And Seph?
She kept… smiling at him.
Dev snorted. “Dude, if you keep looking at her like that, you’re gonna put a target on her back.”
I didn’t answer.
He didn’t need me to — Dev read people too well.
He knew what that look meant.
He knew exactly who I was watching.
He sliced a shallow cut across his own arm with one of his blades and flicked the blood into the air like paint.
It hovered, suspended, forming the shape of a wolf before dispersing in a red shimmer.
Some of the kids nearby flinched.
Others stared.
Dev stared right back, dead-eyed, daring anyone to comment.
Even Coach Radley didn’t try it.
Though he gave Dev a glare like he wanted to.
“Dev, come on. Don’t make me write you up.”
Dev just grinned. “Just practising.”
Radley blew his whistle. “Alright everyone. We’re doing sparring today to get some of that pent-up energy out of you fuck-ups. No magic on my court, you got me?”
A wave of annoyed groans rolled through the group.
Seph stepped back like someone had fired a gun.
Her eyes darted around, wild and cornered, her gloved hands tightening at her sides.
The black trackpants and oversized T-shirt didn’t hide the fact she was barely keeping herself together.
She tugged at her sweatshirt like she wished she could crawl inside it and vanish.
“Pick a partner! Or I’ll pick one for you,” Radley barked.
Beside me, Lyra kept staring at me with that desperate, hopeful look she’d perfected.
“Want to be partners, K? I’ve been practising.”
I ignored her.
She moved closer. I could almost feel her breath on my skin.
My eyes stayed on Seph.
She stepped back again—too far, too fast—until one of the guards straightened, hand drifting toward his taser like she was a flight risk.
Not on my watch.
