Chapter 4
“Aw, look what your dragon dick did to her, Ryker,” Bael teased. “She can’t even walk.”
Nix glared at the incubus and shot back, “Then, what am I doing right now?”
“Stumbling.”
Bael and Ryker followed her as she staggered on jerky, weak legs down the hallway, back to Professor Bowen’s class. She now wore Bael’s blazer, which just barely covered her ass, while Ryker and Bael followed her.
Ryker’s pants hung open from where he had ripped through them to free his erection earlier, and both men were shirtless from breaking through their shirts with their wings.
It was dreadfully obvious what had just occurred.
The bell had already rung, and most students were in their second class of the day, but Professor Thierry’s origin history class would have to wait.
Nix needed a potion for Persius.
“Miss Oadess… Do you, uh, need some pants?” Professor Bowen asked when she strode into his empty classroom.
Thankfully, he did not teach a second class in the morning, so no one was witnessing her I-just-got-fucked-within-an-inch-of-my-life hair and wardrobe.
“Don’t look at her legs, and you’ll keep your eyesight, Teach,” Bael told him.
“Professor,” Nix began. “I think I know someone else who has been bespelled, and I wanted to ask for a potion to prove it or undo it somehow.”
“Another?” Professor Bowen quirked an eyebrow. “Do you believe it is the same culprit who did the same to you?” he asked.
Nix felt the heated stares of Bael and Ryker at her back.
Professor Bowen continued, “The likelihood of two different students bewitching another—”
“Professor, is there something you can give me for the person who is bewitched? A potion or charm or anything to reverse the effects?”
Professor Bowen stood from his chair and turned to his bookshelf.
He rifled through some items. “I could give you a small protection potion,” he offered.
“It absorbs into the skin within seconds; the subject won’t even notice it happening.
The chemicals counteract traces of enchantments in the subject’s body and should return the mind to normal. ”
As he pulled out a small vial from his collection, Professor Bowen added, “The best part is that it acts as a week-long protection against any other spells or harmful potions. So, the person should be safe for a week if you can nail down the culprit. I am sure Dean Felling would be interested in students misusing their powers—”
“Thank you.” Nix carefully took the vial of sparkly pink liquid. She just needed to find a way to “accidentally” spill it onto Persius without revealing to Elle that she was onto her.
“I am here to help my students.” Professor Bowen gave her a kind smile. “Now…if you would like to discuss what happened this morning—”
Nix blushed from her head to her toes.
“Yeah, found out Nix is actually a dragon shifter,” Bael said. “Very exciting new fact for Ryker here, who thought he would die alone.”
Ryker stepped forward, clasped Nix’s free hand, and threaded his fingers with hers. The big, hulking, scary-looking dragon shifter was holding her hand.
Aww. She melted.
Bael rolled his eyes.
Professor Bowen looked at their joined hands and pursed his lips. His brows drew down, and he shook his head. “Dragon shifters breathe flame; they do not typically burst into flame,” the professor told them.
“Must be a rare female dragon thing.” Bael shrugged, scratching at his bare chest. “Females are so rare, I bet not many of us know everything they can do.” He winked at Nix. “Maybe we could put your leg all the way up, behind your head, as we—
Professor Bowen added, “There are other—”
Another bell rang, before the loud buzzing of an academy announcement. “Student Nix Oadess to report to the dean’s office. Student Nix Oadess to the dean’s office, please.”
“Oh shit, someone is in troublllleee,” Bael sang, laughing at Nix’s current outfit. The mischievous demon had probably been in trouble so often that he could walk to the dean’s office blindfolded.
“How am I supposed to go to the dean’s office like this?” she asked, exasperated. Bael’s blazer displayed all of her cleavage and barely covered her sexy bits below.
“I suggest visiting the nurse’s office. They keep extra school uniforms,” Professor Bowen said. “Let’s chat tomorrow, Miss Oadess.”
Nix nodded and grumbled, “To the nurse, then to the dean I go.”
