Page 74 of Wings of Ashes
“Alphas are expected to be the leaders, the protectors, and providers. You all are the weaker sex.” He shrugged. “As such, you need to sweeten the deal. What doyoubring to the table?”
An alpha had just vocalized what Nix had learned the hard way.They will only offer you protection if you give them something in return. There was no right and wrong—only trades for wants and needs.
Men like him are the reason you ended up naïve, weak, and caged.
Nix cracked her knuckles and her stiff neck.
“Oh, shit, look at how angry she looks at you,” one of the males told Graeves.
“Does she actually think she canfightyou?”
“Ugly Fuckling’s brain broke.”
“Not like she needed it anyway.”
The men chuckled,amused.
Fuck their amusement. Nix wanted to…hurt them.
Maybe the rage was a side effect of guzzling the reversal potion. Maybe the rage had always been there—watching and waiting for the time to take over her and color her vision red.
When Nix pointed out that women slept with them for survival, he had said, “As they should.”
Nix may not have been taught any fight moves in combat class, but she had glanced over at her classmates while they had. She had watched with envy and tried to memorize any routines or moves she saw.
She breathed deeply as she shifted into a striking stance. Grounding herself with her weight, she raised her fists in front of her.
“Fuckling, you can’t actually be this stupid,” Graeves said. “I’m a fuckingalpha. If you hit me, all you’ll do is make me laugh and break your delicate hand in the process.”
Maybe it was worth it.
“She can’t be serious,” another of the males said.
“Ugly Fuckling, your greatest weapon is your face.”
Nix exhaled slowly and retracted a fist, preparing to swing.
“Hey,” Professor Matten announced from where she held a clipboard and walked over to the group of students in the center of the practice field. “Something going on here I should know about?”
Nix dropped her fist. She chewed her inner cheek and contemplated getting kicked out of the class just for a second of wiping the smug smirk from Graeves’s face.
As if the professor also did not view Nix’s fighting stance as a threat, Professor Matten continued, “Today, we will be running drills. I want everyone to match with someone for the first few moves. Try to find someone of similar height for this first round.”
Nix grimaced at the fact that no one in the class was a similar height to her. There were also an odd number of students, leaving her without a partner.
Professor Matten nodded to her. “Oadess, you’ll be with Ryker again today.”
Nix stood up for herself. “I would like to join the rest of the class and learn some drills.”
Professor Matten’s gaze flicked from Nix’s head to her toes. She replied simply, “No.” And focused back on the class.
Ryker slowly walked over to where Nix stood; his pained expression made it obvious to everyone what a trek he found it.So, he hates me now. Awesome. Nix wondered if he had seen her attempt to fight Graeves, who would Ryker have cheered for?
This sexy dragon shifter had saved Nix’s life earlier when she impulsively stole hyssop to make her own reversal potion. He was the man who had pressed her into his hot, provocative chest and grunted to her in a protective rumble, “You’re…okay.”
Now that Persius could not care less about her, did Nix still have to feel guilty over finding Bael, Ryker, and Professor Thierry attractive?
“One mile to start,” Ryker told her. His jaw ticked when he glanced down at her running shorts. Did he notice how they seemed shorter on her legs today?
