Grace of a Wolf by Lenaleia

Chapter 85: Grace: Wild Child

I reach for the fluttering brown sparrow darting through the room, but my fingers close on empty air as Bun zips toward the ceiling.

"Damn. You were so close," Ron says.

"Yeah, damn," Jer echoes.

Sara sighs. "You’re not supposed to use bad words."

Meanwhile, I’m waving my hands frantically as I shout, "Bun, please come down!"

The tiny bird chirps manically, wings beating frantically in hunger-induced chaos. She’s been shifting nonstop for twenty minutes—from bunny to kitten to fish (a terrifying thirty seconds of flopping), and now this. My heart hammers against my ribs even as I wonder how a toddler who can barely walk a straight line has already figured out flying.

"She’s losing it," Ron says beside me, craning his neck upward. "The pizza’s taking too long."

Jer nods grimly. "Sugar crash. Plus she’s still growing."

He sounds so wise, but I don’t think her growth has anything to do with her current state of mania.

I watch helplessly as the little brown bird dives toward a particularly threatening-looking piece of wall. "Can’t you guys do something?"

Sara crosses her arms, shaking her head. "She’s too fast. Last time she went bird, Owen had to use a net."

"And Sara can’t figure out how to fly, so she’s useless," Jer adds.

"Shut up, Jer!"

The sparrow swoops directly over our heads, chirping what sounds suspiciously like swear words. Except she’s a toddler, and I’m pretty sure she only knows about fifteen actual words.

Ron sighs, sounding so resigned, you’d think he was asked to work overtime. "I’ll get her."

His transformation happens in a blink—one second he’s a gangly preteen boy with messy hair and eyes too old for his face, the next he’s a young gorilla, his fur glossy black.

My jaw drops.

a shrug. "Ron can turn

rock. Sparrow Bun

call out uselessly, my hands pressed against

finally perches on a ledge, her beak open as she trembles.

his fingers, but he doesn’t flinch, just cradles her close to

god," I breathe as Ron reaches the ground, carefully extending his palm toward me. The sparrow glares at me out of the side of her beady

"Look, Bird Bun!

transformation is instant—feathers disappear into chubby little arms. Ron barely has time to set her down before she’s

thrusts it into Bun’s tiny palms. "Here, eat this before you transform into a freaking pterodactyl!" Her voice is

giant bite of the apple, juice dribbling down her chin, her eyes wide with momentary satisfaction—before her face scrunches up in disgust.

every surface, amplified by the cave’s acoustics

squirming body against my chest. Her back arches in my arms like something possessed, her spine bending at angles which can’t be natural. Her tiny hands fist in my hair, yanking hard enough to bring tears

contain her flailing limbs as she twists, doing her baby damnedest to pull my hair out of my head. "The

her mouth and eyes wide with horror. "Oh my Goddess,

still writhing in my arms like

teeth attack my forearm, and I bite back

ceiling. "We’re doomed. Ron, can you

pizza—"

are both dressed, not naked; their

hurting the Queen," Sara hisses, like I’m

eyes. "Don’t be so dramatic, Sara. She’s

she is!" Sara insists, backing further away from

trying to process the moment when Jer jumps in, rounding on Ron. "Dude, don’t you pay any attention? The King wiped out an entire pack just because her

head, chewing on my hair. I try my best to intervene in the escalating, inaccurate facts being thrown about, but every time I open my mouth, another kid’s shouting even

he killed like a hundred wolves because one of

"Caine didn’t—I mean,

at me with varying degrees

Ron. "See? Told