Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 47

Thornhill Academy.

Fate Given.

Her eyes. They weren’t her eyes anymore. One heartbeat, they were that stormy, defiant grey, and the next, they blazed molten gold, a mirror of my dragon’s own. My breath caught, my chest locking as the heat rolled off her skin in waves. My palms burned where they

touched her, though fire could never touch me. For anyone else, it would’ve blistered. For me, it was just proof-proof of something I

shouldn’t even be seeing.

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“Fuck,” I whispered, stumbling back, my hands falling away as if I’d been caught trespassing.

She pushed up onto all fours, every muscle in her trembling like she was fighting her own skin. The grass seared under her palms, smoke curling faintly where her fingers dug in. Her whole body shook, wracked with something bigger, older, primal. Gods. Was she….Shifting? My dragon went silent in my head. Not calm. Not gone. Just… watching. Reverent. I dropped to one knee, keeping just enough distance not to overwhelm her but close enough that I could act if she lost control. My heart pounded like war drums, but my voice came out

steady, low, the way you speak to a spooked creature.

“Ally… Ally, breathe.”

Her head snapped up, golden eyes blazing at me like suns, and my throat went dry. I held my ground, raising my palms in surrender. “Don’t fight it. Just breathe, okay? Let your body do what it needs to. Don’t force it. Don’t hold it back.”

Her voice cut sharper than any blade.

“Evander… get me out of here. No one can know…”

That was all I needed. I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t ask questions. I just moved. Her body was hot against mine, too hot, heat bleeding through my arms until it felt like I was cradling live fire, but my dragon purred with savage satisfaction, crooning safe, safe, mine.

I bolted, shifter speed tearing us out of the field, out of sight, into the cover of trees. Branches whipped past, dirt tore under my boots, and still I ran, deeper and deeper until no voices carried, until even the academy walls disappeared. Only then, in a small hollow of shadow and moss, did I set her down. Her body convulsed the moment she touched the ground. Claws burst through her fingertips, curling into the soil. Her back arched, spine snapping and reshaping with wet, brutal cracks that made my own bones ache in sympathy. She screamed, a raw, guttural sound, half human, half beast, and her skin rippled with heat. For a split second, scales shimmered over her arms, gold, blinding, impossibly familiar, before vanishing again beneath flesh.

My breath stuttered. She is shifting. Gods.

“Ally,” I said, dropping to my knees, close enough she could hear me, not so close I’d startle her. My dragon was already pacing, thrashing inside me, howling recognition. “Breathe. Let it happen. Don’t fight the pain, it’s part of it. You’re stronger than it, but you don’t have to The be. Just let it take you.”

Her bones cracked again, shoulders widening, her body lengthening. Her cry transformed into something more, something primal, and the earth trembled in response. She collapsed forward on her hands, her legs warping, reforming, skin hardening into scales, each one flashing that molten gold. Like mine. No, like hers. It was agonisingly slow, like the very first shift I’d ever endured as a boy, but this was different. She wasn’t a child. She was grown. This… this had to be her first.

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Fate Given.

“Gods,” I whispered, awe flooding through me. Why now? Why so late? My dragon’s answer thundered inside me: Hybrid?

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The shift tore her apart and rebuilt her in front of me. Her tail lashed the ground, leaving scorched furrows in the dirt. Wings tore free in a spray of golden sparks, massive and trembling, still slick with newness. Finally, her head lifted, huge, horned, radiant and golden eyes met mine. My chest locked. She lowered herself, the great golden weight of her body dipping, until her nose pressed against my sternum. Heat rushed into me, through me, and her inhale was deep, shaking, as if she were memorising the scent of my soul. And then inside my mind, I heard the word. Not hers. Not human. Her dragon’s. Mate.

It crashed through my skull, a soul-deep declaration, binding and absolute. My beast roared in answer, surging free, and before I could

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