Page 33 of Wolf Unseen

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.”

19

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.