“Not until you shift,” Bael said, blocking her path. “You shouldn’t let the wounds sit without shifting and healing them.”
“I’ll pour some rubbing alcohol onto them.”
“We don’t have rubbing alcohol. We only have massive amounts of coconut oil,” Bael deadpanned.
“Can we get her out of here already?” Nix pointed to the girl who looked exactly like her. “It’s freaking me out.”
Avoiding their questioning gazes, Nix sprinted up the stairs, knowing full well that her men followed close behind her. There were a few masculine thumping noises as her mates shoved at each other to be the first to follow her.
“Is this cause of what Professor Bowen said that one day?” Bael asked as Nix walked into Ryker’s room, where she had slept the night before. “About you taking a potion that was harming your ability to shift? Are you scared about shifting?”
“I’m notscared.” The truth was, Nix was embarrassed. For so long, she had thought she was powerless. Now, when she gained new confidence and a sudden knowledge that she could burst into flame, she hated admitting that she could not shift.
She wanted them to see her as a badass. Not a damaged victim.
“Youcanshift, yes?” Thierry asked.
Nix carefully placed the protection potion vial onto Ryker’s dresser and turned to face the men. Her crumpled expression told them all they needed to know.
“Oh, baby,” Bael whispered and yanked her into his arms again. Nix begged her eyes to suck back the water works and not betray her.
“I’ve never been able to shift,” she admitted onto Bael’s shoulder.
“That’s just…so incredibly unlikely,” Thierry thought aloud. “Could it be a mental block?” Thierry asked.
“Cygnus shifters are not encouraged to shift since their main power lies in enchantments rather than their shifted form. No one ever taught me how.”
“But, there are shifting classes—”
“Not for cygnus shifters,” Nix replied stiffly.
“I could…show you,” Ryker offered.
An hour later, Nix kicked a tree in frustration. To her shock, the tree actually shook at her assault.Ryker is right; I am getting stronger.
“Calm,” Ryker reminded her. “Breathe.”
Ryker had taken Nix to the field behind the off-campus house where she could shift in peace and not break anything around her, depending on the size of her dragon form.
“I don’t know,” Bael commented from where he ate popcorn and sat on a tree stump. The incubus enjoyed being a spectator. “I don’t think the whole ‘relax’ and ‘be calm’ and ‘feel the air’ thing is working, Ry.”
“Shut up and eat your popcorn,” Nix told him. From her seat on the ground, legs crisscrossed, Nix closed her eyes and tried to find her inner peace.Hello, Miss Inner Dragon. You can totally come out whenever you want.
A piece of hot, buttery popcorn hit Nix’s face, and any calm she experienced evaporated into invisible smoke.
She snapped at Bael in disbelief, “Did you just throw popcorn at me?”
“I’ll throw this dick at you.”
“Gods, you are so…”
“I am trying to express an idea here, and no one is listening to me.”
Thierry said, “I am almost scared to ask your idea, Baelfire.”
“The times I’ve witnessed Nixie burst into flames, it was driven by anger. Hot, powerful, impulsive anger.”
“What?” Nix snorted. “Are you going to purposefully make me angry?”
