A dragon shifter novel Chapter 86

Thornhill Academy

In This Together.

Kael

6140

The moment the silver light struck Alison, Helt it in my chest, like my rib cage had been ripped open and set ablaze. My lungs seized, my vision blurred, and every primal instinct inside me screamed mine The light burned through her, glowing so bright it hurt, and then it split. One thread shot straight into Evander, and I braced myself for the heartbreak I’d been drowning in for weeks. But before I could even process it, another beam, blinding blue, pure and electric, whipped across the room and slammed into me. The world exploded. The force of it hit harder than any physical blow I’d ever taken. My knees nearly buckled, my pulse a snarl of fire and need and recognition. For kalf a heartbeat, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. The hond roared to life. It was her It had always been her. I knew it. Every touch, every stolen look, every ache in my chest when she smiled at him, it all made sense now. She wasn’t just his She was mine too. But when I looked at Evander, that molten dragon bastard was already watching me, and the look in his eyes wasn’t relief; it was guilt Guilt, because he’d known. He’d known this might happen. He’d known how I felt. And he still told me no

He told me to back off.

He told me I couldn’t find out.

He told me to stay the hell away from my mate.

My hellhound rose inside of me, claws scraping at the surface, begging to rip something apart. The crowd, the lights, the music, it all vanished. All I saw was Evander. Standing there beside her. Holding her hand. The hand that should have been in mine.

The fire in my chest boiled over. The shift tore through me before I could stop it. I barely managed to turn away before the bones in my body cracked, fur and muscle replacing skin. My vision turned red, the ground splitting beneath my paws as I sprinted into the forest, away from the festival, away from her, because she couldn’t see me like this. Not like the monster I was becoming.

But I didn’t get far.

“Kael!”

His voice echoed behind me. Of course, he’d follow. I spun around, half–shifted, claws still out, eyes burning bright red. “You don’t get to say my name right now.” My voice came out as a low, dangerous growl.

Evander appeared between the trees, chest heaving, his golden eyes glowing faintly. “You think I didn’t want this for you, too?” he demanded, stepping

closer.

“You didn’t want it at all!” I shouted, the words breaking out of me like fire. “You didn’t even want to let me try! You made me feel like I was crazy like

was imagining the pull, like I was some fucking joke to you!”

He winced, but didn’t speak. Didn’t deny it.

“So what was your plan, huh?” I continued, advancing on him. “To keep her all to yourself? To play the noble mate while your best friend went insane,

wondering why his bond felt wrong?”

“Don’t Kal me!” (snapped, the last of my restraint slipping. “You had weeks with her. Werks of touching her kissing his sleeping beside hit. And I hat nothing lun the hollow ache of knowing she was meant for me, too. You stole that time from mi

Tudy’s masti hit him, lost med. My connected with his jaw hard gh to map tad viles, anal the shim back, k

of his mouth. He didn’t let or back. He ist stand there, wiping the bloed away, ayes ficacy with pich. “Vom Hugh

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In This Together

The words barely registered past the roat in my ears. “Damn right you did.”

“I didn’t want to believe it,” he said quietly. “Didn’t want to share her. Not with anyone. But now… now I don’t have a choice”

My breathing hitched, fury fading into something beavier. “You always had a choice, Evander. You didn’t want to make the right one

He looked up at me then, the dragon in his eyes dimming just slightly. “I’ll make it now,” he said, voice steady, like a vow. “You’re her male too And I’ll do whatever I have to do to make it right, to make up for the time I stole from you.”

The fight drained out of me all at once, leaving only exhaustion. My knuckles ached. My heart did worse. I turned my gaze toward the distant academy, the celebration still faintly echoing through the night. “You can’t make up for time, I muttered. “But… maybe you can stop making things worse.”

Evander gave a faint, humourless smile. “That’s the plan.”

The anger burned itself out slowly, leaving only the wreckage behind. I sank onto the cold, damp earth, chest heaving, steam curling from my skin where my hellhound fire still licked beneath the surface. I felt… hollow. Not empty exactly, just wrung out. My fists hung loose between my knees, dirt streaked across my knuckles, and blood crusted on one from where I’d hit him. Evander exhaled sharply and lowered himself to the ground beside me, wincing as he touched his jaw. A bruise was already forming, deep and dark. I should’ve felt guilty. I didn’t. Neither of us spoke for a while.

Eventually, Evander broke the silence. “You done trying to kill me?”

I huffed out something that might’ve been a laugh. “For now.”

He nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. “Good. Because I don’t think I’ve got another hit in me tonight.”

We sat like that, shoulder to shoulder, two idiots too tired to keep fighting but too stubborn to admit how much it hurt.

The bond between us had always been brotherhood, but now, there was this… new thing. A shared pulse that neither of us asked for but both felt. Our mate.

I scrubbed a hand down my face and muttered, “I didn’t want to hate you, man. You’re my best friend. But watching you with her…” I shook my head, biting down hard on the words. “It gutted me.”

Evander’s sigh was quiet, heavy with understanding. He leaned his elbows on his knees, staring at the forest floor. “You think it didn’t kill me, too? Knowing you were feeling it, knowing I was being a selfish bastard?”

That startled a weak, humourless laugh out of me. “Well, at least you’re honest about it now

“I am,” he said softly. Then, after a pause, he added, “I meant what I said earlier. I’ll make it right. I won’t let this come between us again

He turned his head toward me, and the sincerity in his eyes hit harder than any punch. “I’m sorry, Kael,

I let out a shaky breath and nodded. “Yeah, I know

I hesitated for a second, then alung an arm around his shoulders, dragging him a little closer in that rough, brotherly way that sand everything I couldn’t

into words. “Guess we’re really in this together now, huh?”

