The wolf’s back legs strike me in the chest and my feet slip out from underneath me. I crash to the floor on my ass, the air along with my scream knocked from my lungs. Pain radiates across my back and hip. The wolf pins me down, pressing its weight on my chest, and I push with all my strength against the beast.

A heavy scent of cedar and musk fills my nose as I struggle to keep the wolf from ripping out my throat. I don’t want to die. My hands dig into its fur. The wolf snarls, twisting, revealing glistening fangs that snap toward my neck. Hot breath blows across my face. My arms shake from the strain of keeping it from biting me. A tremor skates across me. He’s going to kill me!

My hands shake and tingle. A power blasts into the wolf from my palms. The animal whimpers and scuttles off me. I scramble to my feet, gasping for air. I stare down at my hands, stunned. These can’t be my hands. They must belong to someone else. Nothing like this has ever happened.

The wolf growls as his hackles raise, like he’s going to attack a second time. I raise my hands, ready to hit him with my power. Not that I know how I did what I just did, but I’m hoping my vibrato will throw him off.

“Go,” I shout, jerking my head toward the open door. My heart beats against my breastbone and I can’t catch my breath. My power itches across my palms. No way am I going to let a wild wolf rip my throat out. “Or next time you come after me, you’ll be dead.”

The wolf snorts as though it understands me, but that is impossible.

“What are y—?”

“Congratulations,” a male voice slips into my mind. “Your magic has awakened.”

I shake myself because maybe this is some odd dream I’m having after gorging on chocolate.

The wolf sits in the middle of the room, blocking the open door. I’ll use my power to knock him out and make a run for it… if I can figure out how to duplicate what I did earlier.

“I’m your familiar. Though I should report you for using your magic against me.”

“Hey, you attacked me, so I defended myself.” There’s no way this can be real. It has to be a trick; maybe a shifter in disguise. That must be it.

“Well, you conjured me.”

I lower my hands to my sides. “You’re a werewolf with telepathy abilities. Who put you up to this?”

There’s no way I have a wolf as my familiar. Domestic cats or dogs are often familiars for witches, and even toads, owls, snakes, lizards… anything smaller than the huge wolf staring at me like he can see into my soul.

Damn it. You’re reading my mind right now, aren’t you?

His feral smile has my heart plunging into my stomach. He looks more like a rabid wolf who wants to gobble me up, and I take a step back.

“I can’t read your mind, but I can read your facial expressions and taste your emotions.” He cocks his head to the side and appears so non-wolf like that I’m sure he’s a werewolf playing a prank on me. “Put two and two together and viola, it’s easy to know what you’re thinking.”

Never heard of a familiar being able to communicate through mind-speak before. If any witches had ever had one, they would have bragged about it. I’ve never heard of one popping out of the blue and finding their witch with no explanation. Most get their animals when they reach puberty, and I’m long past that phase.

“I still don’t understand how this is possible.” Yet, I can’t ignore how I never shot sparks from my hands before or anything close until this beast showed up. “And how exactly did I conjure you?”

“Might want to shut the door, luv,” the wolf says in my mind, and winks. “Too many students will get jealous of your new familiar.”

I don’t close the door ’cause this beast isn’t staying. “Then I suggest you move on to the guy’s side of the dorm. Tell your buddies I see through this little game of yours. And don’t call me ‘luv,’ my name is Amber.”

For a second, the wolf stares at the open door and I wonder if he is considering leaving. Like he realizes that I’m not falling for his hoax.

A cold shudder rocks through me as the door shuts on its own. The wolf walks around the beds, sniffing them, then leaps onto mine.

“Hey, get off.” I narrow my eyes and rush forward, banging my hip on the desk that Mia and I share.

“You got a better option for me?”

And I swear his wolf eyebrows raise. “Yeah, the floor, on the guy’s side of the dorm. You’re not sleeping here.”

“If I can’t cozy up with you, then a doggie bed would be nice.”

“I’m not buying you pet supplies. You are not my familiar,” I say through gritted teeth. “If you don’t get off my bed and out the door in thirty seconds, I’m calling the dean.”

