25. Riley
Riley
The rapist honey badger shifter asshole lay in the dirt, moaning and groaning like the pathetic male he was. Spoiler alert: he’d be just fine once his shifter healing kicked in.
I was more concerned about the small feline shifter.
“Are you hurt?” I asked her. “Are your friends here?” As much as I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, I couldn’t leave her alone out here.
I threw the bloody branch away into the bushes and crouched down in front of the female. She still had her dress on, but from the dark bruises all over her thighs, the asshole had been close to assaulting her.
I kicked the bastard for good measure, still furious that shifters like him got away with this shit. If asked, he’d almost certainly use the full moon as an excuse.
It was a common get-out-of-jail-free clause for shifters influenced by the lunar cycles. The moon made me do it, Your Honor. I couldn’t help myself. My beast was feral.
I was so tired of the bullshit misogyny in shifter society. Lorna had dealt with it her whole damn life. Was it any wonder she’d fled our father’s pack under the cover of darkness and hopped on a plane at the earliest opportunity?
My only regret was that helping her out of one awful situation had apparently sent her headfirst into an even worse one.
“I’ll be fine,” the female sniffed, wiping her eyes with a grimy hand. “It’s my fault for drinking too much elkwine.”
“It is not your fault! You’re allowed to drink and have fun. He’s the one at fault here for assuming he could take what he wanted without your consent.”
The female stood and glared at the groaning badger shifter. “You’re right,” she agreed, and then she kicked him in the balls. The male curled up into a fetal position, sobbing like a baby.
“If you touch me or my friends again, I’ll…I’ll castrate you!” she hissed.
“That’s the spirit,” I grinned. “Although I doubt he’ll try anything else tonight.”
“Thanks for helping me,” the female said. “Most males would have turned a blind eye.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “But I’m not like them.” Or male.
She sniffed. “No, you’re not.”
I walked with her back to the party, which was in full swing. The minute we reached the clearing, a trio of females rushed over to greet us. All feline shifters: one tiger and two cougars.
“Oh my goddess, Haley! What happened?” The tallest of the trio, the tiger, stared at her friend in horror, taking in her ripped dress and bruises before lunging at me with a vicious snarl.
I leaped out of the way just in time to avoid being disemboweled by the vicious claws protruding from the tiger female’s fingers.
“Stop, Kasia! He saved me, so back off.”
The tiger shifter female froze. “He did? Then which male do I need to kill?”
I grinned, liking her enthusiasm for murder.
“That fucking honey badger shifter. I went to pee in the forest, and he found me. I tried telling him I wasn’t interested, but he was too strong.
” Haley let out a small sob before sniffing and straightening her spine once again.
“This wolf intervened and clobbered the fucker with a branch.” She threw me a wan smile.
“Then we both kicked him a few times in the nuts.”
The tiger growled. “That fucking honey badger shifter better not come back to the party,” she yelled, angry as hell now. “If he does, I’ll tear him limb from limb!” I knew she meant it. Tiger shifters were powerful beasts, and an enraged tigress was a force to be reckoned with.
Then she turned to me. “Thanks, babe, for saving our friend. We all owe you one.”
I shook my head. “I did what any other fe…I mean, decent male, would have done.” Fuck, I mentally slapped myself around the head before praying the females hadn’t caught my slip of the tongue.
“What’s your name? I’m Kasia, and those two are Bree and Raquel. You’ve already met Haley.”
Bree and Raquel sidled up and cooed over me, which made me very uncomfortable, but I gritted my teeth and forced a smile.
“Riley.”
“He’s so pretty,” Bree simpered. “Can we keep him, Kasia?”
“Um, I’m into dudes, so…” I coughed out before this got any more awkward.
Bree pouted. “Damn. Just my luck. The first decent shifter we meet and he’s not interested.” Raquel sighed.
“I’m beginning to think all the shifters at Moonfall are either players…” I caught the glare she shot at Tobias, who stood on the far side of the fire watching us. “…or misogynistic douches.”
“Ladies. Everything okay?” I spun on my heels to see the haughty male instructed to show me to my room on the night I arrived, who then dumped me two minutes later.
“Oh hey, Tate.” Kasia appeared to be the spokesperson for the females, which made sense given her powerful beast. “No, everything’s not fucking okay,” she hissed with a low growl as the guy’s name registered.
Tate Montes. The Montes pack heir and one of the names on my list. Had he organized the party tonight?
“A honey badger shifter tried to rape my friend. It’s only thanks to this guy,” she said, pointing at me, “that Haley got away.”
An enraged snarl from Tate caused everyone in the vicinity to lower their eyes in submission. Everyone but me. My wolf was immune to the alpha’s dominance. Just like she had been when the alpha wolf in the canteen forced everyone to submit.
Tate stared at me, his jaw ticking while I held his gaze. My wolf howled and whined, desperate to push me into the stupid, arrogant, way-too-hot-for-his-own-good wolf’s arms.
I ignored her demands because I wasn’t deranged. I also had self-esteem and refused to make a complete tit of myself by declaring an interest in an alpha wolf.
“What was this honey badger shifter’s name?” Tate demanded, breaking our staring contest. The females all shuddered under the power of his dominance while I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t you know the names of all the shifters here?” I inquired. “Seeing as this is your party.”
“No,” he said through gritted teeth. “Everyone’s welcome; we don’t send fucking invitations.”
“Not what I heard. Many of the lesser shifters don’t feel safe enough to attend.” My lip curled in derision at the memory of the honey badger shifter’s disgusting commentary before I lamped him with a branch. “And given what happened to poor Haley, I don’t blame them.”
