Page 53 of Wolf Unseen

Riley

Heat enveloped me. I opened my eyes to discover I hadn’t shifted back, much to my surprise. When I asked why, my wolf just sniffed and made it clear she was in no rush to give up control. It took a few seconds to work out that the warm, furry body wrapped around mine was the enormous tawny wolf that had saved me from the sandy one.

Why was he still here? And more importantly, why had he not shifted back? I had no clue who the wolf was, only that he was the largest wolf I’d ever seen. Even bigger than Tate Montes’s beast.

I tried moving, expecting pain, but while my ribs ached and still felt bruised, I could breathe freely now. The deep gouges across my hips and side had also partially healed and were no longer oozing blood.

A fluffy blanket of snow lay on the ground, and the air was so cold that every time I exhaled, white clouds filled the air. What time was it? Shit, I must have missed my afternoon classes. At least it wasn’t fully dark yet.

Thank the goddess I hadn’t shifted back. Not only would I be naked, but I’d also have a wolf to deal with while I was in human form. This strangely protective wolf might like my female wolf, but I doubted he’d feel the same way about me as a male.

The wolf grumbled as I shuffled away from his warm fur, but he didn’t wake. My wolf whined and dug her claws into the frozen ground, refusing to listen to my demands that we leave before I shifted back.

No, she told me. Mine. Mate.

Mate?! What the actual fuck was she on about?

The wolf isn’t ours. He’s an alpha!

At least I assumed he was. Given his size, he had to be an alpha wolf. And also, I’d felt his dominance when he forced the sandy wolf down.

We’re a hybrid. We don’t have a mate.

Mate, she insisted, stubborn as always.

I tried to force my will on her, but she didn’t listen. The stupid creature had formed an attachment to the alpha wolf and wasn’t willing to let him go. So I pushed harder, and after a minute of internal struggle, she had no choice but to hand over control to me.

I shifted into my human form and regretted it almost immediately. Even with shifter blood in my veins, it was cold enough to freeze my extremities off. Snow landed on my shoulders in a white crust. If I didn’t move immediately, I’d end up with frostbite.

The sight of a dead wolf nearby, stiff and half-covered in snow, did little to cheer me up. I only hoped nobody linked me to the wolf’s demise. The MIB investigators—assuming they were called in—would smell my scent on the body, but surely the alpha wolf’s scent would be the dominant one.

At least I hoped so. I had enough problems to deal with without becoming the prime suspect in a murder inquiry.

Not wanting to be here when my wolf savior woke up, I ran off through the trees and quickly picked up the trail back to campus. It took me far longer to get back to where I’d shed my clothes than it had when I’d run full-throttle on four legs instead of two, desperate to escape the sandy wolf.

I found the remains of my clothing under the tree where I’d listened to Mom telling me she was living her best life. My pants were unsalvageable, but there was enough left of my hoodie to hide my chest and ass. I wrapped myself in fabric as best I could and retrieved my phone from where it had landed under a bush.

And now that dusk had given way to night, I made it back to my dorm building without being seen, shivering the entire time.

A lone shifter sat on the sofa in the living room when I stumbled in through the entrance. His eyebrows shot up when he saw the state of me, but he didn’t ask if I was okay. Hardly a surprise. Most of the students here either ignored me or were openly hostile.

Simon and his friends being the exception.

Speaking of…Simon must have wondered where I went.

The minute I reached my room and locked the door, I checked my phone for messages.

Simon: You okay? You disappeared.

Kasia: I added you to our group chat.

Pussy Power Rules: Welcome!

Kasia: Embrace the power of pussy, wolfie.

I snorted out a laugh. If only they knew. My gaze drifted to the closet, where I’d hidden the magic pendant inside a sock inside a shoe.

Maybe one day soon, when I’d found Lorna and walked away from this dumb academy filled with toxic, misogynistic bullies, I’d show the pussy squad my true self. But until then, I needed to be careful.