Page 91 of Wings of Ashes
Nix glared at him, and Bael raised his arms in surrender.
“You smell like blood and ash right now,” Bael said. “Actually, never shower again. My dick is hard as fuck for you right now.”
Thierry’s hand shot out and gripped around Bael’s throat. He lifted him from the ground and turned his fingers to stone as Bael choked around them. “Smell her again, and I will remove your nasal cavities,” Thierry growled.
Okay… So the sexy, stuffy professor was a lot more dark and dangerous than his tweed suit jackets and high moral standards suggested.
“Okay, what the fuck is happening here?” Bael asked, wide-eyed and pulling at the stone fingers around his throat. “Professor Nerd is actively threatening me. Did you forget totake some pills tonight, old man?” he asked Thierry. “Did they run out of prune juice in the teacher’s lounge? Was the hard candy bowl empty?”
Thierry scowled at him. “I am not that much older than you.”
“Says the silver fox.”
“Petros shifters are born with silver hair, you insolent demon.”
“Étienne,” Nix said, inching closer to where he held Bael. “Er, Professor Thierry, please put him down.”
Instantly obeying his mate, Thierry dropped Bael, causing the incubus to stumble back down and find his footing.
“Okay…” Bael rubbed at his sore throat and tilted his head as he examined Thierry. His red eyes narrowed on him, but his lips cracked into a crooked smile. “You’re kind of acting like a badass tonight, and I’m liking it.”
Baelwouldbe the crazy one to begin respecting someone who choked and threatened him.
“I think I should stay with them tonight,” Nix told Thierry softly and watched his expression twist into one of hurt and confusion. “It could look bad for both of us if I stayed at your place.”
“Are you…together?” Ryker asked in a low rumble after silently watching the scene unfold in front of him. Ryker’s golden eyes bored into hers.
“Would that change your invite for me to stay at your place?” Nix asked him.
Ryker’s golden eyes dimmed, saddened by that non-response to his question, but he shook his head.
“I would like to accompany her,” Thierry stated. “To ensure the grounds are safe.”
“Grounds? We don’t live on acres, stone man,” Bael said.
Thierry pressed his lips together in a thin line, contemplating something, before deciding to share it with the group, “The origin of the fire in her room is extraordinarily suspicious.”
“It wasn’t sex candles?” Bael joked without humor on his face. “Define ‘suspicious.’”
Nose crinkling, Thierry told Bael, “You really do need to open a book once in a while.”
“What did you see?” Nix asked, wanting to know if her suspicions were correct. That someone, maybe the same person who had slipped into her room to vandalize her belongings, had broken in while she was sleeping and started the fire to, well, kill her.
Thierry turned to face Nix and stared her down with such an intense fervency that she grew dizzy. “I sawseveraldisturbing things,” Thierry stressed in his alluring and deep husky voice.
Right. He probably saw the ripped-up belongings and the word WHORE not-so-tastefully painted in red above her bed.
“But we will discuss them after you have slept,” Thierry added gently and cupped her cheek. “Until then, I will not leave your side.”
“Eh, we offeredhera place to stay, not you, Teach,” Bael remarked.
“Maybe if you insufficiently stab me enough, I will decide to leave what is sure to be your glamorous lodgings.”
Nix snorted, choking on a snicker that surprised her.
Bael and Ryker glanced at Nix, also taken aback by the sound of her weak laugh. Their guarded expressions softened, and they nodded to each other.
“Let’s go. Time to get her in bed.”
