Page 19 of Alpha Wolf's Nanny
“And how do you…find it?” Cassie asked.
Poppy shrugged. “Well, I grew up here, and was friends with some of the pack girls, so by the time I met Charlie and we got together, it seemed right, you know?”
“Yeah,” Cassie said, trying to hide her disappointment. “That’s…nice for you.”
“What about you?” Daisy asked with a bright smile, instantly smoothing over the awkwardness of Cassie’s questioning. “Whereabouts do you come from?”
“Me? Oh, well, originally California, but I’ve moved around a lot.”
“Military family?” asked Sophie. “I knew a couple of military kids at college; they moved around a lot.”
“Not exactly,” said Cassie. “I just…like traveling, I guess.”
The women exchanged a look, and Cassie groaned inwardly. She hated questions like that.Where do you come fromorwhere’s your family,or, worst of all,so who are you running from?
The latter one was almost always said in jest, accompanied with a cheeky wink or a good-natured elbow to the ribs, but it always struck Cassie to the bone. A bleak reminder of everything she was, in fact, running away from.
How close they had gotten to catching up with her.
She shook her head. She was safe here. There was no reason they would suspect she’d be in Maine; she’d gotten on a random bus with no idea about its destination. Traveled halfway across the country. Got a job in a shifter town outside of Portland. You couldn’t make it up.
They wouldn’t find her. And even if they did, Cassie didn’t think Felix would take too kindly to bounty hunters in his territory. For now, at least, she was safe.
“Well, what about the nanny job?” Daisy asked after a slightly loaded pause. “How are you finding it?”
“It’s lovely,” Cassie said with a rush of air. “I mean, it’s a lot, don’t get me wrong. And I’ve only been doing it for a few days, but the boys are wonderful.”
“They’re great, aren’t they?’ Daisy replied, her eyes tracking the slightly older kids, the twins among them, as they ducked and weaved through the tree line. “A handful, but great. I’m glad Felix finally decided to get a nanny for them, though having been there myself, it’s not always the easiest!”
“Wait a minute,” Cassie said, turning to her. “You were a nanny?”
Daisy laughed. “Yep! I got fired from an awful job and needed a way to support my daughter, and I heard about the agency. I started babysitting Gracie, one thing led to another, and then—”
“And then Nicolas swept her off her feet,” Sophie said with a lascivious grin. “It’s quite the romantic story.”
“Wait a minute, you ended up with your boss?” Cassie asked, lowering her voice as she glanced over to where Felix was chatting with a couple of other males, beers in hand. For a split second, their eyes met, and Cassie quickly looked down at the floor.
“Oh, it’s not as bad as you think,” Daisy said with a shy smile. “I’d known him before. I grew up in Silvermist. We had a…well, let’s just say he was rather surprised when he found out that Thea is his daughter, but now he’s the best dad in the world to her! And Gracie, of course, our youngest. Well, until this one comes along, anyway,” she rubbed her stomach fondly.
There was a male standing with a baby next to Felix, the little girl cooing and gurgling and swiping at his face. He flicked a dark lock out of his face and grinned down at his daughter.
“That’s not…I mean, is thatNicolas Accardi?” Cassie asked, her mouth falling open.
Daisy chuckled slightly self-consciously. “Yup, the very same.”
“Isn’t he, like, a billionaire?”
“He’s perfectly normal,” Daisy said, “his penchant for ridiculously expensive shirts aside. And trust me, nothing quite removes the glamor like seeing him changing a nappy at two in the morning.”
Cassie couldn’t find the words to respond. She could count on one hand the number of times she’d had a hundred dollars to her name. Abillionwas so remote, so ridiculous a concept, she couldn’t even begin to picture it.
“And Thea’s your daughter?” she asked eventually, deciding she needed to steer the conversation into slightly safer waters.
“Ugh,” Daisy groaned, “if this is going to be about the silly battle she’s started with the twins…”
“I think it sounds like great fun,” Cassie said with a grin. “I’ve been invited as a witness on Tuesday.”
“The boys invited you to the fort?” Sophie asked, sharing a surprised glance with Poppy. “They mustreallylike you!”
