19. Riley
Riley
Simon and I took a table by the sliding glass doors in the canteen while I scarfed down a massive bowl of pasta with meatballs and he picked at a chicken roll. His two friends had stopped by briefly, nodded hello in my direction, and then left.
I got the impression they thought Simon was nuts hanging with a hybrid shifter like me. Oh well. He could make his own decisions.
Many students had left for their last classes of the day, but since I had no other classes, I was happy to hang out for a bit and eat as much food as my stomach could cope with.
Then I planned to head back to my room, take a much-needed shower, and sleep so I was ready for my fun lesson with Simba at dawn.
My body ached, and the longer I sat in this hard plastic chair, the worse it got. A full-blooded shifter would have gone full fur and healed immediately, but I didn’t have that option.
Even if my wolf agreed to show herself, I didn’t want to risk shifting here. Tobias now knew my wolf was female. I couldn’t afford for anyone else to find out; it would raise too many questions.
Simon scanned the list on my phone. There were eleven students at Moonfall Academy whose names began with T. One of them I already knew: Tobias. As for the rest, I had no clue who they were.
“So why do you want to know who these guys are?”
It was a reasonable question, but did I trust him enough to reveal my reason for being here? Not fully, no. But I had to tell him something if I wanted answers.
“My sister was living in Trinity Falls and met a shifter I believe was a student here. Shortly after, she disappeared.”
Simon’s eyes widened. “Like, she’s still missing?”
“Yeah. So I came here to find her.”
“Didn’t she tell you his name?”
“No.” Surprisingly, he didn’t ask why Lorna failed to reveal such an important piece of information. Instead, he seemed more interested in the fact that she’d disappeared.
“I’ve heard stories of lesser magical females going missing. Usually rare species, but some shifters from the northern islands have disappeared too. And there have been more feral shifter cases lately,” he added.
“Females going missing?” Goddess, could Lorna have fallen victim to the shifter sex traffickers?
I assumed it was only Lorna, but her disappearance could be part of something bigger.
Felix had warned me that some students here had links to the packs involved in the shifter mafia.
Perhaps I should have paid more attention.
I made a mental note to video call him later and relay what Simon had just told me. If the shifter mafia was trafficking females in this area, they could have taken Lorna.
“My uncle thinks the mages are involved, but I dunno. He’s very fond of conspiracy theories.” He wasn’t the only one who believed that theory. Felix had said much the same.
“Thanks for the insight,” I whispered as a feline shifter walked past. “My only clue so far is a shifter whose name begins with the letter T. My sister mentioned she’d met a guy called T before she stopped replying to my messages.”
Simon nodded sympathetically. “Okay, well, I can help you put names to faces.” I passed him my phone with the list open.
“Um, so Tate Montes is the son of the Montes pack alpha. That’s the biggest, most powerful wolf pack in the country.
Possibly the entire continent.” Simon shrugged.
“I don’t know a lot about him, I’m afraid, because I’m not an expert on wolf shifters, but he’s top of the food chain here.
” He shivered enough to make the table rattle in sympathy.
The name Montes rang a bell, but I couldn’t recall where I’d heard it before, so I pushed that thought to one side. I’d revisit it later.
“Tobias, I believe you know. His father is an enforcer for the Montes pack.” He cleared his throat, probably wondering why Tobias had shown an unhealthy interest in me but not brave enough to ask.
“So Tank is the Frosthaven wolf-pack heir. His father is a pretty powerful pack alpha, which puts him almost on the same level as Tate Montes.” Simon leaned in.
“Tank’s wolf is feral, so steer clear of him if you can. ”
Feral? That was bad. I prayed he wasn’t the shifter who’d caught my sister’s interest.
“Theo is a fox shifter. Travis is a wolf shifter, but one of the smaller ones.”
“Any other wolves or felines?” I asked. Wolves and felines were my prime suspects, as I doubted Lorna would have bothered hooking up with a smaller shifter like a fox.
“Yeah, so Thomas is a mountain lion, Titus is a wolf, and Tanner is a jaguar.”
“What are the others?” I asked out of curiosity.
“Teddy is an eagle shifter, Timothy a falcon, and Tucker a horse.”
“Are any of them in here?” I made some notes on my phone while Simon scanned the room.
“Travis is over there. He’s the guy with the red birthmark on his cheek.” He seemed unremarkable. Not ugly, but not super-attractive either. Definitely not a guy my sister would bang. At least I thought not.
“Oh, and Thomas is by the coffee machine. He’s the one with the spiky white-blond hair.” I spotted him immediately thanks to his funky hair. Again, I didn’t see him as someone my sister would be interested in, but he wasn’t off the hook just yet.
“Forgot to ask,” I said almost as an afterthought. “Are any of these guys only into males?” If they were, I’d scrub them off the list.
Simon flushed pink. “Are you looking for a hookup?”
I realized too late how my inquiry would sound. “Eww, no,” I spluttered.
“Sure about that, little dude?” Simon nearly choked on his drink when Tobias slid through the glass door behind us. Damn that wolf. He was worse than a fucking cat shifter with his ability to catch me unawares.
“I’m always available for hookups, cute stuff.” The obnoxiously handsome wolf shifter winked at me.
“Good to know,” I said through gritted teeth. “Got tested lately? If not, I recommend you do. I hear moon mites are doing the rounds.”
Tobias chuckled. “No need to worry, little dude. I’m clean.”
I had my doubts, honestly. This wolf’s flirting game was on point. He probably got laid every moon-damned night.
My wolf growled the minute the thought entered my mind. Why was she acting jealous, for fuck’s sake?
Behave! He’s not ours.
“I should probably go,” Simon stuttered. “I have…stuff to do.”
“Yeah, fuck off.” Tobias waved his hand dismissively at my friend.
I growled. “Why don’t you fuck off?” I snapped, not liking the way he talked down to my friend. What an asshole!
Simon turned an even whiter shade of pale. His skinny legs wobbled as he stumbled backward. Two wolf shifters had overheard me telling Tobias to fuck off, and both scrambled out of their chairs, spilling orange juice all over the table in their haste to get away from the impending massacre.
But I wasn’t afraid of Tobias, even if he was powerful enough to crush me with his pinky finger.
My instincts assured me the cocky wolf shifter wouldn’t hurt me, although I had no clue how I knew this.
Tobias leaned in and licked his lips, flooding my nose with his unique scent. Goddess damn me to hell, the wolf shifter smelled like fucking mint candy.
“If you carry on sassing me, little dude, I’ll have no choice but to spank your ass.”
I swallowed hard at the picture he painted while trying desperately not to moan. I knew damn well I was likely pumping out fuck-me-now pheromones, and from the way Tobias’s eyes glowed pure gold, he got the message loud and clear.
He reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear.
“I can’t wait for the full moon party, little dude.” Then he licked my neck in a totally non-creepy way before strolling off while shamelessly adjusting himself.
Literally everyone in the goddess-damned canteen stared at me with a mixture of envy and surprise, so I did the only thing I could think of with my lust-addled brain currently flat-lining.
I dove out of the sliding door and shot off into the forest at one hundred miles per hour before my wolf forced a shift and ruined everything.