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“I think she’s a Fang,” Jordan said, while the furball gnawed on his boot.

“There’s no way I’m naming her Fang,” Alex returned immediately.

Not pleased at the idea of allowing the little wolf to get away with bad habits right off the mark—andcertainlynot wanting her to think shoes were acceptable chew toys—Alex scooped the puppy up into her lap, avoiding the squirming body and lashing tongue trying to lick her face off.

“No, she’s much too pretty to be called Fang,” D.C. agreed. “She needs a name like Beauty or Darling. Maybe even Socks, with that paw of hers.”

Alex found it mildly hilarious that her friend who had earlier screamed that the Shadow Wolf was a ‘hound from the deepest pits of hell’ was now considering naming her Darling. But regardless, that wasn’t going to be her name, either.

“I think you should go with something wolfy,” Bear said. “Like Howler or Ripper or something ferocious like that.”

“What’s more wolfy than Fang?” Jordan pointed out. “It’s perfect.”

Alex let her friends argue for a while before she decided to speak up. “As much as I appreciate all this brainstorming, I’ve already decided on a name for her.”

Jordan, Bear and D.C. all looked at her expectantly.

“Soraya,” Alex said. “Her name is Soraya.”

Instantly the puppy stopped squirming and Alex looked down to find those bright amber eyes staring up at her with what looked suspiciously like wonder. And then, impossibly, Soraya gave a happy-sounding yap as if agreeing with her name.

“Soraya,” D.C. whispered, almost reverentially. “That’s definitely pretty.”

“It is,” Jordan agreed, though he sounded disappointed that Fang was now off the table. “But what does it mean?”

“Light,” Alex said quietly, her eyes remaining locked onto the puppy’s. “It’s the Tia Auran word for ‘light’.”

Bear snorted, and Alex’s gaze moved to him.

He bobbed his chin towards the almost fully black wolf. “Only you would think of calling aShadowWolf a name that means ‘light’.”

Alex offered a sardonic grin. “I have to admit, I like the irony.”

Another puppy bark of agreement had them all laughing until a knock sounded at the door.

“But… we’re all here,” D.C. said, to which the rest of them just shrugged their baffled agreement.

Being closest to the door, Alex handed Soraya over to Jordan and D.C. and jumped up to find out who was outside. Once she caught sight of their visitors, a beaming smile overtook her face.

“I’d have thought you’d be sick of seeing us all by now,” Alex said to Bear’s dad as she took in the sight of him, Dorothy and little Evie standing in the hallway.

“LEKTHIE!” cried Evie as she sprung out from behind William’s legs and launched herself at Alex. Her two front teeth had yet to grow back, her lisp still as strong as it had been over the Kaldoras holidays.

Laughing, Alex cuddled the small girl close, at least until she cried out an equally joyous, “JORDIE!” and bounded into the room to throw herself at him. Alex felt a moment of alarm, fearing Soraya would be squashed between them, but D.C. whisked the puppy up into her arms a fraction of a second before Evie made contact.

“Mum, Dad—what are you doing here?” Bear asked, moving carefully to his feet and looking at his parents in bewilderment.

They didn’t answer straight away because they were too busy hugging first Alex and then everyone else as they made their way into the room, seating themselves on whatever bed and chair space was available.

“Administrator Jarvis thought we would find you all here,” Dorothy said, her hand clasping Bear’s tightly as she sat beside him on Alex’s bed. “It’s academy policy to notify parents when their child has been injured badly enough to warrant a night in the Medical Ward.”

Bear’s face cleared with understanding, before an apologetic look overtook his features. “Ah. I suppose I should have called you.”

Alex bit her lip, feeling guilty as well. She hadn’t even considered it—mostly because she’d received so many injuries since arriving in Medora that the Med Ward was basically her second home. And it wasn’t as if anyone could easily contactherparents after her many painful misadventures.

“Never mind that now,” William said, ruffling his son’s hair. “What’s important is that you’re safe and healing.”

“As if there was ever any doubt, with Fletcher in charge of his recovery,” Jordan said, showing Evie how to gently pet the wolf puppy. His actions caused William and Dorothy to take a closer look at Soraya, and they both paled when they recognised her for what she was. But to their credit, they didn’t say anything. William did, however, look at Alex and utter a deep sigh, almost as if he could imagine exactly how the young wolf came to be in her possession.