Page 25 of Nanny's Mate

Mike felt self-consciousness for a moment, peering back down the hallway at the double doors. They stood still, mocking him.

“You have never once left your phone on silent mode, Mike,” Tristan continued. “I was annoyed, but then Barbara told me about the way you looked at Beatriz. She clocked it early on.”

Mike sighed. There was no point in beating around the bush anymore. Of all the people he could trust, it was the Wolfe’s.

“How did she know?” he asked.

Tristan shrugged, then crossed his legs. Mike wished he could stop feeling so unsettled, but nothing would remedy that until he was able to be by Beatriz’s side.

“The shifter intuition, I suppose. Also, lovers' intuition. We, as men, the supernatural kind, change when we find our mates. Not exponentially, but we become more of who we really are. She will do the same. There’s nothing more beautiful in this universe than that.”

Mike was comforted by his words, but he still felt restless. Tristan continued to reassure him.

“I have known William for years. Even before the girls were born. He is a leading expert on shifter surgery and medicine. I promise you, she will be okay.”

Mike trusted the alpha, and he desperately wanted to believe him. But the shifter in him, the wolf that eagerly wanted to claim her, wouldn’t ease until Beatriz was thriving.

“You know,” Tristan went on, inching closer to Mike. “Barbara was here once. There was a rogue attack, and she was in the middle of it. I’m pretty sure I am the reason they had to rebuild several of these walls.”

Mike chuckled, a foreign sound to his own ears, and looked at Tristan. He was smiling softly like a father trying to dispel his son’s fears.

“You get it then,” Mike whispered. “You get that it’s agony.”

Tristan nodded.

“The worst kind. You are out of control. You don’t know what is going to happen next, no matter what the doctor says. I get it. I’m here with you.”

He placed a hand on Mike’s knee and squeezed it. It was another fatherly gesture that made his heart glow.

“Thank you,” Mike muttered. “I am really glad you’re here. I don’t know what happened, but I … I just hope it wasn’t my fault.”

Tristan’s brow furrowed, and he shook his head slowly. Nate finally returned with snacks and coffee.

Mike wasn’t hungry.

“Let’s worry about that later. Right now, we are waiting for the surgery to finish. Then we take the next step. That’s really all any of us can do."

His alpha was right in every aspect. But none of that could unravel the knot in his stomach.

FIFTEEN

BEATRIZ

Aconstellation of bruises settled over Beatriz's body. It was the first image she was presented with when she awoke the day after the unexpected attack. It took her a minute to realize where she was, staring up at the dark ceiling, the glow of machines pulsing next to her. She then felt someone’s hand on hers, protectively firm but gentle in its caress.

It was Mike. Even asleep beside her, he looked more concerned than she had ever seen him before. Seeing him there sent a flow of warmth through her body which in itself felt healing.

She didn’t immediately recall what had happened. All she knew was the pain in her was real, throbbing like tiny pencils were being pressed into her skin. Beatriz didn’t want to wake Mike, but she couldn’t sit there frozen in pain.

She swallowed, her mouth as dry as a desert, and tried to croak out his name.

“Mike …”

Mike’s eyes darted open, the green infernos both intimidating and beautiful. He leapt to his feet and embraced her by yanking her upper body from the bed and pressing her chest against his own.

“Beatriz, my God …” he muttered.

His strength was overpowering. Beatriz groaned, and he quickly let her go, apologizing repeatedly.

---