Where she needed to go was to find Persius, and if he was enchanted, set him free.
“I will free us,” Persius had promised her in their cages. “I swear it to you.”
Nix pocketed the protection potion. I will free you.
“Miss Oadess,” Dean Felling greeted her from his dark wooden desk as she walked into the dimly lit office. “Do you know why I called you to my office?”
Was it her bursting into flames, her public orgy in the courtyard, or how she broke Elle’s wrist this morning?
Dressed in an extra girl’s uniform, Nix said, “Actually, I—”
The door swung open again.
Bael and Ryker strode inside, also fully dressed now.
The dean frowned. “Gentlemen, this is a private meeting—”
“With our girl,” Bael said, throwing his body down onto one of the plush chairs and leisurely stretching over it.
Dean Felling raised an unhappy eyebrow and looked to Nix. “Miss Oadess?”
Nix sighed. “I cannot seem to go anywhere without them following me, sir.”
Dean Felling scoffed, looking to Bael and Ryker. “As the dean of Alatus Academy, I demand you leave Miss Oadess and me to our meeting in private.”
Bael twirled his blade in his hand, playing with it. “Nah.”
Ryker, stoic and silent, simply crossed his arms over his chest and stood at the door, scanning the room for possible threats to Nix’s safety.
As annoying as they were…Nix kind of loved it. How am I supposed to get captured in this life with these two by my side?
“I have heard some troubling news, Miss Oadess, and the presence of these two…students—” Dean Felling bit out the word as if he wanted to say something else in regards to Ryker and Bael. “—suggests that the rumors are true.”
“Rumors?” Nix asked.
“I have heard you have dyed your hair red, dishonoring and betraying your ancestral cygnus appearance, and enrolled in classes with male alphas such as potions and combat—”
The door swung open again. This time, it was Thierry.
Nix rubbed a hand over her blushing face.
“Professor Thierry,” the dean said in surprise. “Did we have a meeting scheduled?”
“I heard the announcement about the dean needing to meet with Miss Oadess and wondered if you needed me.”
The dean shook his head. “Why would I need you?”
“No,” Thierry said, stepping closer to Nix’s chair and making eye contact with her as he palmed the back of her seat and leaned down. “Do you need me?” he asked her, his minty breath wafting over her face.
Dean Felling sputtered, “What is this?”
“She is my mate,” Thierry told him with a blank expression that did not ask for any sort of permission or opinion.
“A student is your mate?”
“My fated mate. So, please ignore my presence, as I wait to hear what you wish to say to her.”
“This is ridiculous,” Dean Felling stated. “This was meant to be a private meeting. I cannot conduct it with you all here as well.”
“Why?” Bael questioned. “Why does it have to be private?”
Dean Felling stammered, “Excuse me?”
“Her mates are in the room. Under shifter law, nothing can separate mates.”
“It’s just a meeting…”
Bael continued, palming his blade, “I also can’t help but think that the only reason the big, strong dean would be upset over others attending a meeting with a young woman is because he planned to manipulate or intimidate her in some way during said meeting.
Otherwise, why would you care if people who care about her are in the room while you talk to her? Seems suspicious.”
Nix gaped at Bael. He sounded like one of those word-twisting human attorneys. It was hot as hell.
Even Thierry nodded at him and prodded his black-rimmed glasses higher on the bridge of his nose to listen in on the dean’s reply.
“Miss Oadess, will you please dismiss them so we can speak?” Dean Felling requested, folded his hands over the desk, and waited for her to comply.
“Actually…I agree that there is no reason you should have to meet alone with me. Mates are protected from separation under shifter law. Anyone who is responsible for the separation of mates where the mates do not agree with such can be held—”
“Fine,” Dean Felling hissed. “I see now where some of the bad influence has come from. Miss Oadess, we have received a formal complaint about you from one of our most esteemed students.”
Had Elle complained about her? After her yelling fit and violent wrist-breaking act this morning?
The Dean added, “As you know, a formal complaint can be grounds for an immediate, permanent expulsion.”