“Rarer than dragons.” Bael’s tone leaked with “shit, this is bad.” Bael looked to Thierry and said, “I thought they were extinct.”
“Theyare.” Thierry fingered his glasses, struggling to understand what he was seeing, and said, “The last few were killed in the trials ten years ago…”Nix’s parents. Thierry’s chest tightened as he realized the danger his mate was in just forexisting.
“Well, shit,” Bael said. “Maybe I should have never made you shift, love. Humans say ignorance is bliss.”
“What do you mean?” Nix flexed an arm behind her so she could feel her wings. She shivered as she gave a soft, exploratory stroke.
The men moaned at the sight. Did she not know that touching wings was a sexual act that resulted in a toe-curling sensation? She might as well have just put her hand between her legs and touched herself right in front of them.
She cleared her throat and removed her hand from her wing. “What are you guys talking about? If I’m not a female dragon, then why did I survive Ryker’s fire? Why do I burst into flame? Only dragons do that with fire.”
No.Notonlydragons. Thierry stared at the ground and pressed his fingers to his temples. “Fuck.” It couldn’t be true. Thierry had to be misremembering another creature with wings like that and that could create and survive flame.She can’t be a…
“Damn, babe, your species just broke his brain.”
Thierry jolted toward her and grabbed at her flaming arms. His hands transformed to stone to avoid any burns as he clamped his fingers around her.
“Nix, do you recall how you got your name?” Thierry asked her while his thoughts were:fuck, fuck, fuck. “Who gave you that name? Did your parents call you that?”
Her face strained as she absorbed Thierry’s question. “I…”
“Think back. Who first called you ‘Nix?’”
Nix inhaled deeply and mumbled, “When the Oadess family found me, I couldn’t… I can’t remember anything before my parents being engulfed in flames in the woods and yelling at me to run.”
“Who first called you ‘Nix?’” Thierry repeated in a hard, demanding tone.
Do not say it. Please, do not say it, Thierry silently begged her.
“I think…I think when I was adopted, they started calling me ‘Nix.’”
Thierry released her arms in horror and staggered back. “They know. They’ve always known.”
“What?” Nix asked tensely.
“Nix…you are a phoenix shifter.”
CHAPTER 12
Phoenix? Nix frowned and glanced at Ryker. He stared at her, wide-eyed and frozen in thought. Disappointed that she was not a dragon like he thought?
“There wasn’t a chapter on phoenix shifters in your book,” Nix told Thierry, unsure what question to ask first. She wanted to know why horror struck the expressions of the three fearless men.
“All information on them was burned.”
By who? Why?“So…what does that mean for me?” she asked.
“It means we need to get you the fuck away from this school,” Bael said sternly. “Now.” Bael grabbed her wrist and pulled her through the field, back toward the house. “Ry, start packing.”
Ryker half-shifted, his wings breaking through his shirt, and lurched into the air. He flew back to the house to beat them there.
“What?” Nix protested, “I can’t justleave.”
She had Persius to protect, a future to change, and an evil captor to kill. To leave the school’s protection before graduationwould mean living an entirely new and unknown future, and that…scared her.
I want to live this time.She would not be getting a third chance, surely.
“Nix,” Bael said hoarsely and tugged her to him.
