Page 88 of Wings of Ashes
Thierry leaned his forehead to hers and panted onto her, trying to gain back control over his sensual impulses. “A fire?”
“Yes, in my dorm. It needs to be put out—”
“I will strangle it with my bare hands and return to you as quickly as possible.”
“I think a bucket of water might help put it out faster than your bare hands, but, uh—”
He kissed her nose, and she shut up at how sweet the gesture was. He rose to his feet. “You do not move from this spot,” he warned her before his gray, stone wings extended.
The wings and the still incredibly hard and distended erection stunned Nix from where she held herself up on her elbows, back against the rooftop.
His wings appeared to have etched feathers made up of a mosaic of shiny silver and speckled gray. Marble, granite, limestone. The rugged, irregularly shaped feathers created a rustic pattern and artistic texture.
He is a masterpiece. And she could stare at him for hours. Could learn his body for days.
I used to collect rocks to help with my anxiety, but he will be my new favorite thing to hold tight.
She was his mate. She nearly snickered at how horrible he had been when she first met him. Did saving her from death change so much? Or was it…
The reversal potion, Nix realized. What if the cygnus illusion potion had also interfered with her scent or essence of whatever it was that triggered the recognition of matehood?
What if Persius would recognize her now?
“Understood?” Thierry rasped, staring at her with wild silver eyes.
“I…I will stay right here,” she promised.
He nodded, stole one last look at her, and stepped off the roof to swoop down and destroy the fire. As a creature capable of shifting to stone, Étienne was impervious to harm by fire.
He will be safe, she told herself.
Staring up at the night sky, the stars blurred around her.
In the distance, she swore she saw something falling from the sky.
“She’s on the roof,”Bael shouted to Ryker as the two of them flew to the dormitory building.
Bael and Ryker lived off campus in a small house after the dean of the academy decided that a dragon shifter capable of such destruction and a creature of Hell did not belong in its cushy, bougie dorm rooms.
Bael would never forget the chilling fear he felt when Nix asked, “Do you smell smoke?” as the shared dream between them fizzled out.
“Bleeding,” Ryker snarled as the scent of her blood caught in the air.
They swooped down, retracting their wings as they settled onto the roof, where she laid back in a torn, ice blue nightgown.
The smell of blood and smoke veiled her normal tart and sweet scent. In fact, she was nearly unrecognizable because…
Just like in the dream, her hair was a rusty blood orange hue. Her bold, brazen eyes were golden bronze. Even her face appeared different. It didn’t…blur anymore.
Her nose was not long or crooked. Her chin was not as pronounced or jutting. Her cheeks were rounder, giving her an innocent look, yet her eyes were haunted.
“Swan Lake?” Bael asked, but he knew it was her even though she looked so different. “What the hell? Why do you look like that?”
Meanwhile, Ryker took the more gentlemanly approach and kneeled beside where she laid. He hovered a hand above her bloodied wound over her stomach. “Bleeding?”
“The adrenaline may be wearing off now,” Nix commented stiffly as she peeked down at her bloodied nightgown. “Yup, that’s starting to sting pretty bad now.”
Bael tossed Ryker a small bottle of clear alcohol to cleanse the wound.
