Unstoppable (Their Shifter Academy #6) - May Dawson Page 0,115

my sophomore year.”

Then she plunged on into the fight, drawing the magic of witches away as they were mid-attack, forcing wolves to fall into their human form in agony.

Clearborn still looked shocked as he turned to me, but only for a second.

“You sent the shield through,” Clearborn said.

“We did,” I said, “but it turns out we didn’t even really need the shield. We needed Maddie.”

“Explain,” he said, frowning.

“She can take their ability to shift away,” I said. “And she can give it back.”

Clearborn studied the scene in front of us; the battlefield was rapidly changing. The men whose wolves had been stripped away were frantically running, retreating off campus.

“Does she have to know that?” he asked. “We don’t need unbearable first years.”

“Technically, she’s a rising second now.”

“Or I could just put you all in one patrol so you all stop being such a pain in my ass,” he said.

“Wouldn’t our patrol still be under your leadership?”

“Good point, Mr. Hunt. As long as you’re all certain to be a hassle, perhaps I should keep Ms. Northsea and the others on a tighter leash for now.” But he looked at me with a mischievous glint in your eye. “How did it go over there? Did you manage to keep them on a tighter leash?”

After what had happened in the Fae world, I’d been afraid I would be unworthy to lead them, that they wouldn’t trust me, that they wouldn’t obey.

“Maybe I’ll never need a leash at all,” I said. “We all work well together.”

Clearborn looked out at the scene in front of us. “Maybe you do, Mr. Hunt. Maybe the packs need you. But don’t tell them that.”

He went back to giving orders, making the most of the changing tide of war as the last wolves and witches—now just humans—fled the campus or were taken down by our forces. I went to work helping to gather up the wounded, helping Callum off the field to the infirmary.

“How’d our girl do out there?” he asked.

“Amazing,” I said.

He smiled as if he’d never expected anything less. “She’s so much like her sister.”

I knew he meant that as a compliment, but I couldn’t help saying how I felt. “Maddie Northsea isn’t like anyone else.”

She was the love of my life, even if we would spend the rest of our lives driving each other crazy.

And I was going to be thankful for every day of my life with that girl, with her cockeyed crown and her easy smile.

Chapter Fifty-Five

Maddie

* * *

When the battle was over, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself. The crown was so heavy that it hurt my head, and I pulled it off eagerly. When I threw it over my arm to carry it, it reminded me so much of the first time I’d carried it that way, right after I’d destroyed all our wolves. Then the crown had felt heavy with shame and loss, as I fought my father and the rest of the Coven of the Day.

I found Clearborn in the infirmary, checking on our wounded. I meant to ask him what he wanted me to do with the damned thing, but then I saw Callum sitting amidst the injured, and I rushed to hug him.

He hugged me back hard, as he had hundreds of time since Piper brought him and the others into our lives. “I’m so proud of you,” he murmured into my ear. But then he always was.

I didn’t know where to even begin telling him thank you, so I just hugged him back hard. “I’ve been so lucky to have all of you in my life.”

“Have you?” he asked, giving me a skeptical look as I pulled back.

“Not everyone would love the ninth wheel,” I reminded him.

He shook his head. “Maddie, I don’t know where you got the idea you were the ninth wheel, but none of us ever felt that way. You weren’t someone we accepted because you came along with Piper. You brought so much goodness into our lives in your own right, and I can’t imagine our family without you.”

Sudden tears flooded my eyes, and I hugged him again. He laughed and hugged me again, patting my back comfortingly.

There was something surreal about being the one who had just ended the battle between wolves and witches, and still needing my family. But I guess we all need our people who love us and believe in us, no matter what we can do.

“I’d better go check on the guys,” I told Callum.

He

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