Xan Higgins

Xan Higgins, addressed by Romy as Professor Higgins and sometimes identified simply as Higgins, occupies a distinctive position between ordinary university life and the hidden supernatural world. He is both an academic authority who monitors Romy’s obligations and a huntsman capable of entering the werewolf conflict directly. His importance lies in that dual role: he begins as part of the institutional world measuring Romy’s performance, but becomes one of the allies who materially protects her chosen family.

Academic Authority and Romy’s Accountability

Xan’s earliest clear function is supervisory. Professor Higgins permits Romy and Talia to shadow Anna’s classes rather than attend their own, but attaches a condition to that accommodation: Romy must provide an update on her social-media numbers by the end of the week. The arrangement recognizes the unusual pressure surrounding Romy’s life while still preserving an academic standard. Her online campaign is not merely a private distraction; it has become part of the work she must explain to a professor while she tries to investigate werewolves, protect friends, and remain enrolled.

Romy treats the requirement as a challenge she can meet on several fronts at once. Her numbers continue rising because she engages with the flood of likes, comments, and new followers generated by her celebrity-werewolf posts. She hopes to prove that she can fight a werewolf war, become a werewolf herself, and still complete Professor Higgins’s final assignment successfully. Xan’s academic demand therefore becomes an external measure of the impossible balance Romy is attempting: public performance, supernatural danger, and intellectual achievement must all be maintained together.

From Professor to Huntsman Ally

Xan’s identity as a huntsman becomes decisive when Brody’s expected attack places the Somerville pack under threat. After Lina’s call to Kash’s mother, Xan gathers several friends and arrives with them to help. His appearance changes the emotional balance of the defensive preparations: the arrival of Xan and the other huntsmen invigorates the entire pack, including Kash and Romy, because the supernatural family is no longer standing alone.

The alliance is significant precisely because it crosses lines that normally separate the groups. Xan and his fellow huntsmen work beside werewolves and witches, each group contributing its own skills to protect the pack. Birdie and Mirabelle strengthen the wards while the defenders take positions around the perimeter; Xan’s companions are distributed among the werewolves rather than held apart from them. The scene presents cooperation as a practical answer to Brody’s aggression, but it also gives Xan a wider role than that of a visiting specialist. He becomes part of a temporary protective network built around shared danger and chosen loyalty.

During the battle, Xan fights with Beau, standing back to back with him while they guard one another. The huntsmen are heavily outnumbered: for every wolf they bring down, two more replace it. A fallen werebro lies at Beau and Xan’s feet, making the cost of their defense explicit. Xan’s courage is therefore not abstract support from outside the pack; it is embodied in direct combat, mutual protection, and continued resistance despite overwhelming numbers.

Position in the Wider Conflict

Xan’s presence also clarifies the political and moral stakes of the battle. Romy condemns the council as politicians who hope the crisis will resolve without requiring them to take responsibility. She insists that the fight belongs to the people already defending the territory and declares that the pack will be ready when Brody comes. Xan’s intervention initially proves the value of that call to action: unlike the reluctant council, he does not remain safely distant from the consequences.

The later arrival of the council creates a contrast with Xan’s earlier decision. A portal opens during the fighting, and Lina steps through with the council members behind her. Although they arrive formally dressed and initially associated with political delay, their expressions reveal that they are prepared to use their power; they shift and join the battle where Brody’s werebros are overwhelming the defenders. Xan’s contribution remains important because he and the huntsmen have already entered the danger and strengthened the pack before the council finally commits itself. The sequence distinguishes immediate solidarity from institutional intervention while allowing both to become part of the defense.

Relationship with Romy

Romy’s relationship with Xan combines embarrassment, accountability, gratitude, and eventual recognition. She knows him as Professor Higgins and becomes self-conscious when meeting him outside the classroom context, but that awkwardness does not erase his respect for her. His involvement in the battle demonstrates that he sees the bravery behind her unconventional conduct rather than reducing her to a student who has neglected her coursework.

At graduation, Xan hands Romy her diploma, complete with special honors for her final assignment. He tells her that he is proud not only because she has far exceeded her goal of building a following, but also because of what she did for the Somerville pack. His praise joins the two identities that have governed her arc: the public-facing student who built an audience and the courageous participant who defended a supernatural community. He also tells her that her parents would have been proud, giving the academic ceremony an emotional dimension beyond grades or institutional approval.

That moment completes the movement between Xan’s two functions. The professor who once required an account of Romy’s follower numbers becomes the mentor-like witness who can assess the meaning of her actions. His commendation does not excuse the danger or turn the conflict into a school assignment; instead, it recognizes that Romy’s strength of character has been demonstrated through choices made under pressure.

Narrative Role and Significance

Xan functions as a bridge character. Through him, the novel connects the university’s systems of evaluation with the concealed societies of werewolves, witches, and huntsmen. His academic role gives Romy’s social-media campaign a concrete obligation, while his huntsman identity gives the supernatural plot an ally whose skills come from outside Kash’s pack. Because he can occupy both worlds, his actions help make the novel’s central transformation legible: Romy does not simply abandon her former life when she becomes involved with the pack; she carries her academic, public, and personal identities into the new community.

His final appearance at graduation gives that integration a formal seal. Xan does not merely survive the conflict or assist in a single battle. He becomes the person who can acknowledge Romy’s completed education and the courage she showed while protecting others. The result is a deliberate convergence of institutions and chosen family: the professor recognizes the student, the huntsman stands with the pack, and Xan Higgins validates the fact that Romy’s extraordinary new life has not erased the achievements of her old one.