16. Riley
Riley
The morning alarm woke me from a disturbing dream involving me and the candy-cane wolf shifter, where he pinned me down and railed me into the mattress. The worst part of the dream was when the hulking alpha who’d interrupted the bullies in the canteen joined us. And I liked it.
I groaned. Goddess, I needed to get laid. And soon. Being around shifters must have done something to my libido because I swore on the stars I had never been so fucking horny in my life.
Back home, where every day involved working a minimum-wage job to put food in the refrigerator, food Mom barely touched, I rarely thought about getting laid.
The human male who’d taken my V-card had made it seem like a waste of time, and my other sexual experiences hadn’t exactly set my world on fire either. Based on that, I’d concluded sex was not for me.
At least I knew what I liked and could get myself over the line.
Now, though, it was as if my body had woken up from a coma, and I could think about nothing but ripped male bodies dripping with sweat as they hovered over me and…
Nope.
Not going there.
I hauled myself out of bed and glanced at the wall calendar pinned to the door.
The full moon was in five days. Perhaps that was why my libido was off the charts?
I’d never paid much attention to the lunar cycles before, as my wolf slept most of the time, but I had a feeling she wasn’t about to sleep through this full moon.
Which reminded me: I still needed to find out where the full moon party was taking place. Felix had told me the Montes pack organized the parties and students from both academies attended, as well as a few other unmated local shifters searching for a hookup.
Lorna had talked in her journal about a shifter whose name began with T, and they’d planned to meet at the August full moon party. If T was some kind of predator, the sort of evil monster who kidnapped innocent females, perhaps he’d be at the next party too.
My phone rang, and I swiped to accept Felix’s call.
“I can’t find your mom.” I’d told him about her phone call, and he’d promised to look for her. Even though our trailer was no longer ours, I figured she’d still be in the area. What worried me, however, was the guy she’d hooked up with. Mom had the worst taste in males: my father being Exhibit A.
At least my shoulder felt as good as new this morning. No pain, stiffness, or bruising.
“Nothing?”
“Nope,” he said. “I took a ride over to the park, but there was no sign of her. Your old trailer’s empty with a For Rent sign in the window, so she hasn’t sweet-talked Frank into changing his mind.”
Fuck. Knowing Mom, the guy who’d given her a lift from the rehab clinic was one of her dealers, and she was currently lying in a puddle of vomit somewhere.
“Maybe I should come back,” I groaned. I could ask for emergency leave or something. Not that I could afford to change my flight. Felix had lent me the money, and I highly doubted he’d pay for a new flight.
“Riley, I say this with love, but you are not her parent.” I pictured him rolling his eyes.
“Your mom is a grown-ass woman who can make her own life decisions, good or bad. She has to want to get better. You’ve done your best to help her sort her life out, so take a step back before she drags you down with her. ”
As much as I hated to admit it, everything Felix said was true. I had done my best to help Mom, and every time she’d thrown it back in my face.
“Ugh, you’re right.”
“Of course I am, cupcake. Now, how’s it going at the school for hotties? Got laid yet?”
“It’s not going, Felix,” I huffed as I rubbed my hair with a towel.
I’d finally gotten used to my short hair.
Not having to spend an hour blow drying it sure saved me a ton of time.
“Nobody will talk to me because they think my hybrid status is beneath them, and the instructors are sadists. One of them dislocated my shoulder yesterday.” I whimpered for dramatic effect.
“My cousin hated the place. He said it was full of elitist pricks.”
“He’s not wrong.” We lapsed into silence as I contemplated my life choices. Goddess, I missed Felix. “Do you still think I’m nuts for coming here?” I asked eventually.
“Yes, but I admire your loyalty. So if I get kidnapped by evil mages, please come and rescue me. And bring a few sexy shifters with you.”
I snorted. “You have a one-track mind, Felix.”
“Damn right, cupcake. Hot sex with slutty wolves cannot be beaten as a fun leisure activity. Speaking of…are you going to the next full moon party?”
“I’m hoping to,” I admitted, deciding not to mention my out-of-control libido because then Felix would be even more insistent that I hooked up with someone. “I’ve not figured out where it’s being held yet.”
“Oh, that’s easy. Roland said there’s a courtesy bus from campus to the party location. He said to check the notice board outside the admin building for times.” My shoulders relaxed. Thank the goddess. That was one thing I no longer needed to worry about.
“Great, I’ll look later.” I checked the time and realized I needed to get a move on if I wanted coffee and food before my first class. “I have to go, Felix. A girl’s gotta eat.”
“Sure thing, cupcake. If I find out anything new, I’ll ping you. Oh, and Riles, don’t sweat it about your mother. I’m sure she’ll be fine, but I’ll continue to keep an eye out for her.”
I highly doubted that, but Felix was right. Mom had sucked up enough of my time and energy over the years, and I refused to drop everything and go to her rescue. If she wanted to blow up her life again, that was her choice.
Lorna was my priority. I’d come here to find her, and I wasn’t leaving until I had answers.
The minute I pushed through the double doors into the canteen, a wall of noise hit me. For the first time, a million pairs of eyes didn’t snap my way. Was someone else the topic of today’s gossip?
Sure enough, from the snippets of chatter I caught on my way to the coffee station, it sounded like a member of the faculty had had a nasty accident.
