Page 27 of Wolf Unseen

“Riley, I say this with love, but you are not her parent.” I pictured him rolling his eyes. “Your mom is a grown-ass woman who can make her own life decisions, good or bad. She has to want to get better. You’ve done your best to help her sort her life out, so take a step back before she drags you down with her.”

As much as I hated to admit it, everything Felix said was true. I had done my best to help Mom, and every time she’d thrown it back in my face.

“Ugh, you’re right.”

“Of course I am, cupcake. Now, how’s it going at the school for hotties? Got laid yet?”

“It’s not going, Felix,” I huffed as I rubbed my hair with a towel. I’d finally gotten used to my short hair. Not having to spend an hour blow drying it sure saved me a ton of time. “Nobody will talk to me because they think my hybrid status is beneath them, and the instructors are sadists. One of them dislocated my shoulder yesterday.” I whimpered for dramatic effect.

“My cousin hated the place. He said it was full of elitist pricks.”

“He’s not wrong.” We lapsed into silence as I contemplated my life choices. Goddess, I missed Felix. “Do you still think I’m nuts for coming here?” I asked eventually.

“Yes, but I admire your loyalty. So if I get kidnapped by evil mages, please come and rescue me. And bring a few sexy shifters with you.”

I snorted. “You have a one-track mind, Felix.”

“Damn right, cupcake. Hot sex with slutty wolves cannot be beaten as a fun leisure activity. Speaking of…are you going to the next full moon party?”

“I’m hoping to,” I admitted, deciding not to mention my out-of-control libido because then Felix would be even more insistent that I hooked up with someone. “I’ve not figured out where it’s being held yet.”

“Oh, that’s easy. Roland said there’s a courtesy bus from campus to the party location. He said to check the notice board outside the admin building for times.” My shoulders relaxed. Thank the goddess. That was one thing I no longer needed to worry about.

“Great, I’ll look later.” I checked the time and realized I needed to get a move on if I wanted coffee and food before my first class. “I have to go, Felix. A girl’s gotta eat.”

“Sure thing, cupcake. If I find out anything new, I’ll ping you. Oh, and Riles, don’t sweat it about your mother. I’m sure she’ll be fine, but I’ll continue to keep an eye out for her.”

I highly doubted that, but Felix was right. Mom had sucked up enough of my time and energy over the years, and I refused to drop everything and go to her rescue. If she wanted to blow up her life again, that was her choice.

Lorna was my priority. I’d come here to find her, and I wasn’t leaving until I had answers.

The minute I pushed through the double doors into the canteen, a wall of noise hit me. For the first time, a million pairs of eyes didn’t snap my way. Was someone else the topic of today’s gossip?

Sure enough, from the snippets of chatter I caught on my way to the coffee station, it sounded like a member of the faculty had had a nasty accident.

“I heard he lost an arm,” a feline shifter said as I walked past his table. “Not sure the healers can fix that level of damage.”

Wow, that was bad. Had there been a demon attack? I’d heard of at least one incident in the last month, but nothing in these parts. Goddess save us all if the stories about demons were true.

Felix seemed to think they were, which was a concern.

“…Bernard was an asshole, so I have no sympathy,” an eagle shifter said to his friend when I grabbed a breakfast roll from the hot counter.

The world stopped spinning for a nanosecond. Instructor Bernard had lost an arm? Something told me that wasn’t a random stroke of bad luck. I paused, hoping for more details, but the two eagle shifters switched topics and moved away.

Fuck, had Tobias gone full psycho on my behalf? Surely not. That would be insane. If anyone figured out it was him, he’d end up expelled, or worse, charged with assault and tossed into the nearest magical penitentiary.

There had to be an innocent explanation.

Perhaps Bernard had gone for a run in the forest and met a feral shifter? Feral shifter cases were on the rise. It was a plausible explanation.

I wandered toward the exit with my coffee and breakfast roll, deep in thought, only to bump into another student.

“Sorry,” I mumbled automatically, clutching my coffee to prevent a disastrous spill. Losing my caffeine fix would legit kill me.

“It’s okay,” a slender guy with spiky brown hair and freaky yellow irises said. He glanced nervously from side to side before whispering under his breath, “I wanted to talk to you anyway.”

“You did?” My eyes narrowed in suspicion. Was he hoping to get me alone so his burlier friends could attempt to beat me up?