Page 115 of Magical Mayhem

Because for one breath, I could have sworn I heard four soft footfalls on the threshold, as if a wolf had set one paw inside a home it hadn’t entered in years.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Keegan’s hand trembled in mine, and his skin turned ashen, and though he tried to hide it, I could feel the way his strength faltered with every breath.

He never should have joined us in the courtyard or for the feast, but his soul needed it.

“Maeve,” he muttered, his voice gruff with fatigue.

“You’re about two heartbeats away from toppling face-first into this plate of greens.”

“I’m not that bad.”

No, and not nearly as bad as Gideon, but I didn’t need to highlight that fact.

“You’re not great, and we need you to stay strong or as strong as you can.”

He smirked faintly, but the humor never reached his eyes. The shadows under them deepened, and my chest clenched.

“Come on,” I whispered, sliding an arm around him and nodding to Ardetia, who had been hovering near enough to intervene if necessary. “Let’s get you back to your room.”

Keegan resisted, stubborn wolf that he was, but when he shifted his weight to rise, his legs betrayed him. He wobbled hard, nearly sending his chair crashing. I caught him, bracedunder his arm, and looked straight at him until he relented with a low growl.

“All right,” he said. “But only because you’ll nag until I’m deaf.”

“I thought hearing was the last to go in wolves.”

“Exactly my point.”

We made it halfway to the corridor when the air rippled.

It wasn’t the normal buzz of the Academy. This was different. The ripple passed through my skin and down to my bones.

I froze, steadying Keegan as he stumbled against me.

“Maeve,” he rasped. “What was that?”

I shook my head slowly. “So, that wasn’t in my head.”

The silence that followed wasn’t natural. It wasaware.

I turned toward the banquet hall, heart pounding. The ripple had rolled through from there. With each step closer, the hair on my arms lifted, the magic pulling tighter, sharper, as if the very walls braced.

And then I knew.

The silver wolf was inside the Academy.

My breath caught as Keegan sagged harder into me, his jaw locked tight.

“She’s here,” he whispered, and the tone in his voice was half awe, half dread.

“Hold steady,” I murmured. “We’ll face this together.”

As we stepped back into the banquet hall, the students had stilled. Platters and cups hung in midair, held by stunnedkitchen sprites. Every gaze was turned toward the center, where the ripple still shimmered like heat over stone.

My parents stood near, with my dad’s human form steady next to me. His eyes were sharp with the bulldog focus that had carried him through curses and betrayal. His hand brushed against my arm, firm and grounding.

My mom stepped from between the tables, and she looked… different here. Less like the woman who once hid everything behind suburban vacations and forced laughter, and more like someone who had always known she belonged to magic.