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CHAPTER EIGHT

NOVA

T he moment class dismisses, I push out of my seat, stretching the stiffness from my limbs as students shuffle toward the exit in a slow-moving crowd. Tai stays close, my usual silent shadow, while Callum catches up to me with an easy grin.

I barely hear them. My fingers tighten around my phone, screen still dark, no response yet.

The hallway hums with conversation as I step into the corridor. My thoughts churn, replaying the last message I sent, my stomach twisting with unease.

Then, my phone vibrates.

Rose

The only way to undo one is for the grantor to rescind it. Why? Who did you make a deal with?

Oops. Looks like I missed several of Rose’s calls while I was in class. I forgot I had notifications set to only come through at the top of the hour, and now the floodgates are open.

I’m on my way to lunch, eyes locked on my screen, scrolling through the missed calls?—

And then I walk straight into someone, nearly dropping my phone. “Watch where the fuck you’re going, half-breed,” someone snarls at me.

I look up, ready to snap back, but the words die in my throat when I see them two feet off the ground, dark, writhing shadows gripping their throat. The shadows constrict tighter and the fae's eyes bulge in terror, struggling to break free from their grasp.

No idea who this little asshole thinks he is, but he’s got brown hair, pale yellow eyes, and his mouth is twisted in a snarl that reveals sharp fangs. The patch of dark gray fur on the backs of his hands and the sharp claws at the end of his fingers tell me he was half-shifting before Tai could stop him.

A warm heat presses against my back, and I don’t need to turn around to know it’s my personal guard.

“Whoa, what’d he say?” Callum stops short on my other side, staring up at the wolf fae.

Humans have really shitty hearing.

“His fragile little ego got in my way.” I grin before turning back towards the suspended fae. “You aren’t worth the fuck it took to make you,” I snarl. “You want to call me a half breed? And what, you’re somehow better because you were born full fae? Well guess what, mutt? I’ll have more magic in my half breed pinky toe than you’ll ever have in your entire body, and I didn’t have to be born with it.”

And technically, I don’t know if you could even call me a half-breed. My mom is a luna fae, and my bio dad was a werewolf at the time of my birth. Then, shortly after, all werewolves became wolf fae. Wouldn’t that make the other half of me now fae, too?

Apparently not to these fucking purist assholes.

Students crowd around with their phones out, but I’m not even mad about it. Bigoted fae like him should be outed for their behavior.

“Apologize.” The low rumble of Tai’s voice warms me.

“I-I’m sorry,” he chokes out, clawing at the shadows around his throat.

I nod at Tai, and he lowers him to the floor, but doesn’t release his grip. He stalks forward, grabbing the fae by his hair. “Try to talk shit about her again, and I’ll drag you into the dark, where even your alpha won’t save you."

Um, this is hot . So very hot. I’ve never seen Tai have to use his magic like this before, and it’s got me feeling some kind of way.

The shadows release their grip, and the fae scrambles away, shifting into his gray wolf form and bolting down the hallway, his tail tucked between his legs.

The crowd disperses, some still whispering and glancing back at us. I turn to face Tai, taking in the flare of his nostrils and the frustration in his brown eyes. They scan my face, ensuring I’m alright.

I nod, shaking off the lingering tension. “Can’t wait until I get magic so I can do that myself,” I mutter, kicking at an imaginary pebble on the stone floor.

His lips curve into a smirk, shadows still curling around his fingertips, reluctant to vanish entirely. “Not all fae can cast shadows.”

“Well, that’s dumb,” I fire back, my tone sharper than I mean it to be. The adrenaline from earlier hasn’t quite settled, a buzzing under my skin. Maybe there’s an element of truth to the wolf fae’s words that have me unmoored. Before I could even reach for my dagger, his words had burrowed in my ear, and carved a path straight to my brain.

Half-breed.

Don’t I fucking know it.