Grace of a Wolf by Lenaleia

Chapter 177

Chapter 177: Grace: Fake It Til You Make It

I collapse where I am, curling my knees to my chest. My throat still feels tight.

Caine must think I’m certifiably insane. What kind of person freaks out the way I did? And the moment he grabbed my wrist, I shut down completely.

It wasn’t like he hurt me. It wasn’t like he did anything wrong. He was trying to talk to me in private. Perfectly understandable.

And yet my entire body reacted like he was about to throw me into traffic.

I slide up the bed until I can bury my face in a pillow.

"I’m losing it."

It’s the only explanation.

I smack my forehead against the pillow once. Twice. Three times. Maybe if I hit hard enough, I can knock some sense back into myself.

Heat crawls up my neck and spreads across my cheeks. Caine was so worried and gentle, he’d even asked if I thought he would hurt me. Of course I don’t think he’ll hurt me.

Well—not anymore, anyway.

"You’re crazy. You’ve gone insane. You’ve lost your mind."

Each sentence is punctuated with a frustrated thump of my face into fluff.

The embarrassment is almost worse than the sudden spike of fear. Now, anyway.

My heartbeat gradually evens out, and the flush of heat going up my neck and prickling along my scalp recedes.

But the self-loathing stays.

It doesn’t make sense. Caine wasn’t yelling at me. He didn’t grab me with any real force. Sure, I couldn’t pull away easily, but it wouldn’t have been impossible.

Nothing about the situation should have triggered such a level of panic.

So why did it feel like—

cold against my feet. The smell of mold and dust. My throat hurts; I’ve been screaming

Please let me out.

I’ll be good.

promise I’ll

head violently, forcing the memory back where it belongs. Locked away. Buried deep, where it’s been for four years and

It was a big

it was

and strange and somehow

refusing to linger on the whys and

for helping a rogue wolf is not the same as bringing

heave a sigh before pushing myself up,

childish. Get over it and move on,

into some semblance of order and cross my legs into the fake zen pose people do when they’re trying to convince themselves they’re not losing their

Me.

I’m people.

lifelong yoga-doers (not me), I suck in a deep breath and let it

only one way out

shameless and pretend

won’t say anything

pretend I’m not totally insane and apparently prone

wasn’t

I’m supposed to be getting

watching the colorful shapes bounce around behind my eyelids. Focusing on them makes it easier to calm down

Okay.

an absolute fucking meltdown when her boyfriend dragged her to a private

off my face, but my

bed, I approach the dresser mirror, leaning in to examine my pathetic attempt

auditioning to play a haunted doll. The reddened eyes from almost crying don’t help,

okay a thousand times. This is

my hands out and roll my shoulders

Take two.

pleasant: Bun’s excitement every time we hand

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