A cursed Beastkin. A witch born of fire. A bond neither of them expected… and a love too dangerous to ignore. Karrick: Beastkin aren't meant to fall in love with witches. That's what the world tells me. My kind carries a curse-once human, now creatures of claw and fang, feared for a past drenched in war and betrayal. At Widdershins Academy, I'm the monster they all pretend not to watch. Except for him. Phoenix Emberwood-the boy who was once my best friend. The boy I lost when his family ripped him away. He's back now, fire magic at his fingertips, stronger, sharper, and looking at me like he's trying to decide if he still knows me at all. I've only ever been with women. I never questioned that-never questioned myself. But when I see him, when I smell him, something inside me shifts, something primal and undeniable. It's impossible. It's forbidden. And I want him anyway. Loving Phoenix means turning my back on everything I know. It means facing a world that would rather see us apart-if not dead. But I'm not sure I can walk away. Not this time. Phoenix: I never thought I'd see Karrick again. I never thought I'd return to a world where witches whisper warnings about Beastkin, about the creatures who were cursed for a reason. But here I am, and there he is-bigger, stronger, impossible to ignore. My family says I should stay away. The academy says I should know better. But my magic doesn't listen. It flares every time he's near, like it knows him, like it's reaching for something lost. I tell myself he's just a childhood memory. I tell myself I don't care. But when he looks at me, when our bodies collide in fleeting touches and unspoken confessions, I feel it. The bond. The pull. The fire waiting to consume us both. Giving in to Karrick means defying my family, my coven, the very laws that keep our world from falling apart. But maybe the only way to change history… is to burn it down.
