Chapter 19
“She is a walking death wish,” one of the masculine voices whispered.
Nix slowly woke to an empty bed and a soft headache. She rubbed her eyes and realized she could hear the men speaking from downstairs.
Were her powers growing stronger daily since taking the reversal potions to remove the Evernell poison from her system? I’ve never had super hearing before. She wondered if eavesdropping was immoral or mandatory.
“She is a phoenix,” another masculine voice stressed from faraway in the house. Were they talking about her in the kitchen? “With the red hair and the combustion habit, sooner or later, others are going to find out.”
“And they will demand her death sentence.”
“We could keep up the story that she is a female dragon shifter.”
“Still puts her in danger,” Ryker grunted from the kitchen.
Nix slowly, quietly, sat up in the bed, actively listening to their far away voices.
“Female dragons have been hunted to near extinction by the order of her adopted father and council president Kellan Oadess.”
“So, what then?”
“We either go on the run or…maybe we find a way to mute her powers while she is at the academy?” someone suggested.
“Fuck that.” The hostile voice of her incubus mate rang clear.
“Just until graduation. If she doesn’t burst into flames or show her wings, she can fly under the radar. She can finish her education, and we will all move her someplace remote and safe after graduation.”
Remote and safe? Nix was suddenly reminded of her old cage and the idea of being kept. Her skin glowed as her rage threatened to light fire over her skin.
She took a deep breath and held back the rising heat. Her skin dimmed without ejecting flames. She smiled at herself. I’m learning.
“Hide her away?”
“For her safety.”
“Again, I repeat, fuck that.”
“What do you suggest then, Baelfire?”
“How about we burn the whole academy down with the corrupt dean inside and then start a new school? One that doesn’t fucking suck and convince female prey that they need to fuck alphas for favor and safety.
While we’re at it, how about I send every last member of the shifter council to Hell, and we start a new council too. ”
There was a moment of silence.
“Maybe no more ideas from the heir of Hell for a bit.”
Nix’s eyebrows shot up at that. Bael was the heir to Hell? The nightmare prince.
“Muting her powers could work.” The male voices went back to the topic at hand. “Maybe a potion?”
Nix ground her teeth as she heard them discuss how to protect her without her opinion. Had the men learned nothing about how alphas making decisions for prey shifters pissed her off?
My mates have much to learn. She eased herself off the mattress and took silent steps to the door.
“She won’t need her powers anyway. We’ll be there to protect her. Always.”
“The second others find out what she is, we will have an angry mob screaming for her death. The council found phoenixes to be too powerful to be allowed to exist. Her powers are putting her in danger. Don’t you care about her safety?”
“All I know is, you guys are going to get your pussy-touching privileges taken away, and I’m going to enjoy it,” Bael told them.
Okay, Nix did love the incubus. She smiled at Bael’s words. Yes. Stand up for me. Tell them how stupid and ignorant they are being by trying to make a decision like that for me.
“Nix just realized what she is. She hasn’t been in history classes or heard about the phoenix stories. They kept her in cygnus classes like cooking and house making—”
“Again, let’s vote on burning the academy down and starting a new one?”
“Nix does not know about the thousands of deaths caused by phoenixes. The risk her powers pose to others. Trying to control the powers of a phoenix shifter is like humans with their nuclear bombs. How do you think she will feel when she accidentally wipes out a city?”
What? Nix stopped right outside the door, listening from the top of the steps. She looked down at her small hands, which appeared harmless. That much power lurked inside her?
No wonder her captor poisoned her every day.
“How do we do this?”
“We need a potion from Bowen. I will ask for it.” Thierry’s voice delivered the final blow.
They were really deciding to mute her powers, to dim her light, and dull her ability to protect herself. Without. Her. Opinion.
Screw them.
Just because fate said she was uniquely tied to each of them did not mean she had to obey them. For so long, thinking she was a weak prey shifter, she thought she had to obey alphas like the ones in the living room.
But I’m not a prey.
Her hands clenched into tight fists as she reassessed her surroundings.
She was getting out of this house and far away from the guys who were contemplating her future like she was a pawn or a pet.
Our world has taught them that women must be protected. Thus, women were weak. Thus, women were victims of violence.
And instead of teaching the violent actors not to hurt the female prey shifters, and teaching the females how to protect themselves, the academy taught them to cater to and obey the alphas, so the men would want to protect them.
Fuck this.
Nix’s mates were worried she would wipe out a city with uncontrolled flames? Maybe Bael was right. Maybe the shifter society needed to start over.
Nix threw on one of Ryker’s long button-down shirts again, covering her naked body—which may or may not have been covered in hickies—and escaped through the bedroom window.
They think they are smarter, but they won’t even know I’m gone.
They think they need to protect me, but I am what other alphas will need protection from.
Nix knew exactly where she was going as the sun rose behind the forest, lighting the morning with a haze of gold and casting sparkles over the morning dew.
“Nix?” Elle opened her dorm room door and smiled as if she had been expecting Nix. “Do you need to borrow a uniform?” Elle’s gaze fell over Ryker’s shirt. “I have plenty.”
Nix stared at her. And stared. She wondered if she could see through the act if she looked hard enough.
“I was going to come find you this morning if you didn’t come by.” Elle grabbed Nix’s arm and tugged her inside her room. “Adar was just trying on suits for the dance tonight. Wanted my opinion on what I thought would match your dress.”
Nix frowned, pulling her arms from Elle’s manicured fingers. “I don’t have a dress…” she trailed off.
Because when she looked at Adar, standing in his tailored dark suit, her brain blanked.
Her vision turned…pink.
Bubbly pink.
And pretty.
Adar was so…pretty.
“Doesn’t my brother look handsome?” Elle asked as Adar stepped over to where Nix stared at him, wide-eyed.
“You are going to look beautiful in your dress tonight, Nix,” Adar said, but this time his voice sounded so…alluring. Enchanting. Mesmerizing.
Pretty pink sparkles claimed Nix’s vision as she watched him move closer.
“Dress?” she asked, breathless.
“Elle picked one out for you last night.” Adar took Nix’s hand and kissed the back of her palm. “I’m so glad you said yes to being my date.”
Adar’s touch warmed Nix to her core and wiped every thought from her head.
Elle circled Nix and elbowed her back. Nix stumbled forward, dizzy for a moment, but Adar caught her in his lean, muscular arms. He held her up and chuckled good-naturedly.
“Don’t worry, Nix. I’ve got you,” he whispered onto the side of her face. “We’ve got you.”