Page 68 of Wings of Ashes
The academy alpha assholes needed to learn tostopsmelling her arousal.
She spun around to face him. “It’s always the women who have to cater to the men, huh? Instead of asking all the males to control themselves when smelling the pheromones of a satisfied coed, you expectmeto change clothes.Meto makethemfeel more ‘comfortable.’”
Meeting his gaze, she dipped her fingers under her skirt and pulled down her wet panties. His widening eyes followed the soaked fabric as it fell down the length of her legs.
She grabbed the damp panties and tossed them into the trashcan by the front door.
Holding her chin up high, she did not glance his way as she walked out.
27
CHAPTER
Nix walked into the cafeteria on shaky legs. Without her underwear, she wondered how muchstrongerher scent was to her fellow shifters.
Food. Focus on food.
Nix eagerly joined the line with a lunch tray and licked her lips when she saw the fresh pasta and vegetables steaming on the buffet line. In her past life at the academy, Nix had never enjoyed the food. She had been sickly thin—but, looking back, maybe that had been the weekly doses of poison.
During her captivity, Nix had daydreamed about the cafeteria food as her captor starved her.
Nix had learned to be grateful for everything in this second chance at life. Food, clean air, the freedom to see sunlight, and learning about topics that could actually be relevant to the future she wanted and not the future expected of her.
Even though an incubus has gained a concerning interest in me… Maybe she was grateful for the distraction he posed to keep her from falling back into her dark thoughts of her past and future.
A distraction from the betrayal.When I see Elle…what will I say?
And would Elle comment on the fact that Nix’s hair was a darker pink than yesterday? Would she wonder why Nix was not blonde after taking the potion? Would Ellepushthe potion onto her? Or would she feel indifferent if Nix decided to stop taking it?
The main question running through Nix’s head:Does Elle know about the poison?
For ten years, Nix had blindly trusted the Oadess family. Nix had taken their last name; she became one of them.
And Professor Bowen implied there could be permanent, lasting damage caused by the potion…
What if I can never truly shift?
Lost in her own thoughts, Nix did not see it coming.
The scent of strawberry milk tickled her nostrils just before the liquid dripped from her head, down her face and uniform. Nix coughed through the sudden river of pink liquid streaming down her visage.
Rubbing a sleeve over her eyes to catch the sticky, sweet strawberry milk, Nix turned to look behind her.
“You wanted to stand out from us? Congrats,” a female voice sneered at her. Nix recognized her as one of the popular members of the cygnus shifter clique.
With six years of knowledge into the future holding up space in Nix’s brain, she could not remember the girl’s name. Though Nix knew shehadknown it. In the past, when “mean girls” were the only threat she faced.
“You thought you could transfer into some of the alphas’ classes and dye your hair pink, so they would notice you?” Another woman, Astrid, crossed her arms and glared at Nix from beside the could-not-remember-her-name mystery woman. “Drop the classes,” Astrid told Nix.
Nix gaped, tasting strawberry milk dripping onto her lips. “Excuse me?”
“Stay away from the alphas.” Astrid’s blue eyes were glazed over with disdain as she scowled. “Or else.”
Nix snorted at the blonde’s threat. “Or else what?”
Astrid scoffed and muttered dramatically, “You don’t want to know.”
Nix bent over and shook her hair out like a dog. Strawberry milk shot out of her strands and splattered onto the tile cafeteria floor and the uniforms of Astrid and the other self-proclaimed mean girl.
