Page 43 of Wings of Ashes
“And that is?”
“I want to become strong enough to bend metal.”
Professor Matten raised an eyebrow. “How…oddly specific.”
The sound of a masculine throat cleared, and Nix looked over her shoulder to seeRykerjogging over to them.
The hulking, deadlydragonshifter who was friends with the mentally unstable incubus.
I guess my day could get worse, Nix thought to herself.
Ryker wore the same workout uniform as the other men; yet, on his bulky body, it was…tight.
Um.Wow. Nix’s mouth watered as she watched Ryker run in slow motion to her and Professor Matten.
His light gray work-out shirt with the Alatus Academy symbol fit him like a second skin. It was stretched so taut over his broad shoulders and chest that the fabric clung to each ripple and line of his muscular abs.
Could they not find him a larger shirt? Damn.
The long, dark blue cotton shorts also fit him differently than the others. Due to his thick, muscled thighs and his extreme height at over six feet and five inches, the shorts rode only a few inches down from the danger zone. Danger zone: his crotch.
Nix swallowed her excess saliva and tried not to look at how the shortscuppedhis dick. His massive, bulge of a dick.Thatwas flaccid?
Nix shook her head, trying to physically shake the inappropriate thoughts out of her.
The thin fabric of the shorts hid none of the bobbing movement of his dick as he ran toward them. It was so blatantly pornographic; Nix wondered how no one was talking about it.No one else seemed to notice. Was it wrong that Nix noticed and did a double-take?
He was a dragon shifter. A mindless, violent destroyer—probably related to her parents’ murderer.
You cannot be attracted to a killer, Nix!
“Ah, that’s my TA,” Professor Matten said as Ryker landed on the grass a few feet from them. “I’ve been wondering where you’ve been. You missed class yesterday.”
Ryker looked at Nix before nodding to Matten and grunting, “Sorry.” His gaze snapped right back on Nix. “Why is she on the ground?”
The most words Nix had ever heard from him, and they were demeaning.
Pride hurt, Nix ground her teeth again. She got up on her knees to wobble into a standing position.
“The running got to her,” Matten replied. “She’s a prey shifter after all. They’re not built for it.”
Rude. Also, how unfair was it that other prey shifters evolved to have camouflage abilities or weaponized skin? Yet, Nix and the other cygni had learned to mate with and appease their predator instead of developing ways to protect themselves.
Matten told him, “I’d like you to take over some of her training to get her up to speed. She’s been tearing my focus away from the other students who are ready for harder drills.”
Ruder.
Wait, what?
“Um, I don’t need to be paired with him,” Nix said quickly. “Please.”
Matten frowned. “Did you forget your ‘why?’” She referenced Nix’s motivation to get stronger.
To never be kept in a cage. To never be captured in this new life.
Nix huffed and mumbled, “No.”
Matten nodded to Ryker. “She wants to build strength. Once she has more endurance and a bit more to work with, we can run some self-defense drills with her.”
