Bael had been so convinced he wouldn’t be interested in someone like Nix that he accused his attraction to her as being part of a manipulative spell Nix had cast on him. But Nix could not cast spells or enchant anyone—because she was not a cygnus swan shifter like the Oadess family.
Nix did not knowwhatshe was. Another mystery that needed solving.
Bael flashed his dangerous fangs in his smile. “I’m familiar.”
“Well, I want to go to potions class, make the potion that will confirm whether he is being bespelled, and test it.”
“Why?” Bael asked. “What do you care what’s going on between them? Do you like this guy?”
“Excuse me?”
“Am I going to have to share you withanotherone?” Bael whined gruffly.
Nix gaped and slapped his chest. “No one deserves to be controlled! By anything or anyone. It doesn’t matter how I feel; if he is being enchanted against his will, we need to undo it.”
Bael nodded and smirked. “Right answer, love.” He finally released her neck and kissed her earlobe. “You can accrue as many men in your harem as you want, by the way. I’ll always be here to fuck you better than any of them.”
Nix rolled her eyes, but her nipples perked up at his words.
He added, “Right, so… Time to steal some potion ingredients?”
“Maybe this time we just ask Professor Bowen for the potion,” she said, after having learned her lesson when accidentally causing a fire in class that Ryker protected her from.
Bael booed her.
Ryker had a great plan. Mind his own fucking business. It had served the lonely dragon shifter well over the years.
He would simplynotlook at Nix or breathe her sweet, tart scent. He would not think about how hard his cock had been when she showered and touched herself in his house the night before.Notthink about how he had tofly awayand sleep in the forest to avoid losing control around her.
As if she would even want me.A disgusting, violent dragon shifter. Wasn’t that what she thought of him? The same species as her parents’ murderer.
He needed to suffocate the draw he felt to her. The constantpull.
He watched her when she wasn’t looking.
He licked his lips when she licked hers.
But unlike other species, dragons could not hook up or date someone who was not another dragon. Their fated mates were always other female dragons because the creature had to be able to survive a dragon’s fire.
The dragon shifter’s essence ignited into flame when a dragon came inside his mate. As a swan shifter, Nix was not impervious to fire.
But…was she a swan shifter? Because her hair last night had been a fiery, brilliant blood-orange red. Her eyes were no longer blue like the shallow ponds reflecting a cloudless day. They had been…golden bronze.
What is she?
Ryker’s skin sizzled withawarenesswhen she walked into the potions classroom.
She stepped inside, wearingRyker’sbutton-down shirt as a thin dress, and held her chin up high.Those legs. Ryker stiffened at his desk.She wears my clothing.
Did that…mean something? Like, maybe now shedidn’tthink all dragon shifters were evil?
With Bael trailing behind her, an agitated Nix looked ready to bite anyone who got in her way. A palpable waspishness wafted from her, and it reeked of…power. She reminded Ryker of a vexed queen.
Why did she emanate potent power this morning? This was the woman who could not run a mile without hyperventilating in combat class.
Ryker’s golden eyes narrowed onto her as she walked to Professor Bowen and had a quick chat that ended in the professor nodding and gesturing to the clock above the doorway.
Satisfied with that interaction, Nix spun around and began making her way to her desk in the back. Near Ryker. Where he would scent her sweetness again and be reminded of how her arousal had driven him mad with lust.
