23. Riley
Riley
The bus pulled up in a small parking area surrounded by trees.
From the various signs and a few picnic tables, this was the trailhead for a popular hiking trail that ended at a scenic viewpoint.
High above the trees, a glowing silver orb hung in the sky, painting the foliage with broad brush strokes of cold light.
This was my first full moon party, and I had to admit, I was excited to see how my wolf behaved. So far, she’d done nothing but sleep.
I sighed, slightly disappointed she wasn’t more enthusiastic at the prospect of hanging around other shifters under a full moon. But nope. My wolf gave no shits unless we met the four irritating-as-fuck shifters she had the hots for.
I waited for everyone else to leave the bus before I hopped down and looked around to get my bearings.
Most of the other shifters had been too excited about the party to pay any attention to me when I joined them on the bus.
Thankfully, none of the worst shifters had been among the crowd waiting for our free transport.
I guessed they were making their own way to the full moon party.
There were several expensive sports cars and high-end SUVs scattered around the area; only the poorer shifters without their own vehicles used the school transport.
My phone buzzed. I pulled it out to check for messages, stupidly hoping it might be Lorna, even though it had been weeks since she’d last messaged me.
Felix: Please be careful Riles and don’t accept drinks from strangers!
I rolled my eyes. How dumb did he think I was?
Me: Yes Dad *roll eyes emoji*
Felix: Not joking, Roland said two females got drugged with a siren magic potion at the one party he went to.
I paused by a faded sign warning hikers that wolves and bears were common in this section of the forest and to be careful. That made me snort. Goddess help any humans who stumbled across a bunch of horny wolves on a full moon.
Me: I’ll be fine. Will message u when I get back.
Felix needn’t worry about me. I had no intention of drinking anything I hadn’t broken the seal of myself.
The bus drove off, leaving me alone in the dimly lit parking lot. Music and voices drifted out from the forest, and in the distance, I could see the glow from a fire.
It was a cool night, with a hint of frost in the air. Because I wouldn’t be shifting, I wore jeans and a large, very baggy black hoodie, which I used to cover my red hair. I didn’t want to attract any attention at this party, particularly not that of a certain flirty wolf shifter.
The moon disappeared behind a cloud, plunging the path from the parking lot into inky shadow, but my enhanced sight helped steer me through the trees safely. Mud squelched underfoot. It made me glad I’d worn heavy leather boots.
The closer I got to the party, the more my senses prickled with anxiety.
There were no rules out here. Nothing to keep weaker shifters like me safe from the worst of the predators. I needed to keep my wits about me and remain alert—all while acting like a horny shifter hoping to get laid.
After snagging a bottle of water from a table groaning with beer and liquor, I found a quiet, shadowy spot under a tree and watched the revelry.
There were dozens of female shifters, most wearing little more than shorts and bikini tops.
Some had already stripped down to their undies and were dancing seductively around the fire, hoping to attract a partner for the night.
Music blasted from speakers, and a heady cocktail of lust and excitement filled the air as shifters of all species milled around, chatting, dancing, and drinking.
A familiar alpha wolf materialized on the far side of the fire, laughing at something with a male I didn’t recognize. Like many of the males, he wore nothing but a pair of shorts, even though it was growing colder by the minute, with snow forecast overnight.
I watched as he sauntered over to a trio of blonde females, a smile on his handsome face. The females flirted and rubbed their lithe bodies against him. It angered my wolf for reasons I couldn’t fathom.
He’s here to get laid, I reminded her. And we’re not.
Dragging my gaze away from Tobias, I scanned the crowd, searching for any of the people on my list.
Simon had refused to come with me tonight.
He said lesser shifters always avoided the full moon parties because there had been incidents in the past, which correlated with what Felix’s cousin had said.
That meant four of the Ts wouldn’t be here, but the five wolves would be, along with the two felines.
Travis, with his distinctive birthmark, wasn’t hard to spot standing next to a small group of wolf shifters, so I gradually made my way in that direction. Like most of the people here, he was enjoying life and well on the way to being shit-faced on elkwine.
When his friends melted away to grab more drinks, I sidled up to him for a quick chat.
“Hey, dude,” I said. “How’s it going?”
He swayed on his feet, clearly confused about who I was, which was perfect.
“Yeah, um, banging.”
“Hot chicks, yeah,” I mumbled, not having a clue about how guys talked to each other.
“Smoking,” Travis agreed while leering at a female in a pair of hot pants and a glittery bikini top that barely covered her ample tits. “I’d rail her,” he grunted.
Were all guys this gross? Ugh.
“Say, I was hoping to hook up with a hot snow leopard shifter I met a couple of months back. You know the bitch?”
Travis scrubbed his jaw and frowned. “Snow leopard?”
“Yeah, pale blonde hair. Banging hot.”
“Nah, never met one of them. Aren’t they super rare and shit?”
“Dunno, dude, but she was a real smoke show.” I cringed internally at having to talk this way, but it was obvious such misogyny was the only language a wolf like Travis understood.
Spotting Travis’s friends heading back our way, I mumbled something about needing to take a piss and melted back into the shadows.
Once I was well away from the rest of the shifters, I pulled my phone out and fired off a message to Felix.
Me: Travis is a no.
We’d already discounted the lesser shifters, so that left six wolves and felines, one of whom was the candy-cane wolf sandwiched between two gorgeous female wolves wearing nothing but denim cut-offs.
I glared in his direction, but he was too busy letting the females rub their tits all over his chest to notice. Deciding I didn’t need to watch him get his freak on, I spun around and moved away.
The further away from the fire I got, the colder it became. It was lucky I had shifter blood in my veins, or I’d have frozen to death by now. Howls echoed through the trees as people started to shift and let their animals run free under the seductive light of the full moon.
Honestly, I was a little envious. If only my wolf wasn’t so fucking lazy and I didn’t have to worry about outing myself as a female, this would be a fun night.
The few times I’d shifted had been unpleasant, to say the least, although not as traumatic as my first time, which had happened unexpectedly after a row with my drunk mom. I’d seen shifters go full fur in seconds. One minute they were human, and the next an animal.
It had never been like that for me. My wolf resisted the shift, which meant the process was invariably painful and slow. For that reason, I rarely bothered unless she showed enthusiasm for it, which she almost never did.
Perhaps I had a defective wolf, I mused. She lifted her head and growled softly.
It sure feels like it, I huffed. Don’t you want to run under a full moon?
Her only response to my question was a loud sniff before she closed her eyes.
I followed a trail through the trees, skirting the edge of the party. A faint moan drifted over from a thicket, so I moved away to avoid the prospect of catching a dude I sat next to in class with his pants down. Eww.
Music from the party quietened. When I reached a rocky outcrop, I turned to head back toward the party, not keen on being targeted by over-excited wolves high on adrenaline. Before I got more than a few feet, I heard a female sobbing in distress, followed by an amused masculine chuckle.
My instincts went into high alert.
“Go ahead, scream all you want,” the male taunted as the female pleaded with him to let her go. “I’ll enjoy it more if you scream.”
My lips curved up in a grim smile as I picked up a thick branch from the side of the trail. That fucking honey badger shifter was about to get what he deserved.