Grace of a Wolf by Lenaleia

Chapter 47: Caine: Knock Like a Normal Person

The campground entrance is easy to miss, hidden in the darkness without any streetlights to mark it. Thankfully, many of the campers parked here have LED lighting strips along their rigs, and I slow before I miss the turn.

"Where?" I demand.

Thom closes his eyes, concentrating. "Keep going. She’ll be on our left. I’ll know when we get closer."

I drive deeper into the campground, wheels crunching on gravel. Rolling my window down seems like a mistake at first. The place reeks of humans—their food, their waste, their cheap alcohol. But beneath it all, I catch hints of her scent, growing stronger.

"That interference," Thom mumbles, seemingly to himself. "It’s stronger here. Almost like..."

"Like what?" I snap.

"Like something’s deliberately masking her." He opens his eyes, pupils dilated. "Something old."

Jack-Eye opens his own window, shoving his head outside to breathe in deep. "There’s a shifter... Blue Mountain."

I can smell him, too.

"There." Thom points to a large RV. The lot next to it isn’t empty, but only holds a blue sedan and a tent. "She’s there."

I park the car on the opposite side of the road and kill the engine, and Jack-Eye slides out of the car with languid ease. "I’ll deal with the traitor."

I grunt at them both, reaching for Grace’s pillow with fingers that itch to crush something. One brief caress over the soft fabric. One deep breath of her scent—blueberry muffins, mixed with fabric softener.

My chest loosens as the pillow’s scent cuts through the noise in my head.

"Stay here," I tell Thom without looking at him.

slumps in relief. "Yes,

I step out into the night, vaguely irritated by the humid

through the car’s ventilation system, and her scent grows stronger.

large black dog rather than a monstrous wolf. Even his ethereal blue

says as he pads beside me. She’s already frightened enough to

know," I mutter

you? Your

though the effort feels like trying to reshape stone. If I approach her with all the rage burning inside me, I’ll

are things I’ve done to reassure her she’s safe. I didn’t kill the Forest Springs Alpha. Or her boyfriend. I wanted to, but I didn’t; I even held

in my self-restraint rises, just in time for the crunch of gravel to draw my attention

his scent far too familiar. What was his

growls, the sound carrying through the

are cautious, deliberate; he’s not

then his eyes

slightly

he murmurs, voice barely

throat. His scent is all over the area and around the camper—all over Grace’s space. The rage bubbling beneath my skin threatens to spill over. My fingers itch to tear, to

I remember how Grace trembled when she walked into my

understand the violence underpinning our society.

to repay this pup’s

wanting to linger. Not with Grace within reach. "We’ll deal with

"Got it, boss."

many. "Alpha Wilder asked me to protect

you’re not

the air with the sour smell of fear. "She... she decided to come with someone