Grace of a Wolf (by Lenaleia) novel Chapter 262

Chapter 262: Grace: Saved. (4)

Caine won’t stop running his hands all over me, like I’m some sort of broken porcelain he’s tracing.

He’s also listening, because he’s answering everything I say, but it kind of feels like he’s not really listening, either. Like everything’s going in one ear and partially processed before he goes back to his whole-body inspection.

I grunt as Fenris bumps a little harder into my legs, as if frustrated I’m not giving him attention.

It isn’t like I don’t want to—Caine just won’t let me. Every time I reach down, he grabs my arm and puts it around his waist again.

With my face practically plastered against his chest, it makes it almost impossible to see what’s going on. I’d barely registered our return before Caine came running to me, and now I’m so relieved I’m half-limp, only able to stand thanks to his support.

His heartbeat drums against my cheek, steady and constant. The sound’s so comforting it becomes its own kind of gravity, pulling me deeper into the wall of his chest until I can’t tell where the bruises end and the warmth begins.

I should move.

I should grab the cat—no, Chaos—or whatever it is now, and sit everyone down and explain. Ellie’s behavior. The rift. The coin burning through my pocket like a tiny, overpowered sun, capable of bringing me back to life in a new timeline.

All very important things.

But Caine’s palm spreads flat against my lower back, and his thumb traces a slow circle over my spine, and my bones dissolve. Just—gone. Liquid. I’m held together by skin and comfort and the fact his other arm hasn’t released my waist since I fell out of that rift.

Five more minutes. That’s all I need. Five minutes of not being chased, not being potentially murdered, not being thrown backward through time into an open grave. Five minutes of smelling the dark, warm scent clinging to his shirt and making my thoughts go soft at the edges.

Fenris presses his massive head into my hip again. A low whine vibrates through his muzzle, and I feel it in my teeth.

"I know, buddy," I murmur into Caine’s chest. "I missed you too."

Caine’s hand leaves my back to cup the base of my skull. His fingers thread into my hair and tilt my face up. Storm-gray eyes sweep over me, cataloging every scrape, every bruise, every smear of dirt.

I open my mouth to start explaining, but then the ground leaves my feet.

There’s no other way to describe it.

One second I’m standing. The next I’m airborne, scooped up with an efficiency that suggests Caine has rehearsed this moment.

One sturdy arm hooks beneath my knees, the other braces my shoulders, and he turns on his heel like a man who just decided something and has no interest in debate.

"Andrew." His voice carries clear through the sudden silence. "Handle the rest. Fenris will stay with you."

Fenris chuffs—a sound that might be agreement or might be irritation. Hard to tell with a wolf his size.

"Wait—" I smack Caine’s shoulder as my brain cells return to a semi-powered state. My palm stings against solid muscle; I might as well have slapped a concrete pillar. "Put me down. I need to explain about Ellie, she was—"

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"You need to be checked over." He doesn’t slow. Absurdly long legs eat up the ground at a rapid pace as he heads straight for the truck. "Then you can take a shower and relax at the hotel."

I stare at him.

Hotel. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The word bounces around my skull like a pinball, hitting nothing useful at first. Hotel. Hotel. Ho—

Oh.

The date.

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