Page 24 of Alpha Wolf’s Nanny (Silvermist Wolves #2)

Cassie had finally gotten the boys to settle with their dinner, after plenty of whining about the number of vegetables she was making them eat, when a thunderous knocking on the door disturbed the relative peace and sent Danny and Logan into a frenzy.

“I’ll get it!”

“No, I will, get off!”

“Don’t push me, I want to see who—”

“—my turn to open the door!”

“Boys!” Cassie snapped, standing abruptly. Instantly, they froze, their expression torn between sheepishness and irritation as they turned back to her. “You will both sit back down at the table, understood?”

They exchanged a glance, but ultimately obeyed, shuffling back to climb onto their chairs with narrowed eyes.

“Thank you,” Cassie said, giving them a smile. “Now you carry on eating, and I’ll go and see who it is.”

Predictably, the boys didn’t continue eating as she hurried towards the front door, her heart thudding as the hammering on the door grew louder.

It had just occurred to her that perhaps she shouldn’t open to such a violent pounding, that she should call Felix, but the door swung open, and Nicolas and Rick waited on the other side.

“Nicolas!” Cassie exclaimed. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”

“Sorry to burst in on you like this, Cassie,” Nicolas said, sweeping into the hall, his eyes roving over her before he peered over her head to where the boys were rushing towards him, their dinner well and truly forgotten.

“Uncle Nick!”

“Rick! What are you—”

“—Thea with you—”

“Where’s Dad?”

Nicolas stilled the boys with hands on their shoulders as they barreled into him. “Woah there, one at a time!”

The boys continued their clamoring, their noise ringing in Cassie’s ears, her heart still racing from the sudden intrusion. She glanced at Rick, seeing his nostrils flare as he took in her panicked stance, and she instinctively forced her body to relax.

“As I said,” Nicolas said to her, “sorry to barge in, but…” he glanced down at the boys, wincing slightly at their eager expressions, “but Felix has had to go on some…quite urgent business.”

“Urgent business?” Cassie repeated, her voice raising slightly at the end.

Nicolas nodded slowly, his face grim. “Urgent business. He told me to bring you and the boys back to mine, you can stay with us until…until he’s back.”

Cassie swallowed, pulling the boys into her, one arm around each. “And when will that be?”

Nicolas’ jaw tightened, and he knelt down to address Danny and Logan. “Why don’t you two go and pack a bag, eh? You’re coming for a sleepover at my house. Thea’s very excited to see you!”

By this point, the boys had picked up on the undercurrent between the adults, glancing between them with worried faces and wide eyes. Cassie gave them both what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Go on, do as your Uncle Nick says. I’ll be up to help you in a moment, okay?”

The boys paused before nodding, looking back over their shoulders as they climbed up the stairs, their furious whispering audible even to Cassie as they raced towards their rooms.

Her throat tight with worry, she turned to Nicolas, her hands folding over themselves as she forced herself not to tug on her hair in worry. “Well?”

“He’ll be fine, Cass,” Nicolas said, grasping her shoulder. “Dane’s with him, as are some of the other fighters. It’s more of a recon mission than anything.”

“Felix wants us to stay with you because of a recon mission?” Cassie asked, raising an eyebrow. “Come on, Nicolas, I deserve to know the truth.”

Nicolas’ eyes darted to the stairs, his jaw working as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Rick took that moment to step forward, his chestnut hair artfully styled as ever to look perfectly messy, his eyes cold and calculating.

“Why don’t you help the boys pack, Nicolas, while I help Cassie sort everything else out?

You can go ahead with them, and we’ll follow in my car.

It will give Cassie and I a chance to…to chat. ”

Nicolas looked between them, his jaw working. Finally, he nodded.

Cassie watched Nicolas head up the stairs and let the tension roll off her shoulders in a shaky breath. The boys’ excitement had dimmed as soon as they’d seen their uncle’s face. They weren’t stupid. They could tell when something was off.

She turned to Rick, still standing like some Greek statue. His presence made her skin prickle. Not with fear, not exactly, but a heavy unease that wrapped itself around her ribs.

“I don’t need help packing,” she said stiffly, arms folded tight across her chest.

