Grace of a Wolf by Lenaleia

Chapter 86: Grace: Honey, I’m Home

The kids race toward the entrance of the cave and I trail behind, arms sore from handling the little shifter tornado, who now twists in my grip at the promised arrival of food.

"Pah! Pah!" Bun chants, kicking her legs against my ribs as she giggles.

The exhaustion hits me in a wave. Between Bun’s shifting frenzy, the bizarre rumors about Caine and me, and just the general chaos of being trapped in a cave with hyperactive shifter children—my body’s tapped out. Done. Dead.

My hospital stay seems like a lifetime ago, and yet it’s only been hours.

Owen staggers inside, arms loaded with the promised holy food, and Jer shouts, "Did you remember cheese?"

The man grunts, his eyes darting around the room until he sees me. Then he glances behind him.

He looks paler than when he left, a sheen of sweat visible on his forehead. The unflappable, impassive man is...

Nervous.

My stomach drops.

"Pizza!" Sara and Jer practically tackle him, grabbing at the boxes, oblivious. Despite their excitement, Owen remains rigid, jaw tight and eyes wide.

"What’s wrong?" I ask, shifting Bun to my hip as she makes grabby hands toward the food.

Before Owen can answer, another figure steps into the chamber.

I blink.

"Honey, I’m home." Lyre’s rainbow hair catches what little light filters into the cave as she saunters in like she’s arriving at her own dinner party instead of a hidden shifter hideout. She waves at me with casual flippancy, cat eyes gleaming with satisfaction.

Behind her, the massive form of Jack-Eye ducks through the entrance, his red hair tied back, expression as bewildered as I feel.

in disbelief. "How

boy," she says with a shrug. "Oldest trick in the book.

jumping backward. The pizza boxes wobble dangerously in his

before you drop them," Lyre commands, and Owen instantly complies,

maintaining at least ten feet of distance between them. His eyes never leave her, tracking her every movement like she might explode at any moment. The Beta of the Lycan Pack—a man

I blink again.

hallucinating? I must be hallucinating. Maybe Bun ran into my head while she was flying around, and

Owen says to the suddenly silent children. "They

ever the observant one, narrows

or six steps back, as if she’s afraid Lyre’s

out with

of pizza boxes now on the

twists, smacking my face with her

Nope. I’m not unconscious.

"Ron, can you..."

boy plucks the toddler out of my arms. "Jer, go get

pauses a millimeter from a slice

Lyre to

Oh, dear.

"Ah," I mumble, not sure what to say, but already worried about Bun.

says, grabbing a slice of pizza. Sara’s eyes follow

Ron and mouth, I

My lips twitch.

herds the children toward the food, his movements stiff. "Everyone grab some pizza

to be guided away by Ron, who looks back

other hand, sighs loudly when he has to turn around with the chair he just brought in, grumbling about how they could