Grace of a Wolf by Lenaleia

Chapter 50: Grace: I Don’t Want to Go

Caine’s question kind of feels like a minefield waiting to happen, so I focus on something more important.

"Could you step back, please?" I ask, keenly aware of his proximity. My skin prickles where his breath touches the nape of my neck.

He doesn’t move. Not even an inch. If anything, he leans closer, his chest nearly brushing my back.

"I asked you a question." His voice rumbles, deep and demanding. "Why are you so relieved to see him alive?"

Before I can answer, something large and furry forces its way between us. Fenris wedges his massive body into the sliver of space, effectively pushing Caine backward while pressing his warmth against my side. When I turn to rub his ears, he blinks his intelligent gray eyes at me in what almost seems like reassurance.

Wait. I squint in the dim lighting. Is he bigger now? Maybe it’s just the shadows playing tricks, but he seems more substantial, more imposing.

Did he get bigger so he could push Caine out of the way? If so, that’s... sweet.

"You need to respect her personal space," Lyre calls out, arms crossed as she leans against the frame of the camper’s doorway. "Not everyone appreciates being loomed over by strange men."

I’m falling more in love with Lyre every time she speaks.

Fenris lets out a soft huff that sounds suspiciously like agreement, nodding his massive head once before pressing harder against me.

I take a few deliberate steps away, circling around Andrew’s still-immobile form. To my surprise, Caine follows, moving in tandem with each step I take, like we’re engaged in some bizarre dance. When I look over my shoulder, his eyes never leave my face, tracking my movements with predatory focus.

Fenris stays between us, his massive body a living barrier. When Caine tries to step around him, the wolf snaps his jaws with a sharp click that makes the Lycan King stay back.

"Did he just—?" I start, shocked at Fenris’s rebellion.

"Yes," Caine’s beta says, his voice barely containing his amusement. "He did."

I can’t help the small smile that tugs at my lips. Maybe Fenris isn’t such a traitor after all. Between leading Caine to me and now keeping him at bay, I’m not sure whose side the wolf is actually on. But right now, he seems to be on mine. I’ll take it.

"Grace." Lyre’s voice cuts through the tension. She steps down from the camper, her colorful hair catching the moonlight as she squints her cat-like eyes at me. "Do you want to go with them?"

The question hangs in the night air. Andrew shifts slightly in his uncomfortable position but doesn’t speak.

coming

He reaches around his wolf, extending his hand toward mine.

fingers, missing by centimeters. Caine yanks his hand back with a curse, and I stay upright, even if I’m swaying

Fenris," he

between us. The wolf moves

My voice doesn’t waver. "You don’t have any right to detain

told you,

food, but wouldn’t let me leave. That’s the definition of imprisonment, and I’m pretty sure it’s illegal." My confidence wanes the longer I talk, though, under the weight of his stormy

for an explosion of temper. The camper’s basically a tin can; if he wants to attack us, we have nowhere to hide. Running from wolves is pointless; it just delays the

you’re really not coming back?" Jack-Eye smoothly interrupts, stepping forward with his head

a room for no reason I can understand. I value my life—and my freedom—too much to voluntarily return to that situation." There. I sound rational. Composed,

Behind him, Caine continues making a low rumbling sound, like distant

"Fair enough," Jack-Eye says.

which

beta slings an arm around Caine’s shoulders, the casual gesture at odds with the tension radiating from his

like a terrible idea, but they don’t seem like they’re

Her eyes flick meaningfully toward Caine and

grows

paid for this spot through the

the back with casual familiarity. "Come

softer than before, leading me to

lets out an elongated, up-and-down kind of whine, turning

snaps.

not." Lyre’s denial is swift

Jack-Eye coughs behind his fist, but by the way his lips keep quirking, I’m pretty sure it’s to

situation so amusing. I’m shaking with my own audacity and worried Caine’s going to

morning," Jack-Eye says after a few seconds, and Caine’s head snaps

Bacon, not sausage. I like my eggs

unbothered by her flat stare