Page 70 of Bad Wolf's Nanny
Lola laughed then, properly, “I’m sorry! I just wanted you all to like me!”
“Nope,” Cassie said with a grin, looping one arm around her shoulders as she spoke, “sorry, that’s it. Friendship over.”
“Come on, Cass, they’re just muffins. I’ll bake you some if that means so much to you!” Daisy smiled.
Cassie sniffed theatrically. “I’ll have you know I take muffins very seriously. No second chances.”
Lola hiccupped slightly through a laugh, fresh tears welling in her eyes, “I’m afraid that if I did actually try and bake you muffins, we really wouldn’t be friends. You’d probably have me arrested for attempted poisoning.”
“Not a chance,” Cassie said, “they can’t be worse than mine. Pack rules say you gotta bring what you bake, no matter how terrible.”
Lola sniffed, her throat tightening, a fresh wave of tears threatening to fall, “But I’m not…I’m notinthe pack.”
“Could’ve fooled us,” Cassie said.
Daisy nodded, “You belong with us, Lola. Everyone knows it. The title doesn’t matter. You’re family.”
Lola looked between them, heart full and aching. She didn’t trust her voice, so she just nodded.
“Come on,” Daisy said, gently patting her knee, “why don’t you go and wash your face, and we can all have a nice cup of tea?”
Lola nodded, standing on trembling feet, offering them a watery smile. They smiled back, genuine and so full of warmth. She exhaled and turned, walking slowly toward the front desk, her heels clicking faintly against the wooden floor. She tried to pretend she wasn’t listening, tried not to do what she’d been trained from childhood to do as a shifter:pay attention to what others didn’t want you to hear.
But it was impossible to tune them out.
Even from halfway across the room, she heard them.
Cassie’s voice first, loud enough to make Lola wince, “God, she’s heartbroken. You canseeit. She’s holding herself together with sheer spite.”
“Cassie,” Daisy hissed, “shifters, remember? She can probably hear you.”
“She’s halfway across the room!”
“Exactly. That’s well within range.”
There was a pause. Then, in a slightly lower voice, albeit not by much, Cassie continued, “Still. She deserves better. Dane’s being a complete idiot. He had something good,somethingreal, and he pushed it away because he’s emotionally constipated and probably afraid of his own feelings.”
“Cass—” Daisy tried again, but Cassie just kept going.
“Don’t get me wrong. I like the guy. But this whole tough-enforcer-who-can’t-love-anyone schtick? It’s tired. He’s not fooling anyone. You saw the way he used to look at her, all soft and helpless, like she was the last person in the world he wanted to hurt.”
Daisy’s voice was more careful now. “I know. And I agree. But maybe don’t narrate the entire emotional drama at full volume in a library.”
Cassie snorted. “She’s got a super-powered noseandears. If I whisper, she’ll just smell the guilt on me instead.”
Daisy groaned, “You’re impossible.”
“Look, I’m just saying, he needs a kick in the ass. Or a therapist. Or possibly both.” Another pause, then Cassie added more gently, “I don’t like seeing her like this. She’s trying to pretend she doesn’t care, but you know she does. It’skillingher.”
Lola froze.
She’d only meant to grab a tissue. Maybe splash some cold water on her face in the little back-office bathroom. Instead, she was standing just behind a shelf of returned books, heart pounding, throat tight, and completely exposed.
Because Cassie wasn’t wrong.
Itwaskilling her.
She pressed a hand to her chest, willing the ache to subside.
