Page 74 of Wolf Unseen

Mate, he roared. Claim!

He had to be mistaken. Our mate would be a lioness, and there were no lionesses here. This was an all-male school. Pride alphas didn’t take male lions as their mates; it would cause too many issues. Lion society was very traditional in its outlook. An alpha lion sat at the top of the pride hierarchy, surrounded by beta lions and lionesses. When it was time to take a mate, he chose a high-ranking alpha female from an adjacent pride to help him rule.

I shook my head. As addictive as this random male’s burned sugar scent was, I decided it had to be a strange anomaly. Whoever the scent belonged to, it wasn’t our mate.

44

Riley

Ihit send on my assignment and then lay back on the bed, a headache pounding behind my temples. Academia wasn’t for me, I decided. I would much rather be doing physical things, like sparring in the gym or running along the forest trails.

That train of thought prompted a heavy sigh because I had no clue what I was going to do when I left here. It wasn’t as if I had a job or even a home to go back to. Mom had mentioned she had a spare room the last time she called, but did I want to move in with her? No.

Or pick up shifts at the club where she worked, which was her second suggestion.

From what Felix had told me, Club Kitty laundered money for the shifter mafia. I’d tried telling her this, but she wasn’t interested.

“No need to worry about me, darling. I’m living my best life.”

Hmm. At least she wasn’t popping pills anymore. Or not that I’d noticed when she called.

I should probably take a shower, I mused. Or eat. But before I could move a muscle, my phone buzzed with an incoming video chat.

“Hey, cupcake,” Felix drawled. He sat on his sofa, surrounded by shifter energy drinks, which looked like the awful witch brew enhanced by magic and sold by the local coven. I’d tried that shit once and been unable to sleep for three freaking days. Never again. I shuddered at the memory.

“Listen,” he said. “I’ve got an ID for the guy Lorna was with at the rest stop.”

That made me sit up and take notice, all thoughts of food forgotten.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” There was a long pause. “He’s a beta wolf from the Montes pack called Callum Strong.”

“Why would she be with a beta wolf? She never mentioned a wolf called Callum. The only guy she wrote about in any detail was a shifter called T, who wasn’t necessarily a wolf,” I said. “How old is this Callum?”

“Thirty-two. Unmated.”

Something didn’t add up. No way would my fun-loving sister hook up with a beta wolf a decade older than her. Not after gushing about T and how he was the one.

“Could this beta wolf have been taking her to meet the shifter she called T?” I mused.

“Maybe,” Felix said. “She didn’t drive and so would have relied on Ubers and public transport to get around. If T was a wolf from the Montes pack and not a student, he might have asked Callum to fetch her from Trinity Falls.

“Send me a photo of Callum, and I’ll ask my feline friends if they recognize him.”

“Be careful, Riles,” Felix warned. “Are you sure you can trust them?”

Felix had blown a gasket after I confessed to revealing my true identity to the females. He’d accused me of taking unnecessary risks.

“Yes, like I already told you, I trust them. Oh, and I gave Raquel your email address. She needs a sex video deleted from the OnlyShifters website.”

Felix spewed out a mouthful of energy drink. “What the fuck? Why?”

“Her asshole ex uploaded it without her consent.” I pouted and fluttered my eyelashes at him. “Please, Felix, she’s super upset about it.”

He rolled his eyes. “Okay, fiiiine. I’ll look out for her email. But no more pimping me out, Riles! I already have too many clients. Clients that pay me!”

I grinned as I ended the call. Felix might bitch about it, but I knew he’d delete the video for Raquel. Like me, he hated toxic males who did that sort of misogynistic bullshit. Knowing my friend, he’d make the asshole pay by infecting his devices with viruses that outed him as a pervert.