“Ouch,” he tsks. “So harsh to the one who can help you with your magic.”

“I said—” I stop abruptly, not sure if I heard him correctly. “Wait. What do you mean?”

He moves in circles on my bed before finding a spot and laying down. His head on his paws, his amber eyes half-lidded.

“Hey, don’t go to sleep.” I toss a pillow from Mia’s bed at him. “Tell me what you were saying about my magic.” If this is a trick from the shifters, I’m going to make their underwear itchy for a month. I need to pass my finals and get my mom and the dean off my back. I have to pass or I’ll be grounded for a year. I’ve got beach plans for spring break, and they do not include being stuck in this room, especially not with a mangy wolf.

“I need a bed to sleep in, food, water… chocolate is very good.”

Could he smell all the candy I had eaten? Probably. I shake my head and say, “No, not about all that. About my magic. How can you help me?” Like explain why I was able to magic him off me earlier, but I can’t manage a potion or any other magic to save my life. Why now? And I’m not sure it’s because this wolf has shown up. My life has never been wrapped up with a pretty bow like this.

Here’s where I expect the joke. I expect him to shift into his human form and laugh at me, telling me there is no hope for me. How all my dreams of being able to become a magic weaver to protect our world were in vain. How I am fooling myself because being the seventh daughter of a powerful family means absolutely zilch.

He yawns, closing his eyes. “I told you, I’m your familiar.”

“Where did you come from? Why now?” I cross my arms over my chest because I can’t wait to see what this joker has to say.

He opens his eyes halfway, looking at me like he was deciding how much to say. “Your magic called to me and here I am.”

“Hold up. How did my magic call you?”

“I can amplify your magic. Teach you how to use it.” He closes his eyes as though he has finished what he was going to tell me.

A rush of excitement swirls in my belly. I chew on my bottom lip, thinking how I could ask for an extension on the finals and take them all tonight instead of spoiling the next two weeks of winter vacation by being stuck here studying. Plus, it would give me a good foothold to start the new semester without the failing classes hanging over my head.

“All right. Prove you can help me.” I turn to the bed and find the wolf fast asleep. Its getting fur all over my bed, even if he is cute taking up as much of my small bed as he can. Are wolves supposed to sleep all stretched out like that?

I pace in my room, debating to wake him up and demand answers or finding out more about familiars. Not all witches have one, and I’ve never heard of such a thing as one amplifying powers.

Unless this is a long con and the shifters are biding their time. How, if they wait long enough, I’ll believe this nonsense and I’ll be humiliated once again.

There’s one way to find out if he’s truly a familiar and just an animal or a werewolf in disguise. An incantation. I dash to my backpack and rummage around for my spellbook. The brown goo from my potion is smeared along one side of my pack, and I go get washcloths to wipe it down before throwing them into the laundry along with my uniform.

I wash my hands and sit down on Mia’s bed with the book in my lap. Every once in a while, the wolf gives a soft moan and his paws twitch like he’s running in a bad dream. Part of me wants to wake him up, except I need to know exactly what I’m dealing with. Something in my gut is telling me he’s not being truthful with me.

And he says I summoned him. I puff out a breath. Impossible. The only spell I did was for Mia to have a crush, and I’m pretty sure she’s not attracted to wolves—were or otherwise. She gagged whenever Anson tried to flirt with her and took off his shirt, revealing chest hair and tons of back hair. I shudder at the mental picture.

Flipping through the pages, I come across a “reveal” spell.

To reveal one’s true nature incantation:

Ensure that the witch performing the spell is of adequate level two status.

I snort. Chants can’t be that complex.

Tie a ribbon around the subject you wish to reveal. Light any natural incense and view the subject through the smoke while saying the following:

I seek the truth and nothing can hide

No spell or form has lied

Hold the winds and tied

I see the truth, clear-eyed

Great. I can do this. At least nothing can explode like in potions class. I dig through the small dresser between mine and Mia’s beds. I can’t find a stupid ribbon anywhere.

Mia. I hate going through her things. I’ll apologize and pay her back later.

I open up her bottom drawer and find her clothes neatly folded and organized. No ribbon there. The second drawer is stuck and no matter how hard I pull, it won’t budge.

