Nova’s attention stayed on me.
“You pushed the hedge further than I’ve ever seen anyone push Hedge magic,” she said carefully. “You brought shadows into it.”
“That felt like the only option at the time. The shadows were using my magic, so I figured I'd better use…her magic.”
A low sound pulled everyone’s attention toward the center of the clearing.
Keegan.
The massive dark wolf stood several yards away, chest rising and falling heavily as he caught his breath. Dirt streaked his fur, and a few leaves clung stubbornly to his shoulder where one of the shadows had clipped him.
For a few seconds, he just watched me.
Those hazel eyes locked onto mine.
Even in wolf form, there was no mistaking the question there.
Are you alright?
I nodded once.
“I’m fine,” I repeated.
His shoulders eased slightly.
Then he started toward us, and the crowd parted automatically to let him through.
They weren’t afraid of him, just respected him.
Keegan had always carried a kind of gravity with him—something that made people shift aside without quite realizing they were doing it.
Even now.
Even covered in dirt and shadow mist.
He stopped a few feet away.
Up close, the wolf looked even bigger.
I tilted my head back against the maple and studied him for a second.
“You look like you had a busy evening.”
His ears flicked.
Somewhere behind him, someone snorted a laugh.
Then another presence stepped into the clearing.
Quieter.
But just as impossible to ignore.
Gideon.
The air shifted the moment he appeared near the group. Conversations that had started to rise in relieved chatter dropped again into uneasy silence.
He didn’t seem bothered by it.
