Page 10 of Alpha Wolf's Nanny
“Ah, so you’re Molly,” Felix said with a warm smile. “It’s nice to put a face to the name.”
Molly’s cheeks flushed, and she batted his arm with the back of her hand. “Oh, you alphas, you all think you’re so charming!”
“Only when we’re met with such charming ladies.”
Molly tutted, but she was grinning. “Come on, come through, it’s time you met the nanny I’ve assigned you. She’s human, as we discussed; I know you had some reservations about a shifter nanny in the house.”
“My boys spend a lot of time with the pack,” Felix said, following her down a corridor. “I’d like them to have a bit more exposure to humans.”
And he wanted a good reason to keep his distance, but he wasn’t going to tell Molly that. After witnessing the romance play out between Nicolas and Daisy, he was determined not to repeat that particular story, no matter how happy they were. One thing he did not have time for was a relationship, and given that he’d sworn to himself never to get into another one with a human woman, it would be altogether safer to have a human nanny.
“Oh, there’s no need to justify yourself, dearie,” Molly said with an airy wave of her hand. “We get all sorts of requests and preferences. Why, just last week I had a bear shifter in with the requirement that any nanny we suggest for him be able to lift over a hundred pounds.”
“Bears shift younger than most of our kind,” Felix said with a knowing grin. “No doubt she’ll be having to wrestle bear cubs.”
“Yes, well, luckily for him, I managed to get in touch with the Portland ladies’ weightlifting club and found a rather lovely girl with rather terrifying biceps for him!” Felix snorted as Molly opened the door to her office for him. “Go on, your nanny is just inside.”
Felix thanked her and ducked into the room.
The first thing that hit him was the scent.
Warm fig trees in spring rain.
It took his brain a moment to catch up. But it did. Because standing inside, blinking at him with a shocked expression of her own, was Cassie.
Shit.
“Felix!” she said, pulling the ends of her sleeves over her hands, shrinking into herself, her throat bobbing as she swallowed. With wild eyes, she looked around the room, no doubt trying to find an escape.
“Cassie,” he breathed, not daring to step any closer to her. She looked different. Gone was the makeup and the tight green dress. She was just wearing some blue jeans and a slightly weathered-looking blue shirt, her brown hair thrown into a braid, her face bare and freckled.
She was somehow all the more beautiful for it.
His mind was suddenly overrun with memories of her beneath him. Of the softness of her skin, the sound of her breathy moans, the taste of her—
“Oh, have you two met?” Molly asked, bustling in behind Felix.
“No,” Cassie said at the same time as Felix said “Yes.”
Cassie flushed. “Yes, we met briefly. At a bar. That’s it, though.” She leveled him with a steely gaze at this, and he swallowed.
“Briefly,” he echoed, turning to Molly, unable to stop himself from sneaking glances at Cassie. Her jaw was set, her eyes blazing with fury, her scent spiking in clear anger.
“Oh, well, then there’s no need for introductions,” Molly said brightly, sitting down at the desk. “Now, Felix, I gave you all of Cassie’s, ah,credentials. Cassie, Felix, here is the Alpha of the Iron Walkers. I’m sure you’ve heard of them. They’re based in Silvermist.”
Cassie’s teeth clicked together. “Yes,” she said curtly, “I’ve heard of them.”
Felix considered ending it there, apologizing to Molly and making up some bullshit that he wanted a nanny with more experience, or who already lived in Silvermist, or some other crap. That would be the sensible, mature thing to do. The rational thing.
But he found the words dying in his throat. Against his better judgment, he realized he wanted to see where this would go.
Cassie, it seemed, had no such reservations. “I didn’t realize how far Silvermist is from Portland,” she said, stepping closer to the desk. “I had imagined…something slightly closer.”
Molly laughed. “Oh, don’t be silly, dearie, you won’t find anything in Portland. It’s neutral territory, not under the jurisdiction of any pack. Silvermist is actually very decent. There’s a bus that goes to and from the town once a day, and it’s only about three or four hours.”
Cassie’s eyes narrowed, and her fingertips drummed against the desk. “That’s quite a long way,” she said through gritted teeth.
Molly sighed, taking off her glasses and setting them in front of her. “Young lady, I’m not sure you realize this, but a piffling four-hour journey shouldn’t get in the way of what is anincredibly generousemployment contract. Accommodation, food, travel budget, not to mention the wages.”