“Damn, damn, damn.” I am pretty sure she’s got it locked with a spell, though I don’t detect the tingling of any magic around the dresser. I squat down, peering along the drawer and spot a lever between the drawer and slat. Weird.

Pushing up on my feet, I grab a metal nail file out of the bathroom and return. Carefully, I wiggle the file between whatever is blocking the drawer. An ache throbs behind my eyes as I concentrate. I will the drawer to open cause now that I know about this, I won’t ever be able to leave it alone. Kinda like Pandora in that regard, and I know I would’ve opened her box the second I was alone with it.

Would this be easier if I just waited for Mia? Or run to the spell supply store on campus for a silly ribbon? Sure, except what’s the fun in either of those choices? And something about this tells me that Mia would say no to opening the drawer for me. My stomach churns that I’m spying on my roommate, yet I push it aside in my urgency to prove this wolf is a werewolf in disguise.

Besides, knowing this is locked will be a constant itch I can’t scratch if I don’t get this open.

The metal file digs into my fingers as I work. Pain sears up my hand and the lock clicks. Ouch. I look down at my hand to find the wound from the thorn earlier has reopened from my jiggling the file. I shake out the pain, then gently open the drawer.

Dozens of jars fill the space, along with black candles, fully stuffed sachets, and several pieces of hair wrapped with twine. An inverted pentagram is drawn into the bottom of the drawer around the items with black salt.

Dark magic.

I shake my head as chills slither down my spine. Mia can’t be into these forbidden workings; it has to be some kind of mistake. In the drawer, I recognize a thatch of my red hair. With trembling hands, I lift one of the jars. It’s sealed with black candle wax along the lid and runes I don’t recognize drawn on the top. A tiny frog floats in formaldehyde.

Gross.

I nearly drop the jar and fumble putting it back in place. No way do I want to look and see what’s in the other jars. I swallow against my thickening throat and pocket the swatch of my hair. I can’t believe my friend is doing dark magic on me. There has to be a reasonable explanation, but my stomach twists in knots.

A black ribbon is wrapped around one of the jars and I unravel it.

I’ll put it back once I finish the reveal spell. I need to hurry before Mia returns from finals. My conscience wrestles with me to confront Mia about all of this. How could she do this to me and steal my hair? Was she going to do a spell on me? None of this seems like Mia. She would do anything to help someone and had even offered to help me study. If someone had said she was in dark magic stuff, I’d have laughed in their face. But I have my own problems to deal with first—I need to find out about this wolf.

The idea that I’m going to stop a prank before it drags me into a gullible mess surges me on.

And there has to be a logical explanation for the items in the drawer. Like maybe Mia is studying black magic to learn how it works and how to stop it. She is in advanced classes, after all.

Pushing aside the unease weighing on my chest, I slowly close the drawer, careful not to disturb anything else. Terrified that if I bump something, it will explode crawls through me.

I let out a ragged breath and quickly tie the ribbon around the wolf’s foreleg.

Lighting the incense, I whisper the incantation, aiming the smoke toward the wolf.

“I seek the truth and nothing can hide. No spell or form has lied.” My throat feels dry, my gaze shifting to the open, dark magic drawer. A shiver rolls through me and I return my attention to the sleeping wolf. “Hold the winds and tied. I see the truth, clear-eyed.”

A pop sounds in the room and the overhead lights flicker.

The wolf isn’t on my bed any longer. I jerk upright, all the hairs on my body stiff and straight. A shadow zips in front of me. Hands clamp around my throat and I’m shoved against the wall.

My fingers claw at the hands locked on my throat. The ribbon tickles along the back of my wrist. I stare into amber eyes with black, slanted pupils.

I blink, trying to focus on my attacker, not believing what I’m actually seeing. The incense smoke fills the small room, but it hasn’t revealed one of the university shifters. Black horns shine against his red skin. Dark curly hair covers his head, while his chest is bare and rippled with muscles. A tail flicks back and forth as though irritated. I meet his amber eyes.

The demon glares at me like he wants to tear me to shreds.