Grace of a Wolf by Lenaleia

Chapter 145: Grace: The Deal with Pillows

I sit upright in bed, glaring at Caine, who clutches my old pillow against his chest like some kind of security blanket. His knuckles are white against the pale cotton, and he’s avoiding my eyes with the dedication of someone who’s been caught doing something deeply embarrassing.

"This one’s more comfortable for you," he says, nodding at the pillow he just slid under my head.

"What is your deal with pillows?" The words snap out of me before I can stop them.

His entire body straightens further. "I don’t have a deal with pillows."

The silence stretches.

And stretches.

He doesn’t say anything else, just stands there, rigid and awkward, clutching the damn pillow to his chest.

I sigh, and he immediately asks, "Why are you so angry?"

"I’m not angry." The response is automatic, defensive, and a total lie to my current state of emotions.

He raises an eyebrow, skepticism written across every part of his face, and I wince.

"I’m not," I insist. The truth is, I do think the pillow thing is creepy. Weird. Inexplicable. But saying so would hurt his feelings, and despite how irritated I am in this moment, I don’t actually want to do that.

"No. You’re angry," he says firmly, like he already knows. Which... he isn’t wrong, so he does, but even his certainty grates on my nerves. "You’ve been angry for a while. And I don’t understand what I did wrong."

I groan, pressing my palms against my face. I’m not prepared for this emotional reckoning. Not now. I was still busy pouting and being outraged and hadn’t worked through my feelings completely. The storm left me dizzy and off-kilter, and I was relying on sleep to fix it.

slowly, dropping my hands to my lap, twisting the blanket between my fingers. It’s warm in here since we

going crazy." My voice comes out tiny and pathetic, lowering further

me..."

from behind a curtain of blonde hair I’m still not

furrowed, eyes serious, the storm-gray of them focused

he says calmly. "Of course I can’t let her touch

"What?"

to a halt. Did

with the flat certainty of someone stating water

process these words that make no sense. "What are you talking about?" I’ve held Bun so

and you were unconscious, still holding her. Bun is fatal to

My heart twists. "Fatal?"

must have been triggered with her shift during the storm. It might

together, feeling a little like my skull is trying to split apart. "Are we sure? Maybe I just fainted." I was feeling particularly lethargic and tired, but then again, I did just come out of

I can’t just not touch

"You were dying, Grace."

again. He

I don’t

to be angry than deal with whatever’s really going on, because I can’t touch Bun. "Why keep it a secret and just... just manage me like I’m some kind of invalid? You’ve been treating me like glass, keeping the kids away, doing

"Grace."

way it’s dipping, it might. He clears his throat and scoots up a little

me how far he can go to do it. But I’m still angry and

sighs. "It has some special power over me. Calms me when nothing else