Page 8 of Wings of Ashes
The old Nix might have run and hid from such a topic. Instead, she took one step forward and locked gazes with the mouthy blond student.
“Andwhywill I be a distraction?” she asked.
Graeves blinked in surprise at how confidently she spoke to him. He replied, “Because…you’ll try to seduce us.”
One second passed.
Two seconds.
Then, Nix’s head fell back as a loud, uncontrollable belly-laugh shook her small frame. She laughed so hard, her lungs stung from the lack of breathing for the full minute. By the time she caught her breath and calmed herself, all of the male students stared at her with wide-eyed expressions. The female student smirked at her.
“I’m here to learn about potions. Not small penises.” Nix glanced back at the professor. “Is there a specific seat I should sit in?”
Biting back a smile, Professor Bowen waved toward the entire classroom. “Anywhere that is open. Up to you.” He turnedback to his desk to grab one of his papers. “Now, if we can begin—”
“Professor!” Graeves exclaimed in shock again. “You don’t understand. I’m not saying I’dwantto fuck her. I mean, look at her. But the distraction thing—she may not even do it consciously.”
He continued, “Being around strong alphas can trigger certain pheromones in her species. Those pheromones will create aharddistraction, if you get what I mean.” He pointed to his crotch. “Doesn’t matter how ugly she is. The pheromones are like the mortal ecstasy drug.”
Wow. Yes, if Nix were a prey shifter, she would have run the risk of releasing pheromones and going into heat around the other alphas. But Nix onlylookedlike a cygnus prey shifter.
The truth was that she did not know what kind of shifter she was—a prey, born weaker, or an alpha predator. Powers had never manifested. She had never been able to shift.
I have certainly been treated like a prey all my life.But that stopped now.
Deep wrinkles formed around Professor Bowen’s mouth as he frowned. “You say strong alphas bring out these distracting pheromones?”
“Yes!”
“Well, then maybe for the safety of the classroom, she should sit right next to you, Mr. Graeves.”
A few chuckles sprinkled through the classroom as Graeves’s face reddened.
Nix wandered to the back row of the classroom, where most of the seats remained empty. “No, thank you,” she called from the back. “I’ll just keep my pheromones to myself back here.”
There were exactly four empty seats in the very back row. Two were available beside the broad-chested, reddish-brownhaired man who sat next to Mr. Sunglasses, and the other two were empty on the other side of Mr. Sunglasses.
It was as if students had purposefully left the two friends with open spots around them. Theydidradiate some strong, dark energy.
Nix plopped down into the seat, leaving one desk between her and Mr. Sunglasses.
“Howconvenient,” Mr. Sunglasses sneered at her as if she had been plotting and scheming to sit near him for years. All because she ran into him in the hallway? What was his problem?
“Do you see anywhere else for me to sit?” Nix muttered back angrily.
His dark eyebrows shot up again as he flashed her another amused smirk. “Trying to act like you didn’t want to sit right next to me? Darling, just because I’m wearing sunglasses doesn’t mean I can’t see right through you.”
Nix rolled her eyes and tried to focus on the class. From the back row, Nix had to strain to hear Professor Bowen introduce the next class potion group assignment. She was not gifted with supernaturally strong hearing like many of the winged shifters in her class.
“Wow, now acting like you’re actually here for the class,” Sunglasses remarked in a sardonic tone.
His low voice floated over to her like a seductive snake. The low vocal melody wrapped around her and squeezed. She tried to block his voice out.
He continued, “Look at that furrowed brow and pouty lip as if you’re trying to really listen.”
“Can you shut the hell up?” Nix snapped at him.
She wondered what type of shifter Indoor-Sunglasses guy was. She didn’t know of any shifters particularly sensitive to light. Granted, she did not know much about other shiftersin general. Another reason she enrolled inHistory of Winged Creatures.
