Page 29 of Wolf Unseen

Tobias Morrone was a problem. Everywhere I turned in the week since Bernard dislocated my shoulder, the damn wolf was there. Watching me. Acting as if he cared about my safety.

People had noticed.

Just the other day, I’d turned around and there he was. Staring at me like a creeper.

“Are you stalking me?”

“What? No!” The little smirk and cute dimples said otherwise, and I huffed as he stood there, arms folded, highlighting his exceptionally honed chest and biceps. “I was interested in…those flowers over there.” He pointed to a clump of nondescript red flowers growing next to the wall on my left.

“Seriously?”

“Yes, cutie. I, um, have a passion for…botany.”

“Let me guess, you want to add them to your collection of dried flowers?” I blinked innocently as a group of feline shifters walking past snickered loudly. But Tobias just grinned.

“I’m totally secure in my sexuality,” he said. “So maybe I will.”

Shoving thoughts of the hot wolf down because I didn’t need the distraction, I hustled toward the gym for my self-defense class. Since Instructor Bernard had yet to return—and according to campus gossip, never would—a new instructor had stepped into his shoes. Hopefully not another asshole with an unhealthy interest in sadism.

Once again, I deliberately wore an oversized hoodie with loose sweatpants. Luckily, there wasn’t a standard gym uniform, although most students preferred to wear shorts and little else.

Not me. I had too much to hide.

The binder that hid my breasts could double as a back-support brace, and if anyone asked, I’d claim I had a weak back thanks to my human heritage. I doubted anyone would question it. Most full-blooded shifters knew absolutely nothing about hybrids—or cared enough to find out.

When I scanned the assembled students, I spotted a few avians and smaller shifters. My gaze snagged on Simon at the back, standing with two taller guys. Both of them turned to stare at me when Simon lifted a hand in cautious greeting.

Since I had no other friends, I trotted over.

“Hey, Riley. This is Connor and Andrew.”

I nodded a greeting. “Snakes?” Simon’s grimace reminded me it was impolite to ask a shifter what species they were if it wasn’t obvious. Oops.

“I’m a rattlesnake, and he’s a gecko,” Connor said.

“Quiet!” I turned to see a tall, imposing male with shiny golden hair in a sexy man bun. The scruff on his chiseled jaw did nothing to detract from his sex appeal. My wolf sat up and took notice, having decided this male was worthy of our attention, and honestly? She was right.

I surreptitiously wiped my mouth in case I’d started drooling.

The male, a lion shifter, wore nothing but a pair of athletic shorts, which meant I had free rein to admire his cut chest and delicious abs. And I wasn’t the only one.

Half the class uttered a collective sigh when a lone ray of sunshine turned his golden hair and body into a work of art so dazzling I felt immediately compelled to worship at the altar of his dick.

“My name’s Instructor Leone, and until Instructor Bernard returns to campus, I’ll be teaching you first-years. In today’s class, we’re going to pair up and practice our unarmed combat skills. Three minutes per round, with the winner of each match going into the next.”

“Can we shift, sir?” asked a lithe shifter with honey-brown skin.

The lion shifter rolled his eyes at the same time I did. “No. As I’m sure Instructor Bernard has explained previously, the point of this class is to learn how to fight without help from your beast. Anyone who shifts, accidentally or otherwise, gets disqualified. Are we clear?”

Everyone nodded.

The gym was vast, with equipment stacked at one end and mats laid out in the center. As the wind picked up outside, I thanked the goddess that we were doing this class indoors. The poor reptile shifters would have stood no chance against warm-blooded species if they had to fight outside. Not with the temperatures dropping daily.

“How do you cope in winter?” I whispered to Simon as the lion shifter instructor read out names from a list.

“We struggle,” Simon admitted. “But there are enchantments we can buy from witches to keep us warm when it’s freezing.”

“…Riley Scott and Preston Clawson.”