Page 1 of Faerie Hunted

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Coral Ferenze somehow managed to look haughty despite being covered in blood, sweat, and direwolf spit.

The redhead stood with her hands on her hips and groaned at me, beleaguered and put-out.

“Are we almost done, Tavi? I swear, I spend more time standing around watching you or flat on my ass than I do actually learning.”

She flipped her hair over her shoulder, eyes piercing me.

I struggled to tune out her voice, although it’s much less annoying now than the first time I’d heard her in the halls of the Elite Academy. Instead, I focused on my enemy.

Or rather, my pet.

“I know you’re holding back,” I told the direwolf.

He cocked his head to the side but his eyes were intelligent enough that I knew he understood every word. His dark fur bristled and he huffed a breath out from his long snout.

“Stop holding back and attack me the way you did in the forest. It’s the only way the three of us are going to get stronger. Okay?” I adjusted my stance and gestured for him tobring it.

“Tavi!”

Coral was perilously close to throwing a temper tantrum, which was one of her favorite pastimes. I’d seen her in action more times than I wanted to count and she always blew me away.

Sometimes literally.

Often, when we were at the Academy together, she’d toss a burst of invisible yet potent magic at me just to put me on my ass and have her minions laughing at my misery.

“Just do it,” I whispered to the direwolf.

“If you’re ready to stop talking to your pet, then—” Coral never finished the statement.

The direwolf, whom I’d named Noren whether he agreed with me or not, let out a roar that shook the leaves of the trees and set them trembling.

He lifted onto his back legs to his full, terrifying height, and finally launched himself at Coral.

The sight of his red open mouth packed with teeth longer than some of my fingers made my insides tremble. Yet my bully, my cousin, stood her ground and adjusted her stance the way I’d taught her.

In the next breath, she’d called on her own change and the strawberry-blonde hair on her forearms, too light to see normally, darkened and grew until fur covered her arms entirely.

She completed the partial change in time to meet Noren’s attack and swipe her claws low across his belly. She never made contact, but then again neither did he.

I held my breath, tensed and ready to step in if necessary, but Coral pivoted on her back foot and lashed out with the other leg.

She held the change through it all.

Noren leaped over the kick, launching himself over her head and landing on the balls of all four feet. Coral barely had time to rear her arm back before he pounced. A low growl split the air.

“Girls! Who’s thirsty? I made tea with lavender and pea flowers. I think it gives the tea a beautiful color.”

Coral’s Mom, Nexa, didn’t blink when she strode across the overgrown backyard toward the garden clearing where we practiced.

Didn’t blink at the way her daughter rolled on her back and slashed at Noren’s underside with curved claws.

Even I swallowed over a gasp at the snap of his teeth inches away from Coral’s pretty, snarling face. She was really getting the hang of things, though, especially with her mom’s unwavering support.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize I was interrupting.”

Nexa set the tray of drinks down on the ground inches away from my feet. We were far enough from the sparring for the glasses to be safe, but if I looked away now…I might miss something.

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