asked him. “The one who gets called that horrible, ugly nickname. The one who needed a date to the dance, so my brother asked her.”

Nix’s jaw fell at the not-so-subtle implication that Nix could not find her own date to a stupid dance.

Persius shot Nix a half-hearted and polite smile—the awkward but kind smile a person might offer a stranger—and said, “Right.”

A section of Nix’s heart broke off in her chest. It felt as if it floated around, bumping into other organs, hitting major arteries, and causing long-term internal damage.

He still does not recognize me as his mate .

What more could Nix do?

No, this was wrong. It was wrong .

This was not just the timeline punishing her; there was something else going on. Something nefarious.

The way he had looked at Nix just before Elle touched him…

Elle.

He had slept with Elle.

Wrong . All wrong.

Nix turned to Elle and snapped, “What did you do to him?”

“ Do to him?” Elle licked her lips and blushed. “You should be asking what he did to me .” Elle winked like they were best friends sharing a secret.

Now she is bragging. About sex. With. My. MATE.

Overcome by a fiery rage, Nix lurched forward and grabbed the wrist of Elle’s hand, the one she had laid over Persius. The skin she touched stung and itched like a spell was on the fritz, sparking beneath Elle’s skin.

A spell… Had she enchanted Persius?

“What…did you do?” Nix muttered, her heart breaking inside her chest and leaking liquid flame. Vengeful fire.

Nix recalled a time in their cages when Persius told her his worst fear was being controlled. After all, he told her how other paranormals locked up Pegasus shifters and tried to “break” them, like the humans did to horses.

Everyone wanted to “own” a Pegasus—one of the rarest winged shifters still alive today. “ Those who wish to be gods…trying to tame us as domestic flying beasts ,” Persius had told her.

If Elle was enchanting Persius, then she was controlling him—just as Persius said he never wished to be controlled.

Jerked closer to Nix by her tight grip on her wrist, Elle muttered, “Wow, you are strong?” The tone of her voice went up in surprise and confusion. When Elle met Nix’s wrathful gaze, Elle’s face paled. “Uh, Nix, your—your eyes…”

The sound of delicate bones snapped under Nix’s tight, crazed grip.

Elle shrieked out in pain from her broken wrist, trying to tug it away from Nix, but Nix did not let go.

Nix did not let go as her rage grew, a lit flame meeting the dryest of newspaper.

Elle dared to fuck with her mate’s mind and fuck his body? Elle enchanted him. If she could do that, maybe she could have knowingly poisoned Nix since childhood. Maybe she knew all along.

All of the times my torturer burned my skin and smiled.

All of the times he broke my fingers and calmly took notes.

Persius’ eyes dimming as he died in front of me.

Nix’s gaze fogged over with a haze of violent red as she yelled, “ What did you do to him? ”

“Oh gods,” Elle cried out in fear as she trembled. “Let me go! Nix, your eyes!”

Nix screamed at her, “ What did you do to me? WHAT DID YOU DO? ”

…

To be continued in the second book of the WINGS OF ASHES duology: EMBERS OF LUST.