This started while I was unconscious?
Damien's transformation happened because of something related to the cocoon?
I look to Professor Eternalis for clarification.
"Really?"
She nods, ancient features carrying consideration that suggests she's selecting her words carefully.
"I believe your vampire nature is what Damien's hellhound side is bonded to," she explains. "When he's in that form, he doesn't have the same vision as everyone else. He's not seeing people—he's sensing auras, reading magical signatures, tracking power rather than physical forms."
The explanation makes something click in my understanding.
"And right now..." Professor Eternalis continues, her attention shifting toward the battlefield where Damien continues his rampage.
She pauses.
The ground shakes.
Not the tremors that Damien's movements have been producing—this is something different. Something deeper. Something that makes even Professor Eternalis frown with concern that doesn't quite qualify as alarm but definitely registers as serious attention.
"We should get off the ground," she suggests, her voice carrying urgency that contradicts her usually calm demeanor.
I can't even askwhatbefore the Academy's surface answers the question for me.
Fissures crack and spread through the stone like wildfire consuming dry forest—dark lines racing outward from points I can't identify, the sound of breaking earth filling the air with thunderous intensity. The ground that felt solid beneath my feetmoments ago suddenly feels like standing on ice that's choosing this particular moment to shatter.
Before I can react—before I can jump or run or do anything that might prevent what's about to happen?—
Hands grab me.
Koishii.
His grip closes around my transformed body with strength that surprises me despite knowing he's been holding back since we met. But more surprising than his strength is what happensafterhe grabs me.
He curses—the sound carrying genuine alarm that contradicts his earlier amusement—and then his formtransforms.
The shift happens before my eyes with the particular fluidity of magic that has been practiced until it requires no conscious thought. His height lengthens, his body stretching toward proportions that exceed anything human or Fae or any other species I've encountered. His features sharpen into something that carries devastation beyond mere beauty, perfection that seems designed specifically to overwhelm rational thought.
And from his back?—
Wings.
Dark purple appendages unfurl with the sound of fabric caught in wind, membrane spreading between bone structures that didn't exist moments ago. The wingspan is massive—easily twenty feet when fully extended—and the color carries depth that shifts between purple and black depending on how light touches the surface.
He picks me up.
Princess-style, my transformed body cradled against a chest that has become significantly more muscular than the lean elegance he previously displayed. His arms support my weight without apparent effort, and then we'rerising—shootingupward with speed that steals my breath, the ground falling away beneath us with velocity that makes my stomach flip.
Professor Eternalis uses magic of her own—ancient power that propels her through the air in a different direction, her trajectory carrying her clear of whatever disaster the ground is about to produce.
I look for the others.
My eyes scan frantically across the chaos below, searching for bond mates who were standing on ground that is currently tearing itself apart. My heart pounds against my ribs with desperate rhythm, fear spiking with each second I can't locate them.
There.
Mortimer's transformation has fully triggered—his human form abandoned entirely in favor of the massive dragon that his heritage provides. Scales glitter in whatever light filters through the smoke and destruction, wings spreading with impressive span that lifts his bulk with powerful beats.
