Because what else would keep them from hurting us?
At the words, Nix felt…something in her unlock.
Something dark and unhinged and tired. And so fucking awake.
“How dare you?” Nix asked under her breath. Her voice came from something so low and guttural in her stomach; itwould have been audible only to the other alphas standing close to her with their super hearing.
Her legs pushed forward another step.
“Shit,” Persius muttered.
“Calm,” Ryker urged into her ear, yanking on her arm to pull her back toward the exit.
“HowDAREyou,” Nix shouted. Considering the crowd had quieted at Kellan’s reassuring words, Nix’s voice cut through every row, all the way from the back of the auditorium to the stage at the front.
“Shit,” Persius repeated.
Thierry squeezed Nix’s elbow, leaned down, and told her in a hushed whisper, “Whatever you do from here on, donotlook the basilisk in the eyes.”
Nix barely absorbed the warning as all of her focus and rage pointed her gaze only at Kellan Oadess. The man who had acted as her father her entire life, planning and scheming to eventually cage her for her feathers—Lemmuns had admitted that.
Kellan, of course, heard her from the stage.
Nix’s eyes narrowed as Kellan’s widened.
He had not expected her here. After all, in the last timeline, Adar and Elle had whisked her away, off campus, until the evening school dance.
As Nix’s skin prickled with awareness, ready at any moment to emit flames, she strode forward, down the ramp aisle, and toward the stage.
“Nix…” Kellan said simply, but she could see his brain working behind those blue eyes. Thinking. Assessing. Scheming.
How had she never noticed it before in her past life? Kellan was behind every bad thing that had ever happened to Nix. When she stared at him, shefeltit.
Darkness swirls around him.
Nix’s mates followed closely from behind her as she approached the stage. Their unease seeped from them and licked at her back, but she pushed forward.
“Daughter.” Kellan opened his arms up for a hug, as if he wanted her to come up on stage, under the spotlight with him. As if he were goading her to join him.
Fuck you, I’m coming up on that stage.
CHAPTER 39
It did not matter that Kellan appeared to want her to join him on stage; her desire to wipe that smug smile off his face overruled her body.
Without hesitation or forethought, Nix maintained eye contact with Kellan as she strode up the stairs and joined him on stage.
She held a hand behind her, gesturing for her mates not to join her. They followed instructions. Well, except for Bael. He walked right behind her like he was auditioning for the role of her shadow.
Kellan smiled warmly as she walked up the steps. “It has been a while since I have seen you.” He turned to the crowd. “Apologies for this brief family moment.”
Nix walked toward him as he held his arms up for a hug from her. One step. Two steps.
She walked past him.
She walked right over to the cart that held Sarasa’s deceased body. From up close, it was clear that no dragon had burned Sarasa.Otherwise, she would be dust.
This was all just a stunt. A “reason” to expel all dragons.