“I’m not here to pack,” he said simply.

“Then why are you here?”

Rick gave her a look, his usual brand of unreadable, the kind that suggested he knew a hundred things she didn’t. He stepped a little closer, just enough for her to notice the faint scent of leather and cloves that clung to him, sharp and slightly off-putting. “I owe you an apology.”

Cassie blinked. That wasn’t what she expected. Not from him.

“You what?”

“I said I owe you an apology,” he repeated. His tone wasn’t warm, but it wasn’t mocking either. Just…even. Calm in a way that somehow made it harder to trust. “What happened in the woods…that was wrong. I let fear get the better of me. And I took it out on you.”

Cassie stared at him, caught between disbelief and wariness. She tilted her head, arms still crossed. “Because I’m human?”

He didn’t flinch. “Because I thought you were a threat.”

“And now you don’t?”

His gaze dropped for the first time, just briefly. “No. Now I think you’re something else. Still dangerous, maybe. But not the kind I feared.”

Cassie’s heart thudded against her ribs. She wasn’t sure how to take that. She didn’t even know what he meant by it.

“I’m not going to thank you,” she said, voice quiet but firm, “you terrified me that night. I thought you were going to kill me.”

“I know,” Rick said, and for the first time, there was something human in his voice. Not warm, exactly, but weighted. Honest. “You have every right not to trust me. And I won’t pretend I suddenly trust you. But…I regret how I handled things. You didn’t deserve that.”

Cassie didn’t respond. She wasn’t sure she could. Instead, she cleared her throat, glancing up the stairs. “What’s really going on? Is Felix in danger?”

Rick stared at her, his expression unreadable, before his face finally cracked into an unnatural smile. “I doubt it. Old enemies emerging from the shadows. Ancient grudges coming home to roost. It really is just a scouting mission. I doubt they’ll find anything, if I’m honest.”

“That’s…annoyingly vague.”

“You’re not part of the pack,” he replied, his voice silky smooth and deadly, “why would I start spilling pack secrets to you?”

She was just about to reply with something perhaps not very well thought through when the thunder of little feet on the stairs distracted her. A second later, Danny and Logan came barreling around the corner, backpacks bouncing against their backs.

“We’re ready!” Logan announced, puffing out his chest.

Cassie smiled despite herself, crouching down to pull them both in. “Good job. I’ll be right behind you, okay?”

Danny clung to her neck for a second longer than usual. “You promise?”

“I promise. Twenty minutes, tops. Be good for Uncle Nick.”

They nodded, both looking more solemn now as they turned to Nicolas, who had followed them down. “Got your chargers?” he asked, ruffling their hair.

“Yes!”

“Toothbrushes?”

“Yes!”

“Pajamas?”

“Packed!” Danny grinned, clutching his bag.

Cassie stood and walked them to the door, hugging each of them one more time before stepping aside. Nicolas lingered for a moment, catching her gaze, his head tilting imperceptibly towards Rick. “You’ll be okay?”

“I will,” she said with a small smile. “I just need to gather my things.”

From his face, it was obvious that he’d heard the conversation between her and Rick. His face was drawn, guarded. Warning. “Be quick,” he said quietly.

“I will.”

And just like that, they were gone, swallowed up by the night.

Cassie stood alone in the hall, the door still slightly ajar, her heart hammering with unease.

She shut the door with a soft click, the silence that followed pressing in on her like a second skin. The absence of the boys’ chatter, their stomping feet, their laughter…it made the house feel colder.

Rick hadn’t moved.

She turned, folding her arms once more. “I guess I’ll go and pack then, unless you want to tell me any more about what the hell is going on.”

“You haven't been here very long, not really,” he replied, voice calm, though something in his posture, too still, too careful, made her hackles rise. “This sort of thing happens every now and then. Thankfully, it’s rarer with each passing year.”

“But still bad enough that I can’t be alone in the house with the boys?”

Rick inclined his head. “That’s why I’m here. To make sure you’re safe.”

“Safe?” Her laugh was dry, humorless. “Is that what this is? A courtesy patrol? I’m not a pack member, Rick, as you keep reminding me. I’m not your responsibility.”

