Page 23 of Alpha Wolf’s Nanny (Silvermist Wolves #2)

Felix sat behind his desk, his eyes watching the flames in the hearth dancing, his fingers drumming against the wood.

He had work to do. Lots of it. Emails to reply to, invitations to deal with, and Accord documents to read through.

And yet, whenever he glanced at his computer screen, he found his eyes glazing over, and his thoughts turning yet again back to Cassie.

Fuck. He was royally fucking things up. And he knew it.

After the confrontation with Henry, the conversation with Rick, Felix had figured that a bit of distance might be enough to get his thoughts straight.

To remember his priorities. His duties to the pack.

More than once, he had forced his thoughts to turn to his ex-wife, to how terribly that had ended, to how poorly suited shifters and humans were.

It hadn’t worked. It had just made him even more obsessed with her.

Every movement she made, every lingering whiff of sweet fig on the air, every echo of her laughter as she played with his sons lingered in his mind, driving him wild.

Whenever he was in the same room as her, he had to focus on something else, distract himself, keep himself separate to stop himself from launching at her and claiming her lips with his.

But what was he supposed to do? He was a shifter, an alpha of a pack. He had duties. Responsibilities. Including keeping her safe. And he knew for damn sure she would be safest far, far away from him.

He couldn’t send her away, though. His wolf wouldn’t let him.

He really was a selfish bastard.

“Are you still doing that paperwork?” Nicolas hadn’t bothered to knock.

Felix glanced up. The chiseled lines of his best friend’s face were drawn into a scowl, the firelight glowing against his dark hair. “Yeah. Lots to get through.”

Nicolas raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

Felix sighed, leaning back and drawing his hand down his face. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“No, but I think perhaps there’s something I can help you with,” Nicolas said, bracing his hands on the desk as he leaned forward. “Whatever bullshit narrative you’re telling yourself, it’s just that. Bullshit.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Cassie. What else?”

Felix’s brow furrowed, his jaw tightening. “What about her?”

“The fact that you’re so obviously in love with her.”

Felix’s chest constricted, his fists clenching. “What?”

“You heard me,” Nicolas replied, his voice dropping low, “you’re in love with her. Any idiot could see that. And you’re not doing anything about it.”

“What do you expect me to do?” Felix asked, his chair clattering as he stood suddenly. Nicolas reared back, his expression wary. “She’s a human. Even if I wanted to, I can’t do anything. It puts her in too much danger. I can’t be selfish.”

“So instead you’ve decided to mope around here and avoid her? Forgive me, Felix, but that’s not exactly what I’d expect from you.”

Felix growled, “I’m not avoiding her, I’m…I’m giving her space.”

“Bullshit.”

“Nicolas,” Felix snarled, a warning note entering his tone, “you may be my closest friend, but don’t push me on this one. She’s human. That’s that. There’s nothing more to it.”

Nicolas considered him for a while, watching as he sat back down and flicked through several tabs on his computer without actually stopping to read anything.

Felix’s eyes tracked the firelight flickering across the walls, his jaw tight. The tension in his muscles refused to ease, no matter how many deep breaths he took.

He didn’t want to have this conversation.

“I’m not avoiding her,” he said, quieter this time, but no less firm. “I’m protecting her. From me. From this life. From everything that comes with being mine.”

“Protecting her by ignoring her? By letting her walk around, thinking you hate her? It’s torture for all of us, Felix. We can smell it all over her. She’s devastated. She thinks you’ve rejected her. You’re acting like a child.”

Felix didn’t rise to the bait. His voice stayed level. “It’s better than letting her get attached to something that was never going to work.”

Rick entered the room then, quiet for once. He stood by the door, arms folded, and nodded once. “He’s right.”

Nicolas shot him a look. “Oh, good. Reinforcements.”

“I’m not here to gang up on you,” Rick said mildly, “just saying, Felix is right. If he gets involved with her, the fallout could be catastrophic. He knows it. I know it. Deep down, so do you.”