“That’s not my fault,” Tate snapped, pissed I was questioning his authority. Only I had every right to question it. If he really was top dog around here, the buck stopped with him. “I can’t monitor every shifter who comes to our full moon parties!”
“No, but you can have your pack members on guard in the forest to prevent rapists like him—” I pointed to the honey badger shifter who’d just staggered out of the trees with a mutinous scowl on his face “—attacking vulnerable females.”
The alpha wolf stiffened as my accusation hit home. A strong alpha always protected the weakest members of his pack. The feline females weren’t members of the Montes pack, but that shouldn’t matter. It was up to Tate to make sure they stayed safe on his watch.
“He’s right, bro,” Tobias agreed, having heard everything.
Only Tate wasn’t paying attention anymore.
His gaze had shifted to the unfortunate honey badger shifter who was busy trash-talking females that needed to learn their place and a certain hybrid wolf who was, in his words, about to get the shit kicked out of them.
Before I could defend myself from such bullshit, Tate had shifted from a man into a midnight black wolf, shredding his shorts in the process. Goddess, Tate’s wolf was massive. The sort of beast that would make lesser wolves piss themselves and roll belly up in submission.
Tate’s wolf uttered a spine-chilling growl and leaped across the clearing toward the honey badger shifter.
The hapless idiot froze in shock at the sight of an enraged wolf heading his way, before he shifted into a much smaller beast.
Unfortunately, the honey badger, while super aggressive, was no match for a powerful wolf. Their fight was over in seconds.
I watched with a grimace as the wolf tore the honey badger’s throat out. The smaller shifter’s friends stood frozen in terror.
Tate’s wolf roared its displeasure and then pissed on the steaming corpse before shifting back into the man.
A tall, mouth-wateringly gorgeous, and very well-hung man. Not that I was looking. Nope. Nothing to see here, folks.
Kasia caught me staring at Tate’s dick and smirked. Yeah, I was not subtle in my admiration for Tate’s impressive dick. It deserved its own fan account on Magigram.
In the time it took for the honey badger shifter to choke out his last breath, someone had turned the music off. The Montes alpha now had a captive audience.
Everyone watched the charismatic wolf shifter with expressions ranging from fear and shock to unbridled lust.
“Let that be a lesson to anyone that thinks they can get away with assaulting females on a full moon,” he roared, his gaze lingering on several males standing near the treeline with their heads hung low.
I recognized one of them as the wolf shifter with the mousy hair from Miss Raven’s class. He was another idiot who’d struggled with the concept of consent. It made me smirk to see him trembling like a leaf in a gale.
“If you come to our parties, you are bound by the laws of my pack. Are we clear?” Tate’s voice boomed around the clearing. The males all nodded and mumbled in agreement, not wanting to end up dead like the honey badger.
I wondered how the alpha heir would deal with the body. Surely even a powerful pack like the Montes pack couldn’t get away with murder? Or maybe they could.
It made me wonder what else Tate Montes had gotten away with lately.
Everyone watched in silence as the alpha wolf’s massive friend dragged the honey badger shifter’s body away. A few minutes later, the music started up again and conversation resumed, albeit more muted.
“Wow, he wasn’t messing around,” Bree whispered. “Although, not gonna lie, it was kinda hot. Am I right, pussies?”
Raquel tittered, but Haley remained silent, busy staring at the bloody spot where the honey badger shifter died.
“I’m sorry you had to deal with that.” I’d met more than a few males in my time who believed no meant yes, so I understood what she was going through.
She huffed out a sigh and half smiled.
“I’ll be alright. It’s just a lot, you know? Tonight was supposed to be fun, but I’m kinda over it now.”
Kasia moved closer and pulled the smaller female into her arms for a hug. I’d have done the same if I wasn’t certain the females would misinterpret my action.
How I wished I could admit I wasn’t male. It would make life much easier right now. At least it would if Tobias wasn’t staring at me from several feet away.
He spotted me glaring in his direction and melted into the crowd.
What was the asshole’s problem?
I hoped he wasn’t growing suspicious of me after learning my wolf was female.
“Let’s head back to school,” Kasia said to her friends. “Haley’s had enough, and to be honest, so have I.” She turned to me. “It’s been a pleasure, Riley. You got a number so we can keep in touch?”
I blinked in surprise. “Um, yeah?”
“Let’s have it then. You can be our new gay BFF.”
“But I’m not—” I began before realizing I needed to stop dropping myself in the shit. It was bad enough Tobias knew my wolf was female without the females finding out too. While I didn’t think they would betray my trust, I also didn’t know them.
Maybe in time, if we became friends, I would reveal my female self. Tamara had given me a pendant imbued with magic that I could wear to nullify the glamour. It was a fail-safe for when I wanted to change my appearance to avoid being spotted.
Once I figured out what had happened to Lorna, I planned to leave this school and disappear. Nobody would find me if they were busy searching for a male, not a female.
Kasia handed me her phone so I could add myself as a contact.
“Thanks, babe.” To my surprise, she hugged me tight enough to crack a few ribs and then ruffled my hair. “You’re a cutie, Riley. It’s a real shame you’re not into females.” Her cheeky wink had me blushing, even though I was absolutely not into her in that way.
The others all hugged me in quick succession and then hustled off toward the parking lot.
“Made some new friends?” Tobias asked, materializing next to me the moment the females left.
“None of your business.” My inner wolf grumbled as he watched the females sashay into the trees. “They’re only into cat shifters,” I added. “In case you want to use me to get into their pants.”
But to my surprise, Tobias just grinned. “No need for jealousy, cute stuff. I’m only interested in wolves.” He winked. “One in particular.”
My wolf howled and whined as he walked away, desperate for something we couldn’t have. No matter how badly we wanted it.