Grace of a Wolf by Lenaleia

Chapter 82: Grace: Strawberries (III)

"Here." I hand Owen his phone once he returns, and the absence of the device makes my fingers curl into fists. It’s like handing over my safety.

He accepts it with a nod, tucking it into his pocket. Bun wiggles in Owen’s arms, leaning toward me with grabby hands. Her eyes—wide and dark—fix on mine with intensity.

"Guh!" she demands, and I reach out without thinking.

Owen transfers her into my arms without comment. The weight of her settles against my chest, warm and solid.

I freeze.

The bunny ears I’d gently dried minutes ago have vanished. In their place are triangular, twitching appendages covered in fine black fur.

Cat ears. Definitely cat ears.

I blink hard, certain I’m hallucinating. My fingers tentatively reach up to touch one. It twitches beneath my touch—warm, soft, and undeniably real. Not a headband or costume piece, but flesh and bone and fur growing directly from her scalp.

A dizzy sensation washes over me. This isn’t possible.

"What the—" I cut myself off, glancing at the other children.

None of them seem remotely concerned. Sara and Jer are finished cleaning. Ron sits cross-legged on a woven mat, flipping through a dog-eared book with some cartoons on the cover.

Jer skips over, reaching up to stroke Bun’s new ears with familiarity.

"Are you a cat now?" he asks with a grin, unfazed by this new development.

Bun responds with a high-pitched "Meow!" which sounds uncannily authentic. Her eyes narrow in satisfaction as Jer scratches behind her ears.

My arms tighten around her instinctively. "But she was—"

"Ooh, be a duck next!" Sara interrupts, hovering at my elbow. "Ducky Bun is the best!"

Before I can process what’s happening, the cat ears melt away. Not falling off, not retracting—they simply disappear, sinking into her head. Bun’s entire face shifts next, her nose and upper lip extending outward, hardening and flattening into an unmistakable yellow duck bill.

"Quack!" she announces proudly, her voice muffled by her new anatomy.

My knees nearly buckle, but I hold myself upright by sheer force of will and the vague panic I might drop the baby. "What’s... how...?"

Cold sweat breaks out across my forehead. I’ve lived with wolf shifters for years, seen what transformation looks like.

But they can only transform into wolves. Not random other animals.

shifter can only

This? It’s impossible.

out, not looking up from his book. He sounds bored. Maybe mildly irritated. "You know she gets stuck sometimes when

opens and closes several times before words finally emerge. "What kind of shifter

his book closed.

there’s impossible.

by my crisis. "Says who? The rules people tell

back," he says, and I wonder how he doesn’t scare her with the way

not only the orange duck bill, but whiskers. She looks at me and quacks

My voice trails off. "That’s not

beside me, her small legs folded beneath her. Bun dives toward her head-first, sliding out of my arms with

girl catches her like this is a daily

lap, making her duck noises with glee as she flaps

blows raspberries onto Bun’s neck, dissolving the little

front of me, arms across his chest and legs spread wide as he

girl groans, rolling her eyes dramatically. "A mouse and a rat

insists,

"Barely."

shift into more animals

At least

with all the arrogance of a seven-year-old. Or however old he is. "Yeah, so different you can’t even fly when

says, and Sara sticks her tongue out at Jer when he turns his

with surprising insight and agility, suddenly rolling off Sara’s lap and bolting

the ferocity of a tiny predator. Tiny round ears pop out

tangle of

your ear off!"

"Yeah? Then I’ll make

my leg. My mind races through potential responses. Should I intervene? Let them work

at the pack, I was never responsible for breaking up fights between kids.

wades into the chaos like a superhero of questionable origin. One moment they’re a tangled mess on the ground; the next, two kids have been hauled off

It’s... comical, really.

reticent man states, as impassively

it!" Sara yells, her freckled face flushed with

stuck her tongue out at

regards them with stony silence, but neither of them break. They keep

voice low and matter-of-fact: "I was