Felix let out a breath, some tension easing from his shoulders at Rick’s support.

“She’s human,” Rick continued. “This isn’t just about the two of them liking each other.

There are politics. Expectations. Power dynamics.

If it goes bad, if she gets hurt, or she hurts him, Felix doesn’t just lose a lover.

He loses face. The pack fractures. And if the pack fractures, we all bleed. ”

“So that’s it?’ Nicolas asked, his face incredulous. “We throw our instincts and emotions under the bus for appearances? For optics?”

“Don’t be na?ve,” Rick snapped, “this isn’t about emotions. This is about survival. You think the other alphas won’t seize on it if Felix mates a human? Some already think he’s too soft. You want to give them more ammunition?”

“She’s not asking to be mated!” Nicolas threw up his hands. “She’s asking not to be treated like a shadow in her own home. She just wants to be seen . And neither of you seems to understand that ignoring her like this isn’t saving her from emotional fallout, it’s causing it.”

Rick frowned slightly, his weight shifting. He didn’t respond.

Nicolas turned to Felix, his voice harder now. “You think you’re being noble. But you’re just hurting her in slow motion. If this is you protecting her, maybe it’s time to admit that your protection does more damage than your love ever could.”

“It’s not that simple,” Felix said tightly.

“Yes, it is,” Nicolas said. “She’s already in pain.

And so are you. You think I don’t see it?

You’re not eating. You’re snapping at people.

You haven’t smiled in days. You’re in emotional freefall, and Rick here just wants to make sure you don’t start falling with her . But newsflash. You already are.”

Rick’s jaw worked, his arms tightening across his chest. “You think I want this?” he said, quieter now.

“You think I like telling Felix not to be with the one woman who’s made him light up in years ?

I don’t. I hate it. But I know what happens when emotions run unchecked.

I’ve seen what it does to alphas. What it does to packs. We can’t afford that.”

“And I get that,” Nicolas replied. “I do. But you’re not saving him from that future. You’re just trapping him in a different kind of hell. One where he gets to watch the best thing in his life walk away because he was too afraid to hold on to her.”

Rick looked at Felix then. And something shifted in his expression. Just slightly. The hard lines around his mouth loosened. His eyes softened, despite himself.

“You love her?” Rick asked, his voice full of frustration.

Felix didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.

Rick sighed and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Shit.”

“I know,” Felix said.

For a moment, the fire crackled quietly between them.

“So what are you going to do?” Nicolas asked.

Felix shook his head, pacing. “I don’t know. I keep thinking…if I wait long enough, this’ll pass. The feelings. The pull. But it’s only getting worse.”

“Then stop waiting,” Nicolas said. “Talk to her. If it’s over, say that. But if there’s even a chance it’s not…don’t let fear make your decisions for you.”

“I just…” Felix raked a hand through his hair. “I want to do right by her. Not just what I want. What she needs . And I don’t know if that’s me.”

Rick looked like he wanted to argue. But then he saw the look in Felix’s eyes and fell silent.

“You’re a damn fool,” Rick muttered, softer this time, “but I get it.”

Felix gave him a weary smile. “I thought you were incapable of love.”

Rick sniffed, “Just because I’m smart enough not to lose my senses over some girl , doesn’t mean I don’t respect the power it holds.”

Felix opened his mouth to retort, but just as he did, the door slammed open.

Mud. Blood. The wild scent of fear.

Dane stood in the doorway, barely upright. His shirt was torn, his face streaked with blood and grime. Panic radiated from him like heat. “Felix,” he rasped.

And the room froze.

“Felix,” Dane gasped again, stumbling forward.

Felix was already across the room, catching him before he collapsed. Nicolas shut the door behind him, locking it.

Blood-soaked Dane’s shirt, most of it drying, some of it still wet. He smelled of smoke and metal and ash.

“Sit,” Felix commanded, voice low and dangerous. “Are you injured?”

