Page 10 of Captive Nanny to the Wolf

“Hi, my name’s Bucky. What’s your name?” said the littlest. She judged him to be all of about four. The oldest couldn’t have been past six or seven.

Great.She wasn’t sure how she felt about this one being cute as a button, either.

“He’s the baby. I’m Jasper. I’m the oldest. What’s your name?” he asked.

“I’m Winona,” she said, as she extended a hand to the child.

“Nice to meet you, Winona, I’ll get the bowl to mix the batter,” he said authoritatively.

“Okay, you do that, Jasper,” she said, as she pulled out her phone. The agency was going to get a piece of her mind, all right. Or maybe she should just call the police directly.No signal. Super.Not even one bar. Her provider sucked. Dammit!

Just then, the other youngest came up to her and said somewhat pleadingly, “I have to go potty.”

Oh my God. This can’t be for real.

Jasper quickly said, “He can do it, but he feels better if you walk him to the bathroom and then just wait outside.”

Jeezuz.What am I going to do?She had never been so conflicted in her life. On the one hand, she had essentially just been, well, kidnapped. So, that sucked. But then, here she was, with these four children. It didn’t help that they were being kind of, well, adorable. You can’t fake that kind of adorable either. It just didn’t make sense. What did they call this? “Cognitive dissonance” or something?I call it a fucking headache.If she had had any doubt about not wanting to work with shifters anymore, those doubts were out the window.

“Hey Jasper, where is your phone, sweetheart?” she asked as calmly as she could. No sense traumatizing the children. They were innocent in this.

“Oh, Dad keeps it with him, for work,” he said, again assuming the tone of the wise oldest brother.

“But I mean, don’tyouhave one? Or a house phone?” Her anxiety was mounting a little.

“Oh, Daddy doesn’t really like phones. He says we can get them when we’re sixteen.”

She almost laughed out loud despite the situation.Yeah, good luck with that, buddy.

“Besides, we don’t need one. He can tell we are okay. He just knows,”added the one that appeared to be the next oldest. He was almost a carbon copy of Jasper.

Right, shifters and their shifter senses. Dammit.

After accompanying Jaye so he could go potty, she did a quick sweep of the house. There had to be a way out. The only door that was open was the back one, but that actually only let out onto an enclosed back area. She wasn’t getting over that wall.Fuck. Fuckety fuckety fuck. God damn shifters.

She did one more sweep of the house. She had been so focused on getting out, she hadn’t fully taken in just how palatial the place was. It was sort of like an enormous Nordic ski lodge. By now she had gotten the sense that this Mr. Wright was single.Hot and single.She almost stopped in her tracks at the thought.And clearly a kidnapper.She sure knew how to find trouble. She huffed her frustration.

Looking around, the house had the look of having had a woman’s touch. Maybe not the recently, but definitely at some point. Maybe it had only been a designer, but there were signs. The shades matched the drapes, there were a lot of pastels. Dead giveaways. She could tell. She made her way through the bedrooms upstairs, checking all the windows. All locked. And there was still no phone service. It was hopeless. She was completely and utterly trapped there with the little ones.This situation was fucking insane.

She did a final walk outside, with the kids following her curiously as she checked in vain for the slightest ping on her phone.Nothing. What the F?How had he gotten messages? Looking around at the walls and Mr. Wright’s general way, it was obvious. He clearly knew a thing or two about security and probably had some sort of special spy phones or something like that.Or maybe jamming equipment? Or maybe I’ve watched too many movies.

But sure enough, the other of the oldest spoke up. It was actually a little difficult to tell them apart, she realized.“I’m Marcus. You won’t get a signal. Dad’s really careful with that stuff.”Great, she thought.

“So, are you our new nanny?” he asked, innocent as pie.She almost wanted to scream…um, didn’t you just see your dad lock me in?But she held back.Theyareinnocent, and have no idea, at least not yet. So, don’t upset them if you don’t have to.

She just looked at him as she considered her options. “That’s a little complicated, Marcus.”

Finally, she sat down at the kitchen table, defeated. She put her head in her hands to think.

“Are you okay, missus?”A small voice interrupted her despair.

Jezzuz with the cuteness. This is so weird.

She looked up to see the one that had wanted to go potty but hadn’t talked to her otherwise.

Well, looks like I’m not going anywhere for the time being at least. “Why yes, I am. Just resting my eyes,” she said, putting on a brave face for the child.“And my name is Winona. Can you tell me yours?”

“I’m Jaye, I’m five.”

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