Chapter 12
Nix
The scent of cherries floats around me as I open the small box containing my cupcake.
Carefully, I lift the dessert free and peel back the edge of the paper circling the cake.
My eyes stay on the clock, waiting for the minute to turn over.
Every year, I wait for this moment, my actual birth time, to have my first bite of cake.
Counting down in my head, I inhale.
I tilt my head and glance down at the frosting.
Do I smell mint?
I look back up to the clock, and the time changes.
12:07
My thirtieth birthday.
I part my lips.
And a jolt of blazing heat spears through my chest.
The cupcake drops from my hand as I stumble back.
The intense feeling moves with me.
Fire consumes me.
Flames lick at my insides.
It’s so hot.
I feel so hot.
But it’s not painful.
It’s…
Heat pools low in my stomach, and a moan leaves me as I bend forward and brace my hands on my thighs, panting.