Rick shoved a chair closer, and Dane collapsed into it, clutching at his ribs. “No, Alpha, just winded. This ain’t my blood.”

“Tell me,” Felix demanded.

Dane looked up, face pale beneath the grime. “It was a scouting band. Mostly nomads. Cubs, their mothers. Maybe a couple of lone males. Small. Unarmed. They didn’t stand a chance.”

“How many survivors?” Nicolas asked.

“None. Just…pieces.” Dane’s jaw clenched. “I tracked the scent. Some of it was familiar.”

Felix stilled. “Him?”

Dane nodded once. “Red Teeth.”

Silence crashed into the room.

Rick cursed under his breath, pacing in a tight circle. Nicolas stood rigid, his fists balled at his sides.

Felix closed his eyes for one beat, willing the fury rising in his chest not to take control. When he opened them again, his voice was like ice. “Are you certain?”

“The bite marks. The mutilation. The…the torture . This wasn’t random. It was a warning.”

Rick stopped pacing. “For you?”

“For all of us,” Dane replied, voice hoarse. “But especially you, Alpha. He knows you’re still trying to hold this place together. He’s baiting you.”

Felix exhaled through his nose, the fire in the hearth suddenly too warm.

He had hoped, na?vely, perhaps, that Red Teeth had been killed in some remote forest, buried under rubble, or torn apart by something more monstrous than himself. But monsters rarely died cleanly.

Red Teeth had once been the alpha’s enforcer, the brutal right hand to a mad dictator.

More wolf than man, more ghost than flesh.

A specter of pain and ruin, unleashed upon those who disobeyed or dissented.

Felix remembered the screams. The torn bodies.

The way Red Teeth’s lifeless eyes glinted beneath his mask of bone as he tore through flesh.

“I didn’t believe the first reports,” Felix admitted quietly. “I thought…it had to be someone else. Some rogue trying to mimic him. But if he’s getting close, if it is him—”

“I’ve seen his work before, Alpha,” Dane said. “I’d bet my life on it.”

Felix nodded once. That was enough.

“Then we move,” he said.

Rick stepped forward. “We’ll go with you.”

Felix’s gaze snapped to him. “No.”

“You’re not going out there alone,” Nicolas said firmly, “not against him .”

“I have to,” Felix said. “If we bring the three strongest wolves in the Iron Walker pack into another territory, we’re not investigating anymore. We’re threatening. And if Red Teeth’s hoping to provoke war, the worst thing we can do is give him an excuse.”

“Felix—”

“No.” He looked at Rick, then at Nicolas. “You know I’m right. If I go alone or with one scout, we can frame it as reconnaissance. Diplomacy. But if we all go charging in, it’ll look like retaliation. Like escalation. We can’t afford that.”

Rick ground his teeth. “And if it’s a trap?”

Felix’s voice was calm, but resolute. “Then I deal with it.”

For a moment, no one spoke.

Finally, Nicolas stepped back. “Then take Dane. He knows where it happened. He’s our strongest fighter.”

Dane raised a weak hand in a thumbs-up. “Just gimme a minute and I’ll be good to go, boss.”

Felix nodded. “You have half an hour. Get cleaned up. I’ll need a full report. Coordinates. Every detail you can remember.”

Dane nodded and stood shakily. Felix bit back the guilt at making him go out into the woods again. He stamped it down. Even shaken and exhausted, he was by far their strongest soldier. If Red Teeth truly was out there, if Felix was really going to have to face him, he wanted Dane at his side.

As Rick took Dane out of the room, peppering him with questions, Felix looked back at the fire. He had spent days trying to suppress what burned inside him. His desire for Cassie, the need to feel something human again.

But now? Now all he felt was rage.

Red Teeth had returned. Tested his resolve. He didn’t think such a creature would have any lingering sense of loyalty to the Old Guard. But somehow, he knew it wasn’t loyalty motivating him.

It was the desire for revenge. Pure and simple. And if it were him, he would stop at nothing to get it.