Chapter 1

"I'm sorry, Eira," Bryn Holt said. "The final list is locked in. There's no mistake."

I stood in front of the bulletin board and stared at the roster for almost five minutes.

My name was gone.

In the slot for the full-scholarship tryout at the Northern Shifter Academy, where it should have read Eira Vane, it now read Senna Ashford.

At first I assumed it was a clerical error. A mixed-up data entry, a delayed email, some idiot confusing the shortlist with the final roster.

Then it hit me.

This wasn't a mistake. This was Kael Blackthorn's doing.

Black Dragon heir. My boyfriend.

I found him in the parking lot, leaning against that black sports car of his. He gave me a lazy glance.

"Senna was cast out by her clan. She lost everything," he said first, as if I'd shown up for a verdict. "This is her only shot."

"You're strong. You can make Regionals on your own."

"That's a full ride to the Northern Academy, Kael." My voice came out steadier than I felt. "Coaching, housing, Federation certification—everything. You know what that means to me."

"You'll figure something out."

I looked at him and said nothing.

Then he sighed, pulled a black card out of his wallet, and held it out between two fingers—the way you'd tip a valet.

"Fine. I'll cover all of it. Coaches, training hours, gear, everything. Consider it me buying the slot off you. We're square, right?"

It started to rain.

I looked at the card, then back at his face.

He was the one who'd told me that if I trained hard enough, I'd claw my way out of that wretched house, out of this town that reeked of cheap liquor, poverty, and the bone-deep despair of shifters who'd given up on themselves.

No one would ever spit the word halfblood at me again.

So I'd trained. Spent every free hour in Bryn's equipment room—patching gear, mopping floors, doing the jobs no one else wanted.

And now he was sticking a price tag on all of it.

I turned and walked away.

His voice followed me across the parking lot, flat and cold.

"Are you serious? You bust your hands open in that shop. You've spent your whole life chasing pennies."

"I'm offering you more than you'll see in ten years. Don't let your pride be the thing that gets you killed, Eira."

I stopped and turned to look at him.

Everything I'd thought was unbreakable rotted through in a single second.

I laughed.

"Believe whatever you want, Kael."

I'd barely made it back to the training grounds when Tessa came storming in.

She was a gray wolf like me, bottom of the pack. But she was purebred.

We worked the same shifts in the equipment room.

"Eira. Tell me I read that list wrong. Tell me that fox isn't standing in your spot."

"You read it right."

"It was Kael. It had to be. Did you go to him?"

"Just got back."

Last week's training scabs were still on my hands.

"He offered to pay my way to the Northern Academy in full. Buy my place out from under me."

She was quiet for a long beat, then muttered a curse under her breath.

"That smug Black Dragon bastard. Please tell me you threw the card in his face."

"I walked away."

"Eira, you have to fight for this. That spot is yours. Everyone knows what you went through to earn it. The scars on you, your father—"

"It doesn't matter."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"His clan funds the sponsorship program, Tessa. They picked me once. They can pick someone else."

She fell silent.

"Oh—I just saw Senna's feed." Tessa lowered her voice. "Kael booked out an entire restaurant for her. A celebration dinner. Eira."

"Okay."

"Okay? That's it?"

"I need to get back to work. Go home."

I didn't wait for her to say anything else. I turned and walked into the back of the shop.