Page 54 of Wolf Unseen

Trust no one was Felix’s motto.

Quickly tapping out a reply to Simon assuring him I was still alive, I stepped under a hot shower and washed the filth away from my aching body. Then I crawled into bed.

A mournful howl echoed from the forest outside, sending a shiver of longing down my spine. The wolf must have woken to find me gone. Was he angry I’d left without thanking him for saving my life?

I just prayed he didn’t try tracking me down.

“What happened to you yesterday?” Simon asked as I shoveled a forkful of eggs and sausages into my mouth and washed it down with black coffee. Stars, I was so hungry. Hungry enough to demolish the entire contents of the hot buffet selection this morning.

Was it a side effect of shifter healing?

I had no clue. I debated asking Simon but decided it was better not to reveal the exact nature of what happened yesterday.

“I got a call from home and then needed some time to process,” I told him. “Family stuff.”

Simon nodded sympathetically. “Well, you didn’t miss much. We did some sparring in Mr. Leone’s gym class, and thanks to you, I won my fight!”

I’d been working with Simon, teaching him some basic self-defense moves. While he would never be powerful enough to beat a much larger shifter, he at least had a few moves now that might buy him enough time to scream for help before he ended up mortally wounded.

“That’s amazing!” I was genuinely happy for my friend. Snake shifters had a poor reputation in our world. Many of them got accused of being shady as fuck, but Simon was a decent guy. Like Felix, he loved online gaming, so after I talked about him with Felix, my fox bestie had added Simon to his Magicord server. The two of them had since become gaming buddies, which was cute.

Simon blushed as I told him how proud I was and how much he deserved his win.

“Mr. Leone asked where you were,” he said while I shoveled more food down. “He didn’t look pleased that you’d skipped his class.”

I hadn’t expected him to be teaching the class. Not after he’d said he was too busy to meet me for my private tutoring session yesterday morning.

Oops.

Oh well, it was too late now. And besides, it was better if we had a break after the blood incident. Auntie Flow had backed off some, but she hadn’t gone away completely. And if the lion shifter’s nose was that sensitive, I’d prefer it if he didn’t come anywhere near me.

“Never mind Leone. What can you tell me about the shifter fight ring? A feline shifter I met at the full moon party asked if I was going.”

Simon’s eyes widened in alarm. “I wouldn’t advise it,” he warned. “It’s run by the shifter mafia. They make a ton of money on the fights.”

My ears pricked up. “Oh? So the likes of Tate Montes will be there?”

Nobody sitting nearby was paying any attention to us, but it didn’t stop Simon from blanching at the mention of Tate.

“Probably. His father is, you know, involved…” Simon scanned the room, paranoid about being overheard.

“Involved in shifter mafia shit?” I prodded, thirsty for information. Tate was still on my list, and if his father was mafia, it didn’t take a leap of faith to figure that Lorna could have stumbled across something she shouldn’t have and paid the ultimate price.

Felix had sent me some links to posts on underground forums that talked about how females from lesser shifter communities were going missing. Some posters believed the mages were responsible, but others thought the shifter mafia was behind the disappearances.

Felix had signed off his message with yet another warning about being careful, which I duly ignored.

“Yeah,” Simon replied, dragging my attention back to our conversation. My friend edged away from the table, desperate to escape my inquisition.

“So where is this fight ring? Assuming I decide to go.”

“In an abandoned tunnel network, but you need a QR code to get in.”

“And how do I get one?”

“Sorry, I don’t know,” Simon admitted, dashing my hopes.

I huffed out a sigh. Perhaps Kasia would get me in. She’d asked if I was going, so she and the pussy squad must have their own QR codes. I resolved to message her and find out.