“Where is Adar?” she asked desperately while her mind raced. She wanted out of the cage. Now.
This was her future cage. The exact cage. This room, wherever they were, was her future captor’s experiments room. The room she had only survived for four years.
So, they were still on campus? All those years into the future, her captor had kept her on the academy campus somewhere, hidden?
“Where am I?” she asked, grabbing onto the iron bars again and hissing as they scalded her fingers.
“Stop touching,” Ryker grunted, removing her hands from the bars and shoving them back inside the cage. “No touching.” He did not want her to burn herself.
“Don’t worry, you will be safe here till we get you a reversal potion for the Oadess enchantment.” Thierry fiddled with his glasses. “For now, you need to lay low. The mysterious fire cannot be known to have anything to do with you.”
“If the council finds out a phoenix is at the academy—” Persius started.
Bael raised his hand. “I would like it to be on record that I am not okay with keeping my mate in a cage unless it’s for sexual purposes.”
“It’s for her safety.”
Like the muting-her-powers potion would be that the guys had discussed that morning before she slipped out of their off-campus house?
They had thoughtthatwas for her safety, thinking that because they could protect her, she didn’thaveto be so strong.
Her mates were such alphas. Such…men.Gross. “Let me out. Now,” she gritted between clenched teeth.
“It’s for your safety—”
“Fuck that.” She glared at the group. “I am not safe in this cage. I am not apetyou can lock up.”
“It’s what is best for you right now.”
“Likeyouknow what that is?” She scoffed at Thierry and lashed her venomous voice at him. “All those books, and you’re so goddamndumb.”
Thierry flinched, and Persius clapped his shoulder. “Don’t worry, that’s the enchantment. She doesn’t really think that. Earlier, she told us she didn’t care about us and that she loves Adar. She is saying things she doesn’t mean while she is bespelled.”
“Actually, Idomean it. I mean it when I saylet me the fuck out of this cage.”
Thierry cleared his throat, having the decency to appear pained as he said, “No.”
“RAHHHHHHHHH,” she screamed violently and flung herself onto the bars. Her skin sizzled with burns as she yelled at them, “LET ME OUT.”
“Nix, you are not thinking straight. You are bespelled and angry; and your species is known to causecatastrophic events. No one is going to hurt you. We are only keeping you here while we get you a reversal potion.”
“Ihateyou,” she snarled and slapped at the bars. Her skin burned with each touch with a loud sizzlinghissssss. “My fated mates wouldneverkeep me in a cage. Fuck all of you!”
Ryker glared at her and grabbed her hands again, pushing them back to her sides as his arms moved between the bars. His thumb dragged over a bit of her scalded flesh. “Stop. Touching.”
“Let. Me. Out,” she shot back.
“I’m not staying here and watching this,” Bael muttered and walked to the door. “Nix, I don’t want you in the cage. I’m all for you burning the world down if that’s what you want to do.”
Bael waved a hand toward Ryker. “Ry, we need to go. We both know someone is getting snatched at the dance tonight. We need to be there.”
“You’re going to leave me like this?” she yelled at the incubus.
“Baby, the Nix I know would want me to go try to help someone not get stolen into the night. Like Stoney said, youaresafe here.”
No.No, I’m not. In this second chance at life, she had never felt so unsafe as right now. In her old, or rather, “future” cage.
Ryker did not trail after Bael. The dragon shifter stared at Nix, concern beaming from his face as he scanned her expression. He shook his head and grunted, “Staying.”
