Caleb nodded once. “Then here’s what you should understand.”
I held his gaze.
“We won’t step inside the Academy,” he said. “Not yet. Our old wounds run too deep for that, but we’ll listen. We’ll watch. And if the Priestess is indeed pushing at the edges of our world, then she’s made an enemy she didn’t account for.”
A chill slid down my spine.
“Because shifters,” he continued, voice low and resolute, “do not abandon their forests lightly.”
But they abandoned their own…
The words hung between us, heavy with promise.
And for the first time since stepping onto the Academy steps, I felt something shift—not into certainty, but into alignment.
This wasn’t an alliance.
Not yet.
But it was no longer a standoff either, and that, in its own way, felt like progress.
Even if the shadows he described were already spreading faster than any of us wanted to admit, uniting was our best hope.
Finally, he spoke. “If the forests aren’t safe,” he said, “and our lands are failing, we need somewhere to settle. Somewhere neutral as you put it.”
My stomach tightened, though I kept my expression steady.
“You’re asking to stay,” I said.
Caleb nodded. “In the Wilds, not the village or the Academy itself. We’ll bring our packs. We’ll keep to the edges, but we can’t keep moving blind.”
The weight of it pressed in on me all at once. Orcs marching north. Vampires convening inside sacred halls. Shifter packs seeking refuge. And students returning soon, unaware that the world they were walking back into was reshaping itself in real time.
I took a breath and reached for the hum beneath my feet, the quiet awareness of the Academy listening without judgment.
“The Academy is a safe harbor,” I said carefully. “That includes the Wilds.”
Relief flickered across more than one face, quick and guarded.
“But,” I added, holding Caleb’s gaze, “it comes with conditions.”
He inclined his head. “As it should.”
“There must be peace among everyone who roams the property,” I said. “No posturing. No territorial disputes. No settling old grudges under the guise of protection. This ground holds more than any one faction, and in a matter of days, students will be returning for classes.”
Twobble decided to appear at the time and nodded. “And no peeing on the statues and fountains. Some of us drink out of those.”
That last part earned a ripple of laughter.
“Caleb’s jaw tightened, not in disagreement, but in consideration.
“You’re asking us to share space,” he said. “With vampires.”
“And goblins,” I said. “And witches. And Fae. And people who don’t fit neatly into any category. We’re a refuge where midlife magic comes to recharge, learn, or dabble for the first time.”
“That sounds like chaos,” the female alpha said from behind Caleb. I looked into her eyes and saw a flash of something I recognized.
“It can be,” I admitted. “But it’s also balance.”
