"The legacy means nothing if you die," Mom says softly, the same sentiment Grandfather had beaten into me all these years, only twisted in a different way. “You’re not a shifter, Octavia. You know that. You don’t have the instincts, the senses to survive the Gauntlet tonight. And no non-shifter has ever been accepted in Naxthir. You’ll die in those woods.” Her words sink into me, heavy as stone, and I feel the burn of tears rising behind my eyes, but I swallow them down. Damn it.⚔︎⚔︎⚔︎ In a dystopian world where shifter blood runs true, nineteen-year-old Octavia Tepes is nature's mockery—a shifter who can't shift. When her brother defies their grandfather's legacy, she's thrust into his place at Naxthir Brigade College, where detection of her powerless state means certain death. Within these merciless walls, every cadet fights for survival, clawing their way toward the war college's elite ranks. For Octavia, each day is a deadly skit, each breath a calculated risk. But in a training ground where weakness equals death, her greatest threat isn't the brutal competition—it's the truth coursing through her veins. An anomaly. Content Warning: 18+ only. Contains violence, spice, and mature themes.