18. Riley
Riley
Sweat dripped down my face as the tiger shifter threw one last triumphant sneer at me before strutting over to his buddies.
Even though it pained me to throw a fight, I begrudgingly let the tiger shifter win, mostly to avoid attracting any more unwanted attention. I didn't make it easy for the tiger asshole, however,
I wasn’t that magnanimous.
In the last few seconds, I pretended to roll my ankle and then didn’t bother fighting back after he got me in a chokehold.
Thankfully, the fight ended before he had time to grope me. Although he did dry hump my ass, which made me want to vomit.
Students filed out at the end of the class, many of them in pain from injuries sustained.
The bear shifter threw me a furious glare when he limped past, but I ignored him. He lost fair and square, so he needed to suck it up. And from the disgusted glances he earned from a couple of other bear shifters, they thought so too.
The tiger smirked, satisfied that he’d bested me in front of his fellow felines, but I gave him the middle finger. He might think he’d beaten me, but I would have won if I’d tried harder. He was also a disgusting pervert, which made me vow to punch him in the nuts if our paths crossed again.
“Scott, a word.” My pulse jumped at the lion shifter’s voice.
“Um, okay?” Had I done something wrong? As far as I knew, I’d broken none of the lion’s rules.
I’d not shifted or killed any of my opponents, so unless one of them dropped dead from an undiagnosed health issue in the next ten minutes, I was in the clear.
Swallowing down my unease, I followed the lion shifter away from the students leaving the gym. Once the room had cleared, he stared down at me with his arms folded across his broad chest and frowned.
“You threw your last fight. Care to explain why?”
“I didn’t throw it,” I lied before remembering that more powerful shifters could smell lies. Thanks, Tobias, for clueing me in on that.
The lion arched a golden eyebrow.
“Okay, so maybe I let him win,” I admitted, unhappy about being called out. My wolf whined and scratched inside me, desperate to rub her head on the lion’s broad chest.
Not happening, I told her. He’s a teacher. Stupid, slutty wolf.
She carried on whining, which was super distracting. Even more distracting than the hot-as-hell lion shifter with hair way shinier than mine. Did lion shifters spend a lot of time self-grooming?
“Why?”
My inner musing about lions and their personal grooming habits skidded to a halt, and I huffed out a sigh.
“Because I don’t need more asshole shifters coming after me with revenge on their minds.”
The giant male growled. “What? Has someone attacked you on campus?”
Wow, this dude seemed very protective of his students. Unexpected, but not unwelcome. And a far cry from Bernard’s shitty approach to student welfare.
“They’ve tried,” I admitted before letting a smirk escape as I remembered how satisfying it had felt when I kicked Dirk in the nuts.
The lion exhaled slowly before clearing his throat.
“As a hybrid, you are more at risk than most shifters here.” A fact that seemed to bother him, judging by the way he ground his teeth in frustration.
Would the school’s satisfaction rating slip if a student died?
“While you’ve clearly had self-defense training prior to coming here, I think you would benefit from additional instruction.
” He hummed to himself as I froze on the spot.
Um, what?
“Meet me here at six a.m. tomorrow. I’ll identify your weak areas and then put a training plan together.
” Without giving me a chance to respond, he stalked off into a side room.
The door slammed shut, leaving me to wonder how I was supposed to get out of private lessons with a sexy lion shifter my wolf wanted to hump.
To my surprise, Simon stood waiting for me when I stumbled out of the gym in a panic.
“Oh, hey,” I muttered, still spiraling. He frowned as he took in my flushed face.
“Did Leone do anything…bad?”
It said a great deal about the school that sexual assault was the first place my new friend’s mind would go.
I shook my head, strangely horrified that Simon would think the lion shifter capable of such a thing. Bernard, yes, but not the lion.
“No, he asked why I’d thrown my fight with the tiger dickhead.”
Simon blinked. “You threw the fight?”
“Yeah.” I wiped my sweaty brow, wishing I had a bathtub in my bathroom. A long, hot soak to ease the aches and pains that were manifesting now that I’d had time to cool off. Instead, I’d have to make do with a tepid shower.
“Oh, I had no idea you deliberately lost that one. But you were awesome in the other fights! That bear shifter sure got what he deserved.”
I wondered whether the bear had hassled my new friend.
“Anyway, I was wondering…” Simon’s voice trailed off.
“Yeah?” My stomach rumbled, reminding me I needed food. Calorific food. Preferably full of grease and unhealthy shit.
“Um, would you teach me some cool moves like what you used today? So I can protect myself better?”
I skidded to a halt and peered at my friend, noticing the bruises around his face and the way he favored his left arm. While I hadn’t seen him fight, I had a feeling his first opponent had nailed him good.
He reminded me of myself as a child. Before my wolf appeared and I got stronger, I’d been a popular target for the bullies at the human school I attended. The number of times I dragged myself back to our trailer with torn clothing, a bloody nose, and worse didn’t bear thinking about.
Not that my mother ever gave a shit. She was usually too drunk to notice.
My heart softened at Simon’s hopeful smile. He wasn’t much taller than me and barely weighed more than I did as a female.
“Sure, I can teach you some stuff. Maybe tomorrow after dinner?”
The pesky lion shifter had locked down my early mornings, so it was the best I could offer.
Simon beamed. “Thank you!”
I patted him on the shoulder and started walking toward the canteen, hoping they had food ready because I was ravenous.
“If there’s anything I can do for you, just ask.”
“Actually, there is,” I said. “I have a list of names, and I’d like your help to identify who they are.”