Page 23 of Wolf Unseen

“I’m fine, sir,” I gritted out, using my good arm to ease myself off the mat.

Instructor Bernard shrugged, apparently unconcerned about causing me unspeakable pain, and then strode off to assist a few pairs with their moves.

I shuffled toward the edge of the room, my left arm dangling uselessly at my side. One of the smaller shifters threw me a sympathetic look, but I ignored them. I didn’t need pity. Just some industrial-strength painkillers.

No doubt this would reinforce the belief that hybrid shifters were less than. Part of me understood why other shifters felt that way because, right now, I was useless. Being unable to shift made me little better than a human, even if I was stronger for my size and stature.

Even more so, considering I was female.

Not that any of these assholes knew that.

I silently wondered if the other students would treat me any better if they knew I was female, and then I scoffed under my breath. Of course they wouldn’t. In fact, I’d have probably experienced many attempted sexual assaults by now if shifters like Dirk knew I was a female wolf.

On that cheery thought, I made sure I was the first one out of the gym the minute the bell rang. Not wanting to run into any hostile shifters while incapacitated, I took a quieter path back to the dorms.

Unfortunately for me, luck wasn’t on my side.

The alpha wolf shifter with the dimples appeared from behind a large building I had yet to visit, brow furrowed as he read something on his phone. As our paths crossed, he scowled all the more when he took in my white complexion and non-functional arm.

“Who the fuck did that to you, little dude?”

“Instructor Bernard,” I gritted out. My wolf had woken up and was busy whining.

Nice that you care more about this hot wolf than my pain, I complained, but she ignored me—as usual.

“The self-defense guy?” Candy-cane wolf, as I had christened him in my head, didn’t look happy.

His green eyes glowed as his wolf came forward, which was odd. I had no clue why a powerful alpha wolf would give two shits about me being hurt. Unless he had the hots for my wolf, which made no sense. She wasn’t powerful. Or even present half the time.

“Yeah.” I was in too much pain to want to hang around, even if candy-cane wolf was distracting as hell. Wincing as my useless arm jolted, I turned to leave.

“Little dude, you need to shift to kick-start the healing process.”

“Thanks, but I can’t do that,” I gritted out. Bile burned my throat, and my wolf surged forward, taking me by surprise. For one awful moment, I thought she’d force the shift, but at the last minute, I shoved her back down.

Now you want to shift? I yelled. We’ll give ourselves away!

She whined and huffed, unhappy about being stopped. It seemed she wanted to meet candy-cane’s wolf counterpart.

You can’t show yourself, I reiterated. Not unless you want us arrested on some bullshit charge. I had no clue what those charges would be, but I was certain the school would make an example of me if it discovered I was here under false pretenses.

Candy cane cocked his head to one side, eyes still glowing. “But I can sense your wolf. Why can’t you shift?”

“I’m a hybrid. My wolf is latent.” Not exactly true, but close enough.

He stared at me. “You’re lying about the latent bit. Why?”

A jolt of surprise shot through me. How did he know I was lying? I had a damn good poker face.

“I’m an alpha wolf,” he explained. “Lies smell sour, like milk left out in the sun.”

Why had Felix never told me this? I wondered if perhaps he didn’t know. Maybe it was different for fox shifters?

“I’m not lying,” I lied. The pain in my shoulder was making me heave, and if I didn’t pop some pills, I might end up hurling all over this guy. “My wolf is present, but she never wants to show herself.”

The minute the words were out there, I froze. Oh my goddess, I’d just revealed my wolf was female. Sweat trickled down my spine as a deep sense of horror swept over me.

I was so fucked.