“I heard he lost an arm,” a feline shifter said as I walked past his table. “Not sure the healers can fix that level of damage.”
Wow, that was bad. Had there been a demon attack? I’d heard of at least one incident in the last month, but nothing in these parts. Goddess save us all if the stories about demons were true.
Felix seemed to think they were, which was a concern.
“…Bernard was an asshole, so I have no sympathy,” an eagle shifter said to his friend when I grabbed a breakfast roll from the hot counter.
The world stopped spinning for a nanosecond. Instructor Bernard had lost an arm? Something told me that wasn’t a random stroke of bad luck. I paused, hoping for more details, but the two eagle shifters switched topics and moved away.
Fuck, had Tobias gone full psycho on my behalf? Surely not. That would be insane. If anyone figured out it was him, he’d end up expelled, or worse, charged with assault and tossed into the nearest magical penitentiary.
There had to be an innocent explanation.
Perhaps Bernard had gone for a run in the forest and met a feral shifter? Feral shifter cases were on the rise. It was a plausible explanation.
I wandered toward the exit with my coffee and breakfast roll, deep in thought, only to bump into another student.
“Sorry,” I mumbled automatically, clutching my coffee to prevent a disastrous spill. Losing my caffeine fix would legit kill me.
“It’s okay,” a slender guy with spiky brown hair and freaky yellow irises said. He glanced nervously from side to side before whispering under his breath, “I wanted to talk to you anyway.”
“You did?” My eyes narrowed in suspicion. Was he hoping to get me alone so his burlier friends could attempt to beat me up?
“Yeah. I saw what Bernard did to you yesterday. It sucked.”
My well-developed self-preservation instincts told me the guy was genuine, so I let him follow me outside. His cool, earthy scent suggested he was a reptile shifter, but I wasn’t sure what type. Reptile shifters were nowhere near as common as wolves, bears, and felines.
“What are you?” I blurted when we reached a quiet spot on the lawn outside. There were a few tables out here, but it was a cold day, so they were mostly empty.
I dropped onto a wooden bench and sipped my coffee. This school sucked ass, but the coffee was to die for. Ten out of ten, would recommend.
“A snake shifter. My name’s Simon,” the guy replied, taking a seat opposite me.
His eyes swiveled from side to side, and every few seconds, a long tongue flicked out.
Was that a snake thing? If so, it gave me the ick.
But I pushed that thought down because, given how unpopular I was, I couldn’t afford to be choosy about who I interacted with.
“Hi, Simon, I’m Riley.” I forced a smile. The wind picked up as I sipped my coffee, sending fallen leaves swirling around the trees. “It can’t be much fun for a reptile shifter in this weather,” I commented as Simon shivered. If snake shifters were anything like actual snakes, they’d hate the cold.
“Yeah. Cold weather sucks.” He scowled. “Bernard once made me tackle the assault course in subzero temperatures and then laughed when my body got too sluggish on the climbing bars and I fell into an icy pool. I nearly drowned.”
I sucked in a horrified breath. “That’s awful!”
“Yeah. He’s a sadist.” Something we could both agree on.
“Do you know what happened to him?” I asked before taking a large bite of my roll. I had less than twenty minutes to eat this and get to my next class.
Simon shook his head. “Not really. The gossip says he went for a run in his wolf form last night and some animal attacked him. He made it back, and the healers teleported him to a mage medical facility. I doubt he’ll be teaching again this semester.”
“How tragic.”
Simon smirked. “Yeah.”
“Why are you talking to me?” I asked bluntly once I’d finished my roll. I regretted not picking up a second one; my appetite was out of control at the moment, much like my libido.
“You’re an outsider, like me, so I figured we should stick together.”
“But I’m a hybrid. Everyone hates me. If you associate with me, they’ll hate you too.” I appreciated his overture of friendship, but he seemed like a nice guy, and I would feel bad if he got a ton of shit from hanging out with me. Dirk and his buddies might target him, which would suck.
“The more powerful shifters all hate me too.” He shrugged. “They view us reptiles as lesser magicals. Apart from the more venomous snake shifters, which I’m not.”
“What type of snake are you, then?”
“A carpet python.”
“So you can hug someone to death but not kill with one bite?”
Simon chuckled. “Yeah, pretty much.”
“If you don’t mind being targeted by the meatheads, then I’d be delighted to have you as my one and only friend,” I told him.
We grinned at each other, and for the first time since arriving at Moonfall, I thought maybe this elite-as-fuck school wasn’t so bad after all.
Then a pesky wolf shifter with abs and dimples to die for rocked up behind me.
Simon froze in panic before muttering a quick goodbye and running off so fast he stumbled over his own feet.
Hmm. It appeared my new friend wasn’t much of a brave little soldier, but that was okay.
I didn’t mind. He could offer support in other ways, such as putting faces to names for me.
Tobias dropped his peachy ass onto the bench beside me. A thickly muscled thigh pressed into mine, and I fought back a whimper as my wolf panted with lust.
“Hey, little dude, how’s the shoulder this morning?”
“It’s fine.” Without waiting for a reply, I ran off to my next class before I climbed the wolf like a tree.
He was too damn sexy, and I…I had no self-control.