Page 51 of My Orc Nanny

She nodded, then turned her head so her words wouldn’t be muffled against my chest. “Shonda says since he used deadly force—the knife—in an attempted kidnapping of a noncustodial child, he’ll likely be headed back to prison for a long time. We won’t have to worry about him.”

I felt my muscles untense as I exhaled along with her. “And if hedoesget out of jail in the next decade,” I reminded her, running my hand up and down her spine soothingly, “I’ll be right here.”

Hannah tipped her head back to smile up at me, but it was a sad smile. “Mate.”

Mate.

“I love you,” I whispered. “I love all of you, more than anything in this world.”

And one day, I hoped the kitlings understood that. I would always be here, always keep them safe…even if it was just as their nanny.

We’d spent hours that afternoon at the police station, and I had no idea how Hannah had managed to be so strong, listening to Ben give his story again and again, especially with Travis yelling obscenities from the town’s single jail cell.

Eventually, unable to stand the pacing any longer, I sat beside him on one of the ridiculously small human-sized folding chairs to lend him my strength. To my surprise, he stood up and pressed against me. It was second nature to gather him up and sit him on my lap, the way I might his sister or brother, and he curled up and closed his eyes.

When I looked up and met Simbel’s gaze, he gave me an approving smile.

Knowing it had only been a few months since he’d found his own Mate and son, it made me feel like…like I was doing something right. At least at that moment.

After the ordeal at the station, we’d been sent home, and Hannah’s parents—Allison nearly frantic—had met us with the two younger kitlings, who’d needed reassurance as much as Ben. For that matter, so had Allison.

While the kids swarmed Hannah, I’d pulled her parents aside and updated them on everything we knew, and the plans. Charlie, her father, had been stoic as he asked questions, but Allison cried through it all until I couldn’t standher pain—and, on some level, I knew, guilt—and opened my arms to her as well.

“We should have never pressured her to marry him,” she sobbed against my chest.

I met her husband’s eyes, and Charlie exhaled as he patted her back. “He’s a bad husband and a bad father…but if she hadn’t married him, we wouldn’t have Tova and Joshy.”

That was true. I nodded to let him know I appreciated the reminder. “And they’re worth a little heartbreak, right?”

Eventually, Allison had cried her tears—I tried to keep her distress hidden from Tova and Joshua, because I knew it would bother them—and I sent her and Charlie home with last night’s leftover ham and potatoes, which had been the plan for tonight’s dinner.

But tonight, in our house, wasn’t a night for ham and potatoes. It was a night for… “Who wants pizza?” I called to the kitlings.

“Piz-za!” yelled Joshua, rolling from the sofa, as Tova hummed, “And ice cream?”

Little scamp knew tonight was a no-rules kinda night, apparently.

The five of us sprawled around the living room to eat the junk food—yes, I made popcorn after the pizza, claiming it was a vegetable…but the chocolate candy I mixed in likely negated any miniscule health benefits—and watched old cartoon movies.

When the evil stepmother locked Cinderella in her room, no matter how much she begged, I noticed Ben’s breathing growing shallow, and I snatched up the remote, jabbing atit with my claws. “Let’s watch something else?” and everyone agreed.

We stayed up too late, and all the sugar meant the kids should’ve had meltdowns, but they didn’t have a chance. One by one, they fell asleep right there on the couch, and one by one, I carried them into their rooms and Hannah tucked them in.

By midnight, we were standing in the center of our room, our arms locked around each other again. My chin rested on her head, and I could feel her heart beating against my chest.

“Today…” she whispered, “I was so scared.”

“Me too,” I admitted.

“But you went after him. You risked your life to save my son.”

I pulled away far enough to meet her eyes. “I love him. No matter what happens,dkaar, he’sminein the same way you are. OfcourseI went after him.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you for trusting me with him.”

Another rueful smile tugged at her lips as she nodded and pressed her cheek to my chest again. “When Mom called to tell me what you told her, I ran out of my meeting. I jumped in my car, and I just started driving. I didn’t know it was Travis who’d taken Benny, I didn’t knowanything. I just knew…” She took a deep breath and held it. “I knew you were going after him. So I focused on you.”

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