Page 5 of Wings of Ashes
Nix was somethinghewanted. Rare? Perhaps. He always whispered to her through her cage, “My special little birdie.”
By the time their paths crossed in this second chance at life, Nix would be a birdie with claws. Talons so sharp, he would not dare cage her. But what type of winged shifter was she?
Walking down the hall to her first class of the new semester at Alatus Academy, daydreaming about revenge, she walked right into a hard, muscular, male chest.
She rammed into a man so hard that she bounced right off of him and tumbled to the ground. Her ass throbbed at the sudden, painful landing.Great. That sting would last for the day, reminding herself to be more vigilant. Nix had never been a fast healer like the other shifters.
The sound of laughter and muffled snickering wafted through the hallway at her fall. A bystander whispered, “Ugly Fuckling could’ve taken a face plant, and it would have made no difference.”
Blushing, Nix rushed to stand and assess her situation.
“See?” Exasperated, the man, who possessed the violently hard set of abs beneath his tight black shirt, exclaimed to his friend behind him. “I told you that women attack me!”
The friend—a stoic witness to Nix’s embarrassing crash—was a massive build of darkness tucked into an oversized hoodie. He walked right away from the scene, passing a disgruntled Nix without a single look. He moved so swiftly, he blurred. She hardly got a look at him other than broad shoulders, tall height, and an overall aura of doom and gloom.
Instead, her gaze focused solely on the man who had just claimed she attacked him.
The…heartbreakingly and hauntingly gorgeous man.
Her breath caught as she stared.
He reminded Nix of a dark prince. Black clothing fit him, snug, from head to toe. Long, wispy, black hair perfectly framed his face.
His plush lips were so provocative, they could have been deemed vulgar—like the sight of his lips was something parents would block their young daughters’ eyes from seeing because it would give the girls too many “adult ideas.” Especially the little hoop lip-piercing.
Wearing several dark rings and featuring swirling, devil tail tattoos from his hands, up his arms, and under his shirt, he was the embodiment of dark, rich desire.
Even his scent was a sweaty, earthy smell that brought to mind images she had no right imagining. Slick, naked bodies, shuddering and moving against each other. Low moans eaten up by the sound of rain pinging against tree branches and forest floor.
Sex in the woods.Thatwas his scent.
Even though they stood indoors, a pair of dark sunglasses blocked the view of his eyes. His razor-sharp cheekbones addedto his untouchable and dangerous persona. Like he was the needle in the Sleeping Beauty human fairytale. Seductive, but cursed. Alluring, but deadly.
Hmm, the prick reminds me of a needle, Nix thought to herself. Fitting.
The old Nix would have submissively looked down at her feet and scurried away, uttering apology after apology.But I am starting new this semester.
It was notallher fault for running into him. Shifters had quick reflexes. He had chosen not to move.Because the males here all expect the women to bend, submit, say “thank you,” and disappear.
Nix tipped her chin up—because wow, he was tall—and asked, “Is this the part where you tell me to look where I’m going next time?”
The bystanders in the hall gasped.
Were they that shocked at Nix showing a backbone? Yeah, things would be different in this new life.
One bystander asked at a low volume, “Ugly Fuckling thinks she can talk tohimlike that?”
“She must have hit her head during the break,” someone whispered back.
“Can’t wait to watch the trash get taken out,” another said.
The man Nix ran into ignored everyone in the hallway around him. Did he hear their comments? He seemed focused solely on her.
The seductive man’s dark eyebrows shot up in surprise from over his sunglasses. “Blondie, don’t act like you didn’t know exactly where you were going and exactly who you were walking right into.”
Who? Was he someone special? He clearly thought so.
She had no idea who he was. It was hard to remember years back to the academy, and her version of wallflower-shy hadnever crossed paths with a man like this. He was too…menacing. Too dominating. Too Alpha.
