Fractured Claws

She's spent five years hiding what she is. She just enrolled in the one place that will make it impossible. Willa Phelps doesn't trust anyone. She doesn't stay in one place long enough to. Four years on the run, eleven apartments, one little brother to keep alive, and one enormous secret buried so deep she's almost forgotten the shape of it. Until the city burns and the only option left is the worst one she has. Verikas Academy. Neutral ground. Guardian training. The last place on the continent where neither faction holds the walls. And the first place in five years where Willa's carefully buried beast decides she's done cooperating. The Academy comes with rules. Green badges for female trainees. A capped leaderboard. Bond facilitation pamphlets she didn't ask for. And four males at the top of every ranking who observe every new intake from the gallery above, with the unhurried attention of people who have never had to prove themselves and know it. Quad A. The only bonded unit in Verikas history. A wolf who has already decided she doesn't belong. A bear whose easy grin hides the fact that he's watching everything. A dragon who never speaks but sees more than anyone should. And a panther who is somehow also on the faculty and looking at her simulation scores like they're a problem he needs to solve. Willa's plan is simple: stay invisible, survive the semester, find a route north, leave. The Ashwalker she's been hiding for five years has other ideas. She doesn't have to choose. That's the problem. In a world divided by faction lines and power rankings, Willa has always known exactly who to trust: no one. Then she walks through Verikas' gates and everything she's built her survival on starts to fracture. Four males who should be her competition. Four beasts that recognise something in her she hasn't named yet. And a bond she cannot afford, in the worst possible place, at the worst possible time — when the thing inside her chest has finally decided she's done hiding. If you love: • Reverse harem / why choose romance with real slow burn • Academy settings with dangerous power dynamics and a broken system • A fierce, smart, closed-off FMC hiding power that refuses to stay buried • Shifter romance with fated mates and reluctant bonds • Enemies-to-lovers tension that takes its time • Hidden power revealed, chosen one who doesn't want to be chosen • Dark fantasy world-building with faction wars and political intrigue • Multiple POVs and a heroine who dismantles the system from the inside ...then this book is written for you.