He huffed a vires Jagh. “Looks like it

50

12:51 pm Pppp.

Thornhill Academy

Do Not Act

Cassian

6:40

The silver lights fell from the heavens like shards of divine glass. At first, I’d watched. I was just here as an observer, doing my duty as a member of the teaching staff to help host the event. I hadn’t expected anything extraordinary to happen to me. It hadn’t before in the other years I had attended. The air crackled with energy, the moon swollen and bright above, the threads of fate weaving through the courtyard in shimmering arcs of silver and blue. And then one of those threads turned toward me. I couldn’t believe it. I had been blessed. I felt it before I saw it. There was this ancient pull inside of my soul. My lungs locked, and my body refused to move. The light struck my chest, searing through my rib cage, and I staggered back a step as heat, pure five heat, shot through every vein of my body. It wasn’t pain, not exactly. It was recognition. The bond ignited, and I saw her. Allison Rivers. Of course, it was het. My hand trembled where it pressed against my sternum, right over the glowing sigil that had flared to life beneath my shirt. My eyes locked onto her, and the world fell away. There was no sound, no students, no council expectations or academy politics. Only her.

She was across the room, dark hair catching moonlight, wide blue eyes glowing as the threads of fate poured into her chest. I could feel her soul from here. could feel it from anywhere now. It wasn’t just me bonded to her, though, of course not. The same, silver–blue beams of light connected her to four others. Drayke, predictably, Pierce. Cage, of all gods–damned people. And then the final shadow, someone whom I have only ever heard of in stories. A beast of this realm, the monster in people’s nightmares. He was here and bonded with her, too. The King of the Demons, Rhaziel Veyne. My stomach twisted.

Five bonds.

Five mates.

Even for a siphon, it was rare. For a professor? Unthinkable. I forced myself to breathe, my mind sharpening around the chaos. The light still pulsed faintly under my skin, an echo of her heartbeat. Professionally, it was an abomination. Morally, it was… impossible. And yet, I knew. The Fates had spoken, and to defy them was to invite ruin. But I could not, would not, let it spiral into a scandal. No, this needs to be done in a controlled manner. From a professional standpoint, this was catastrophic. From a personal one… it was divine. The Fates had given me something I never thought I’d have. Her. And I was not going to let anyone take her from me. Not the Council. Not Scorched. Not even her other mates. I tore my eyes away from the spectacle, away from the way Drayke reached for her hand, the way the demon bowed to her with such submission, and exhaled through my nose, schooling every emotion off my face. My pulse still thundered in my ears, but I pushed through the crowd until I found Headmaster Scorched standing near the dais, his attention locked on the final fading threads of light.

“Scorched,” I said, my voice low but urgent.

He turned, brow furrowing when he saw my expression. “Professor Hill. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Something significant has occurred,” I replied carefully. I glanced around us, making suf no one was close enough to overhear. “I need to speak with you Privately. Now

Scorched studied me for a long, measuring moment, then gave a curt nod and gestured for me to follow him toward the fat corner of the courtyard. Once we were out of earshot, I drew in a slow breath, steadying myself. “A mating bond has been formed tonight between myself and a student under my

supervision.”

Scorched’s brow lifted. “You’re referring to Miss Rivers.”

Of course, he already knew. The magic was impossible to hide. He could probably smell her soul tethered to mine. It would be wk; for now, but it is

nonetheless there

“Ven 1 and cetly “And I intend to humour the bond

Festival at me, ying. “Your land the severity of what you’re maying?”

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12:51 pm Pppp.

Do Not Act

Le My tone was even, steady. “Which is why I came to you first. The council will need to be informed, but I intend to request a formal exemption. The Fates do not make mistakes, and I will not violate their will. I will not ignore this band. But it must be sanctioned properly so neither I nor the academy face consequences.”

Scorched exhaled slowly, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “You realise the uproar this will cause. A profesor fated to a student, one already under scrutiny for her… unusual arrival here?”

“Yes. I understand.” I say through gritted teeth.

He sighed heavily again and stared hard at me, “I will put through a request to have a meeting with the council, but until then, you are still bound to the laws of this school. You will not act on this bond until it is put before the council, do you understand?”

My jaw clenched at his words. You will not act on this bond.

Every instinct inside me recoiled. The pull toward her was like a living thing. It was tugging on my soul, screaming in my mind. Even now, I could feel the thread humming between us, as if her heartbeat echoed faintly under my own, the bond is whispering silently, Come to me.

1 forced myself to exhale, to remember who I am. A professor. A soldier once. A man bound by duty

“Understood,” I said at last, though the word scraped raw against my throat.

Scorched’s gaze softened, just barely. He’d been young once, too, and I knew he understood what it meant to fight a bond that the Fates themselves designed. “Good,” he said. “You’ve always been a man of control, Cassian. Don’t lose that now.”

I gave a short nod, then turned from him before the strain of holding myself together broke through my façade. I didn’t look up from my feet the whole way

back to my cabin. This is not how I expected finding my mate would go. I had dreamed of this day for years, and now it was finally here, and I…I had to stay

away from her.

Palling open my liquor cabinet, I grabbed the strongest bottle of gin and sat with it at my table, staring out the window to the distance where the festival is.

“Soon, my little siphon. I’ll be with you soon.”

Comments

Tanya Gordon

I knew he was going to be one of her mates. hehe