Page 115 of Wings of Ashes
Even though Nix looked different, the other shifters would be able to tell it was her. As Bael had worded it last night, she still had the same “essence,” so he had known it was her on the roof.
“Hey, I was hoping to borrow a uniform,” Nix said.
“Nix,” Elle muttered in shock and feigned concern. “You look…”
“Yeah, I know,” she said. “Pretty crazy, huh? Dropped my potion by accident and couldn’t drink it.”
“I have some more,” Elle offered quickly, staring at Nix’s hair with concern. “Let me get you a vial now.”
“Who is it?” a masculine voice asked from inside the room.
Nix’s heart stopped. Her stomach dropped.
That voice. A voice etched into her memories.
Nix leaned over to glance behind Elle, further into the room.
Persius. Shirtless.
Nausea rocked Nix on her feet, and she swayed lightly, falling into the doorway and palming the wall to stay upright.
Had Elle slept with him?Nix’smate?
Would he recognize Nix now?
“Persius,” Nix whispered because she couldn’t seem to find her full-volume voice.
His tan hands rubbed over his sleepy eyes as he walked toward the doorway. It was obvious he had slept over in Elle’s room. Shirtless. Where was his shirt?
Nix wanted to cry.This was not how this timeline was supposed to go.She wanted to scream and rampage.I demand a do-over!
Persius scratched at his left pec and looked at Nix from under his wavy bangs of platinum white-blond hair. Those electric blue eyes speared her.
MATE.
After an intake of breath, his beautiful eyes widened for a moment on her. The fingers he used to scratch his chest flattened over it. Directly over his heart. Had his just skipped, too?
Yes. This was it. The moment they could start over, without cages there to keep them apart.
Just like he had told her with his last breath, “Find me in the next life, my love.”
“Persius?” Elle asked and laid a manicured hand on his forearm.
The moment she touched him, his blue eyes blanked. He blinked, like waking up from a dream. He recoiled lightly from Nix and frowned, removing his hand from his chest.
“This is my friend, remember?” Elle asked him. “The one who gets called that horrible, ugly nickname. The one who needed a date to the dance, so my brother asked her.”
Nix’s jaw fell at the not-so-subtle implication that Nix could not find her own date to a stupid dance.
Persius shot Nix a half-hearted and polite smile—the awkward but kind smile a person might offer a stranger—and said, “Right.”
A section of Nix’s heart broke off in her chest. It felt as if it floated around, bumping into other organs, hitting major arteries, and causing long-term internal damage.
He still does not recognize me as his mate.
What more could Nix do?
No, this was wrong. It waswrong.
