Grace of a Wolf by Lenaleia

Chapter 17: Grace: Everything Goes South

"Answer!" The king’s roar shakes dust from the rafters.

Rafe’s face presses against the floor, his shoulders trembling. "High Alpha, I didn’t—she was never marked—"

"Silence!"

As if he hadn’t been demanding an answer a literal moment ago.

The temperature spikes. A faint glow emanates from the king’s skin, pulsing in time with his rage. The shadows of his tattoos seem to reach out, grasping at nothing.

My head spins. This is chaos. Insanity.

Alpha’s forehead touches the ground, well and properly cowed this time. "High Alpha, please. We didn’t know she bore your mark. How could we expect a human to bear the High Alpha’s claim?"

The pressure in the room doubles. Voices cry out as every shifter in the Blue Mountain Pack presses themselves flat against the floor. The king’s power fills every corner, every crevice, until the very air feels ready to ignite.

But still, it barely touches me. Like I’m wrapped in some invisible barrier that keeps the worst of it at bay. The king turns, and our eyes meet. Gray like storm clouds, just like that night in the forest. Just like the wolf that protected me.

Oh.

Oh, no.

It’s strange—impossible, really—but the pieces click together, and my stomach drops. The massive wolf with the ethereal blue glow and the Lycan King, with his own faint glow. They’re one and the same, aren’t they?

But wait—I’ve never heard of a wolf and their shifter body being separate.

Still, somehow I know I’m right. It rings true down to my soul.

"She was unmarked, High Alpha. I swear it," Rafe says, and Ellie’s hand is still holding onto his arm, trembling violently.

Everything feels distant, like I’m watching a play unfold. Or a TV show. The king’s power thrums through the room, but my mind fixates on the oddest details—the way dust motes dance in the air, how Beta’s left boot has a scuff mark, the way the Lycan King’s cologne-like smell wafts through the air, thicker than before. Maybe it’s from his alpha dominance.

the body’s way of protecting itself from trauma, right? And God knows

psychopathic wolf-king who smells like he should be an underwear model and looks like

Instead I was kidnapped, thrown to the ground, kind of choked... Okay, yeah, I have to be in shock. The list of things I’ve gone

a soft sound, a bare scuff, but that’s how dead the air is in this place. Even when he crouches he towers over Rafe, close enough now that his

king subjugating a

ice, and I swear the entire room is holding their breath, waiting to watch the end of this

opens and closes, but no sound

king’s head snaps up, his storm-gray eyes finding Alpha. "Was she truly

His throat bobs as he swallows. "There was... there was

king’s voice

from the man’s fury. "When we found her, she was alone and the strange wolf

about to shatter. I press my hands against my throat, remembering that night, and how I’d told the wolf

Mountain Pack Alpha." The king’s voice drips with lethal calm. "Was there a scent covering

nearly prostrated, as weak as the others, as if he’s not an alpha at all. "There was... a

"And?"

assumed it belonged to a rogue wolf." The words come out choked, as if each

not a pleasant sound—my soul cringes from

king turns away from Rafe, and I can finally see his face again. It’s closed off, cold and distant, as if speaking to air and not living, breathing people. Every word he

in front of the man I’d considered a father for six

hitches. "High Alpha,

"Silence."

mouth snaps shut so fast I hear his teeth

king’s scent." He shakes his head, a terrible smile playing on his lips. "What

king’s gaze sweeps over them. Even when their heads aren’t raised, they must be able

goes beyond mere incompetence." His voice carries to every corner of the room. "This speaks to a fundamental failure

pressed to the floor. Even from here, I can see

fall, like stones into still water, rippling through every body here. "Every. Last. One." The glow

"Fenrisúlfr."

massive black, glowing wolf materializes beside the king, and my brain short-circuits. No. That’s impossible. Impossible. He was