Page 15 of Alpha Wolf's Nanny
He wondered suddenly if she had younger brothers. Talking to her, it was like her life had started at twenty years old. In all of her wonderful stories about traveling the country, she’d never once mentioned her family. He’d talked plenty about his boys, but her situation was a blank slate, and he hadn’t thought to ask.
Looking at her now, it was easy enough to imagine her surrounded by an enormous family, an elder sister tasked with wrestling her younger siblings and cousins into behaving. He found himself hoping that that was the case. He didn’t know why, but the idea that she didn’t have anyone at all made him irrationally angry.
He gritted his teeth. Family meant something entirely different to shifters than it did to humans. She was twenty-two, still so new in the world; of course, she would want to spread her wings and explore what life had to offer. She probably just hadn’t mentioned her family because she currently had more interesting things going on, at least from her perspective. Because that was how humans viewed family—a burden, a challenge, asacrifice. They were so much happier when they had their independence.
Even if it meant abandoning those that they claimed to love.
He and Cassie were from two different worlds. He had to remember that. She would be a perfectly good nanny, of that he was sure, but anything beyond that…
His wolf growled inside of him, thrashing and snapping its teeth. Images flooded his mind of Cassie beneath him, her eyes wide and her lips parted, breathy moans tumbling from her.
Fuck.
Maybe this had been a huge mistake. No, scratch that. Thishadbeen a huge mistake. What the hell had he been thinking, agreeing to hire her?
But as he watched her laughing and joking with the boys, their faces cautiously open to her, he couldn’t bring himself to regret it. Not yet. After all, Logan was already asking if she could come watch Tuesday’s skirmish, and Danny was demanding her input on camouflage.
Felix cleared his throat, trying to cut through the rising chaos before the two boys declared full-scale war at his kitchen island.
“Alright, alright,” he said, stepping forward. “That’s enough planning for now. You’ve got homework to finish before dinner.”
Two identical groans followed.
“We’ll come up with camouflage ideas later,” Cassie added brightly.
Danny turned to Felix. “Can she eat with us?”
“She lives here now,” he said, a little more gruffly than he intended. “She’ll be eating with us every night.”
Cassie looked surprised, then caught herself, nodding quickly like she was trying not to make a big deal out of it.
“I’ll set the table,” she offered, already moving toward the cabinets.
“We’ll help!” Logan announced, darting in front of Cassie towards the cutlery drawer.
“No,” Felix said, “you’ll go and finish your homework.”
“But—”
“Now,” Felix reiterated, raising a stern brow at his sons. They muttered darkly under their breath, but obeyed, scampering off and leaving Felix and Cassie alone. He waited until the sound of his sons' footsteps had faded upstairs before he turned to find Cassie already halfway through pulling out dinner plates.
“You don’t have to do that,” he said.
Cassie glanced up at him, startled. “Oh. I don’t mind. This is part of my job, right? I’ve worked in loads of diners, this is easy.”
He nodded, watching her move as he leaned against the counter, arms crossed over his chest. She was quiet and efficient, even as she cursed to herself upon opening the wrong cupboard for the third time before finally discovering the water glasses. At one point, he moved to help her, but was met with a stern glare.
He didn’t like how easily that pleased him.
“The boys like you,” he said eventually.
Cassie’s mouth tilted up. “They’re great kids.”
“Just you wait until one of them shifts for the first time.”
She went still for a moment. “How…old will they be when they shift?”
“It’s hard to say. Fourteen, maybe fifteen. But they’ll be moody as anything for a good few years beforehand.”
