Grace of a Wolf by Lenaleia

Chapter 31: Caine: A Fool or a King

CAINE

Fenris’s response makes me realize what I’m thinking and I groan, driving my fist into the nearest wall again. It’s a new habit, developed about ten minutes ago. The plaster crumbles under my knuckles, leaving a crater the size of my hand. "Fuck. You’re in my head again."

I most certainly am not, Fenris replies, his voice dripping with disdain. I would never put such idiotic thoughts in your head. My goal has always been to keep the girl with us, in our pack—not set her up in some pathetic human apartment like a kept woman.

The truth in his words stings worse than my knuckles. These thoughts—this obsession with providing for her, protecting her from afar—they’re mine alone, turning me into a hypocrite. I killed Brax for breaking our laws, didn’t I?

"What the hell is happening to me?" I demand of my wolf, grateful this section of the lodge is empty. Talking to the air isn’t uncommon in a pack—we all have arguments with our wolves, and they aren’t always confined to our heads—but it’s not the kind of conversation I want others overhearing.

What’s happening is that you’re fighting your instincts while pretending it’s my influence. It’s exhausting to watch.

I press my forehead against the wall with a groan. "She’s human, Fenris." If she wasn’t, this would all be easier. I still couldn’t take her as a mate, but at least it would give me options...

The universe doesn’t follow your rigid little rules, Caine.

Blood rushes in my ears as frustration surges. "The laws exist for a reason. Humans and shifters don’t mix—they never have."

There are precedents.

"Like Brax?" My mocking laughter echoes through the empty corridor. "His mate ran away. Humans don’t belong in a pack."

mate. Or if she was, he treated her so terribly she felt life was better without him. It says more about Brax than it does

the problem. I’ve met Brax. There’s no way a human woman was the problem. "It

obsess over her injuries, her meals, her

clenches. "I’m

You’re stalling.

"I’m being thorough!"

You’re being a coward.

growl rips

relentless. You’re terrified of what she makes you feel. Of how your control slips every time you’re near her. Of the

pushed

you haven’t pushed far enough. All this solitude made you forget what connection feels like. You’re so scared of

tattoos intensifies, spreading across my neck and down my spine like liquid fire. Fenris is pulling away, separating himself from our shared

to rest, he announces, his voice growing distant.

I snarl, but I can feel

bring her comfort; you bring her terror. I offer

I flinch.

am your other half, your balance—and lately, the only one of us

severing our mental connection. I’m left alone in