“You are under the alpha’s protection,” he said, stepping into the lounge, his eyes sweeping the room. “That makes you everyone’s responsibility.”

“Well, if you really want to help, maybe make some tea while I pack.”

She turned on her heel and headed upstairs, not waiting to see if he followed. She heard his footsteps a few seconds later. Quiet, measured. A predator.

In her room, the bed was still unmade from the morning rush, a half-folded pile of laundry sitting on the armchair by the window.

She grabbed her bag from the bottom drawer, laying it on the mattress.

She didn’t hear Rick enter the room so much as she sensed it, her animal instincts rearing up and alerting her to the tiger hiding in the grass.

“I don’t know why you’re really here,” she said, rifling through a drawer for socks, “but if this is some sort of loyalty test or passive-aggressive warning, save it.”

“I’m not here to threaten you, Cassie.”

She paused. It was the first time he’d used her name.

He stood in the doorway, arms crossed but relaxed. His eyes didn’t look like they had in the woods, sharp and full of disdain. There was something tired in them now. Resigned.

“I don’t hate you,” he said. “I did. Or I thought I did. You reminded me of things I don’t like to think about.”

“Like what?”

He didn’t answer immediately. His gaze drifted to the window, out into the forest, now cast in deep green shadow.

“My family has been here a long time. Hundreds of years,” he said, his voice unnervingly even. “We’ve seen the best and the worst of times when it comes to relations with humans. And the worst of times were…well. I suspect you don’t have the pelt of your grandfather folded away in a chest.”

Cassie’s mouth fell open. “You’re not serious?”

His eyes gleamed. “What makes you think I would joke about something like that?”

“But…but…why not bury it? Why keep it? That’s just…macabre.”

“My father wanted to reunite it with the rest of his remains in the family crypt,” Rick said, “but my grandmother refused. Said we needed to keep it as a reminder. A reminder of what humans are capable of. She was a…ferocious woman when she needed to be.”

Cassie swallowed, her throat dry. “That’s horrible.”

He shrugged elegantly. “That’s history.”

She shuddered, imagining the inside of his grand, old house as some sort of gothic Victorian mansion out of a fairytale, full of secret tunnels and dark secrets. It suited him, but it didn’t help her feel at all at ease in his presence.

“I know it’s not fair,” he went on, “you would never do something like that. But sometimes instincts don’t give a shit about fairness.”

Cassie nodded slowly. “Well…I guess we both have our trauma.”

He met her gaze. “I guess we do.”

A beat passed. Then Cassie sighed and moved around the bed to grab a hoodie from the chair.

And that’s when she saw it.

A white envelope, placed carefully on her pillow.

It hadn’t been there this morning. She was sure of it.

Her stomach tightened. “Rick?”

He turned, following her gaze. She crossed the room slowly, picking it up. No name on the front. Just a plain white envelope, sealed.

She opened it.

Inside were photographs.

Dozens of them.

All of her.

And the boys.

Walking through the woods. Sitting on the porch. Laughing at the table. One of her brushing Danny’s hair back from his face. Another of Logan is asleep on her shoulder. Her carrying a basket of laundry down the stairs.

And every single one was marked with a thick red X across their faces.

Cassie’s breath caught. “What the fuck,” she whispered.

Rick was already moving toward her, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the photos. “Where did you get these?”

“I didn’t—they were here . Just now. On my bed.”

Rick grabbed the envelope, flipping it over, sniffing it. His face darkened. “This paper was handled recently. The smell is definitely there, but loaded with anti-scenting chemicals. Someone’s been in this house. Someone who knows we’re shifters.”

Cassie’s skin crawled. She backed toward the door. “We have to call Felix—”

And then the window shattered.

Glass exploded inward with a sharp bang, and something small and metallic clattered against the floor.

Cassie barely had time to scream before a cloud of thick white gas burst out, enveloping the room.

“Get down!” Rick shouted, but the world was already spinning. Her legs gave out beneath her.

Rick tried to reach her, but he was stumbling too, coughing hard, his eyes red and watering.

Cassie’s vision blurred. Her knees hit the floor, then her shoulder.

The last thing she saw before blacking out was Rick’s hand reaching for hers, and the photographs scattered like fallen leaves across the floor.