Page 6 of Wolf Unseen

“There are glamour spells. I could use one.”

“Um, glamour spells are expensive. Way more expensive than you or even I could afford. And they don’t last forever.”

“But I thought the Blue Heather coven owed you a favor,” I whined. Felix had done something highly illegal last year for a local witch coven. He’d refused to tell me the details in case the Magical Investigation Bureau (MIB) questioned me, but he had admitted the witches agreed to a favor of his choosing when he needed it, as well as paying him a small fortune.

“For fuck’s sake, Riley! Going undercover at a school like Moonfall is dangerous! Roland almost lost a leg because of those psychos!”

A leg? I gulped. That didn’t sound like regular hazing. Were the students at Moonfall really that unhinged?

“I’d only be there for a short time. A few weeks at the most. Just long enough to check out where Lorna lived and worked and then identify who hooked up with her and whether they played a part in her disappearance. Once we know who it was, you can do a deep dive into them.”

Felix threw his hands in the air in frustration.

“I don’t have the MIB’s resources, Riley! Even if you find out which wolves she met, we might never know where she went after the August full moon party. And if the shifter mafia or mages are involved, digging into her disappearance will be dangerous.”

“Mages?!”

“Yes, mages. There are online rumors that Tiberius Vane is up to his suspiciously unlined neck in dark things, Riley.” Tiberius Vane was the Mage Council leader,and head of the overarching Supernatural Council that governed us magicals. I’d seen him strutting like a peacock on TV and concluded the male was a raging narcissist. His son, Alaric, however, was hot, and both Felix and I agreed we wouldn’t kick him out of bed, despite his awful father.

I wasn’t a fan of Brianna Vane either. The witch had to be at least a hundred, yet she had better skin than I did!

Rolling my eyes derisively, I scoffed. “You have plenty of resources, Felix. I have faith in your hacking abilities.” Truly, I did. It was a wonder the MIB hadn’t headhunted him already. Although, knowing him, they had and he just hadn’t bothered telling me.

My friend huffed out a long-suffering sigh.

“You’re never going to let this go, are you?”

“Nope. Mom’s in rehab, so I have no reason to stick around.” As promised, the doctor had pulled strings and got my mother a place at a fancy rehab clinic in Silver City, funded by a shifter charity. I had no clue how he’d managed it and hadn’t bothered asking.

It was unlikely the rehab program would be successful, but for the next few months she was safe, which was all I cared about.

“And what about the trailer? If you fuck off, Frank will evict you.”

“Mom will be in rehab for ages. When I get back, I’ll crash with you until I get a job and can afford rent on a new place.” He scowled when I gave him my best, sweetest smile in the hope he took pity on me, his oldest and most loyal friend.

“You’re lucky I love you, cupcake,” he grumbled.

“You’re sure this is the favor you want?” Tamara, a glamorous witch with pretty purple hair and a taste for human designer labels, tapped her matching purple nails on the diner table.

We sat in a corner booth, well away from the small group of human kids snickering loudly as they huddled together watching social media videos. From the way Tamara grimaced at the sticky floor and laminated menu, this place was not up to the standards of her usual hangouts.

The diner was in human territory, but witches mostly passed as human, so humans remained oblivious unless they saw magic at play. Which almost never happened, as the penalties for casting magic in the presence of humans were severe.

Felix had chosen this as a meeting spot because neither of us felt comfortable meeting a witch in coven territory. Witches and shifters often worked together, but that didn’t mean we trusted one another.

Like mages, witches could be duplicitous. That said, I trusted Felix, and since he had an existing relationship with the Blue Heather coven, I had no reason not to trust Tamara.

“I would have preferred to bank the favor, but I value my balls,” Felix muttered, slanting a mutinous look in my direction.

I rolled my eyes. “Stop bitching. You agreed to help.”

“No, I agreed to use my tech skills to assist, not facilitate your demise at the hands of murderous wolf shifters,” he hissed.

“I’ll be fine. Honestly, anyone would think I had no skills.” Felix’s lack of faith in my abilities wounded me. “I can hold my own.”

“Not against alpha-wolf mafia heirs!”

“I can’t abandon Lorna, Felix.”