Chapter 32
“Phoenix shifters only move through time when their fire is extinguished before they reach full immortality age.” Thierry connected the dots. “Thus, when they die—” He cut off on the realization.
“You fucking died?” Bael exclaimed.
The men all exhaled choppily. Nix bristled at their sudden apparent pain and dread. Cue the guilt. Good, she thought.
“How did you die?” Persius asked huskily.
“We were…responsible?” Ryker asked brokenly.
“That doesn’t sound like me,” Bael said. “Did I get killed first? Cause I had to be dead to let you die.”
“You let them—” Nix pointed to the others. “—put me in a cage,” Nix deadpanned.
“In a sexy way?”
Her eyes narrowed. “No.”
Reading her murderous expression, Bael raised his hands in the air. “Whoa, don’t hate Present Bael for something Future Bael did. Honestly, baby, he sounds like a real asshole.”
Nix turned to Thierry, the main leader of the “lock Nix up” group, and told him, “You.”
Thierry pointed to himself, his face silently asking, “Who? Me?”
Nix jabbed a finger into Thierry’s hard, muscular chest. The force of her pointer finger jostled his black-framed glasses.
“You think you are so smart.” She glanced around at all of her alpha mates. “You all think you know better than me. Why?”
“We don’t—”
“Yes, you do. You may pretend to respect me, but you aren’t willing to prove it when I say something you don’t agree with. You can pretend to listen, but if you always do what you want, then what does it matter? Why do you think your thoughts and ideas are better than mine? Truly, I want to know.”
“I am older than you; I’ve seen more of the world—” Thierry began.
“Dumb as a fucking rock,” Bael muttered under his breath. “It was a rhetorical question, Stoney.”
“She said she wanted to know.”
“Newsflash, you’re not that much older than me,” Nix told him. “I’m from six years in the future.”
Thierry swallowed and nodded stiffly. “Apologies.” Lucky for him, he appeared remorseful.
“It shouldn’t matter if I am a swan, a dragon, or a phoenix shifter. You do not get to decide ‘what to do’ with me without consulting me.”
She looked right at Thierry as she said, “I told you that if you left me there, in that cage with a stranger, that I would never forgive you. And. You. Still. Left. You are the reason I died.”
Her words acted as a spear driving through his chest. Thierry stumbled back a step; his mouth hung open in horror as his wide eyes projected an aching sadness. “Nix… It wasn’t me.”
She added, twisting the invisible knife she lodged in his chest, “Yet. I promised myself in this second chance at life, back at the academy, that I would never be helpless again,” Nix admitted and flinched at how she had failed, at how she had become distracted.
“That I would not be subject to the mercy and ‘kindness’ of self-righteous, self-centered alphas.”
“Baby—” Bael began.
“Fuck all of you. Why do you think you should have any final say on what happens to me and my body?” Flames lit up Nix’s hair like a glorious halo.
“Nix…” Thierry opened and closed his mouth twice before speaking. “I cannot fathom a situation where I would knowingly put you in danger. To put you in a cage, I—I must have had a good reason—”
“Oh, defend yourself more.” Her eyes flashed a flaming red. “I dare you,” she told him.
“I—I’m sorry.” Thierry’s breath caught, and he rubbed a hand over the left side of his chest. “I’m sorry.”
Pushing her shoulders back, Nix told them, “You all need to learn to respect my thoughts and decisions as much as your own. Trust me when I say, I will walk away from you all—I watched you do it to me.” Left me in a cage.
A growl rumbled in Ryker’s chest.
“So, this time around, we are going to go with my plan.” I need to come up with a plan, she thought internally, whilst feigning complete confidence.
“You can either get out of my way or do exactly as I say,” she told them.
“Can you do that? Ignore your alpha me-so-smart-and-strong instincts and listen?”
She expected some level of insult to be taken, but instead, her men gazed at her with remorse.
Thierry exhaled choppily. “I think something has not been made clear, and I take responsibility for that.”
The next second, Thierry kneeled in front of her. He stole her palm and kissed the back of it.
He said, “My mate, my heartbeat, every book I have read was to prepare to act as your advisor—never your decider. Any knowledge I have is for you to use; never to be used against you.”
He continued, “I do not seek to control you or own you or make your choices for you.” His silver eyes penetrated her soul as he swore, “From this day, the only iron fist you will see from me will be around your enemies’ throats—at your command.”
Persius kneeled as well, stealing her other hand to kiss and swear his loyalty.
Ryker fell to both knees, right between the other two, and kissed her abdomen. “Mine. And yours.”
Bael blew a kiss at her. “You know I’ll do whatever you want. Always.”
Nix huffed and crossed her arms over her chest—not able to fully forgive. Still, emotions swelled and wrung in her chest. “I need a protection potion this morning.”
Bael cocked his head to the side in curiosity.
Able to look back on her memories with a clear head, Nix informed them, “The Oadess family enchants me today to make me believe I am in love with Adar. You all found me with him and hid me away.”
“Found you with him?” Bael’s red eyes flashed. “Found you how?”
“It doesn’t matter. Nothing happened—”
“Did he try something?” Persius asked in an unusually dark voice for the normally sunshine-like man.
“Focus. We need to find Professor Bowen first, then his replacement.”
“Replacement?” Thierry asked in surprise.
“He should know where the other missing students are being held. Maybe even Ryker’s brother,” Nix said, watching her dragon mate closely. She wanted to bring his brother back to him. It had been one year since his brother went missing.
Ryker’s mouth opened as a spark of hope lit his golden eyes.
I will not let that spark be extinguished.
“I was warned that going back in time could cause worse things to happen to me, but I chose to do it anyway because we will need the advantage,” she said.
Nix just had to fix the day—find out where the other captive students were being held, kill her mad scientist nightmare “Lemmuns” again, and somehow destroy the shifter council president.
“Advantage to do what?” Thierry asked.
“To take down Kellan Oadess.”