Page 41 of Wings of Ashes
“I had no idea you were such a nerd. Maybe if you got a pair of sexy librarian glasses, some white knee socks…”
“Not all of us know what kind of paranormal we are,” she snapped at him. The second the words exited her pretty mouth, she pressed her lips together like she had not meant to say them out loud.
Bael reached up and clasped his fingers around her pointer finger, which she had drilled into his hard left pec. “What do you mean by that, Swan Lake?” He swiped his thumb back and forth over her palm.
Why did it sound like she impliedshedid not know what kind of shifter she was? It was obvious just from looking at her. Long neck, slim, blonde, blue-eyed. Not Bael’s type, but he wasn’t about to argue with his erection. The appendage had committed far fewer crimes than Bael’s brain, after all.
With the potion still staining her platinum locks, her hair now appeared slightly pink. Bael liked it much better.
“N-Nothing,” she stuttered and nervously glanced away. “Never mind.” She tore her hand from his grasp, leaving his fingers…cold.
She crossed her arms and warned him, “Donotfollow me.”
“Say ‘pretty please.’”
She speed-walked from him again.
This time, he happily stood back and watched her short academy skirtswishand sway over her delectable ass.
He mumbled to himself, “More and more fascinating.”
17
CHAPTER
“Did you dye your hair?” Sarasa asked excitedly at the lunch table, staring at Nix in awe—the way people normally stared at Elle.
Elle was the center of attention of all the other cygnus shifters. After all, her father, Kellan Oadess, was the cygni clan leader and president of the winged shifters council.
Nix was the fade-into-the-background, boring but loyal friend. She was also the “Ugly Fuckling,” where any attention she did get was entirely negative and derogatory.
Sarasa was one of the few people who gave Nix positive attention. In her past life at the academy, Nix had never had pink hair or taken classes full of male alpha shifters. Was being daring the secret to respect?
Elle whined, “I don’t understand. You look so pretty as a blonde.”
“It was an accident in potions class. Hopefully, it will wash out when I shower tonight.” Was the pink stain washable? Nix sighed. “Oh, I did want to ask for, um—” Nix glanced at Sarasa, who did not know Nix took an illusion elixir to appear like theother cygnus shifters. “Uh, one of my drinks, in your fridge,” she told Elle.
Elle’s eyes widened, and she scanned Nix’s pink hair again with a new analytic expression. “Y-Yes, of course. I’ll bring it over tonight,” Elle promised.
“Great.” Nix was still unsure if she planned to give Professor Bowen a sample to “test” for malicious ingredients.
“So, do you have a date to the dance yet?”
Nix sighed again. The school dances had been the life of swan shifters when Nix was in school. Now, after knowing her future and all the things at stake—including her freedom—Nix could not care less about the newest spring dance.
Tuning out the talk about the upcoming dance, Nix silently ate her lunch, which consisted of massive helpings of food since her brain remembered years of starvation even if her younger body did not.
“Did you hear me?” a feminine voice asked.
Nix swallowed and glanced over to a girl who now sat across from Elle. “Hmm?”
“I said you can’t have them all to yourself,” the girl sneered at Nix.
What was she talking about? “I don’t know—”
“Don’t act innocent, bitch. We all follow the rules here. Enrolling intheirclasses gives you an unfair advantage. It’s selfish.”
Nix sat in mild shock for a moment. “What?”
