Gritting my teeth, I followed the path to find out which poor magical Anson had picked on.
When I reached the entrance to the building, seven males had the merman and his troll friend pinned down. It had taken four of them to hold the troll, and from the way they cursed repeatedly, it wouldn’t be long before he escaped their clutches.
The merman was in trouble, however. Unlike the troll with his huge muscles and leathery skin, the merman’s physique was more suited to swimming, which made sense given his kind spent most of their time underwater.
“What’s going on?” I asked when I reached the group. The merman stared at me and shook his head. The wolves had shoved fabric in his mouth to stop him from talking. Or to block his magic. Perhaps the merman could use his voice like a siren?
I sighed inwardly. There were too many gaps in my knowledge. I really needed to read up on the rarer magicals. Or make more of an effort to befriend them.
“Ooh, it’s the witch who burned your dick!” one of the more stupid wolves cackled. Anson shot him a look that promised murder and he soon shut up.
“Fuck off, witch. The coach isn’t here to save you this time.”
I frowned. “Why would I need the coach to save me?”
“Err, she makes a good point, An. She has magic…”
Anson growled as his wolf tried to force a shift. His sickly green aura darkened until it looked almost black. He shoved the merman down and sneered as his muscles bulged with angry aggression.
Was the incubus nearby? Stars above, I hoped so. I could really use his help right now. Also, why were wolf shifters such assholes? I’d not met any decent ones so far.
“She might have magic, but I have a wolf, and he’s keen to rip her throat out,” Anson snarled before his clothes burst and he shifted into a massive black wolf.
The wolf towered over me, its huge fangs dripping with saliva. This was bad. Really bad. Both the troll and the merman struggled frantically against their captors, but there were too many wolves. All of them hyped up on rage and testosterone.
Anger issues seemed to be a shifter trait. I resolved to mention it when I had my first tutorial with the student adviser assigned to me, whoever she or he was. At least I would if I survived. My odds were not looking good currently.
The defensive magic in my chest flared to life. The amulet tucked beneath my tee warmed as I channeled as much power as I could access. It wasn’t a huge amount, but hopefully it would be enough to scare the wolves into submission.
Focusing on the snarling wolf preparing to pounce, I sent a fireball his way. He yelped when it scorched his chest, but instead of retreating, he roared in anger. Two more wolves shifted and began circling me like the predators they were.
The merman slumped as if he’d already given up, and I clenched my jaw in annoyance. Just because my magic was glitchy didn’t make me less of a threat.
Annoyance at having to deal with stupid, pea-brained wolf shifters who had small dicks fueled my magic. It roared to life. Seconds later, afirestorm erupted around me. I heard screaming and smelled the acrid scent of singed fur.
Stars above, this was bad. Had I accidentally incinerated everyone? I tried to pull my magic back the way Alaric had showed me, and after a minute, the flames died down, revealing all seven wolves in their human forms.
The shifters lay moaning and whimpering on the scorched ground. They had all sustained burns, but to my surprise, the merman and the troll remained unharmed.
“Fucking witch!” Anson cried while cupping his dick. I noted with satisfaction that he’d lost all his hair. The burns I’d inflicted were already healing, but hair didn’t grow back in the same way, so he’d be bald for weeks.
As would all his little friends. Little being the operative word. Huh. There was me thinking all shifters were goddess-blessed in the dick department. Only it turned out that the rumor was an urban myth. Probably one perpetuated by incel shifters.
“Thank you,” the merman said after spitting out the tee the shifter assholes had used to gag him. His troll friend grunted something similar.
“You’re welcome!” My gaze slid over the merman’s blue chest. Stars above, the merman was ripped. Not bulky like the shifters but still ripped, with broad shoulders and defined abs. Handsome too. I loved how he’d braided his blue hair with tiny shell beads. His blue-green aura reminded me of photos I'd seen of the ocean. It swirled around him, pulsing in time with the magic in my chest.
My eye caught on a silver tattoo, but the moment he saw me looking, he half-turned to hide it.
How had the wolves taken down such a strapping male and his troll friend so easily? It made no sense. Sensing the merman’s embarrassment,I hurriedly reined my interest back in while mentally cursing my overactive libido. Being a soul-bonded mate of a lusty shifter must have broken me somehow. At least that was my excuse.
“Did the wolves ambush you?” It seemed like the cowardly thing a wolf like Anson would do.
The merman grimaced. “They used a paralysis spell on us as we were leaving the pool building. Probably one they bought from a mage, seeing as how the mages hate us islanders.” My jaw dropped in shock. I knew the lesser magicals were being targeted by mage supremacists, but I hadn’t expected it to be a problem here at the academy.
“The shifters are stupid because the mages look down on them just as much, only they’re less obvious about it.”
Was Alaric one of the mage supremacists? He could be, but something told me not. While he had been a dick to me, I’d never seen him bully a lesser magical.
