Page 8 of Alpha Wolf’s Nanny (Silvermist Wolves #2)

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 that Nicolas 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. A billion was 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 must really like you!”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Cassie said, heat rising to her cheeks. “I think they like the ideas I’ve given them, that’s it.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” said Daisy with a smile, “take the win!”

“If you say so,” replied Cassie. “I am really enjoying getting to know them!’

The conversation lapsed into an easy discussion about children and the upcoming school production, and how quickly shifter kids outgrew their clothes.

Cassie listened contentedly, laughing at the right moments, taking the opportunity to just breathe and let it wash over her.

She was here, with the pack, and it was going okay. She was doing okay.

“Hey, Daisy?” she asked, leaning over as the conversation moved on to reminiscing about some previous pack gathering. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” Daisy replied with a smile, “fire away.”

Cassie glanced back at the males, chewing the inside of her lip as she considered her words. “Felix, he’s”—she waved her hand, trying to come up with the right way to convey her meaning—“he’s…well, he’s…”

“It’s okay,” said Daisy with a chuckle, “I know how he can be. Friendly as anything one moment, then all scary when he gets down to business.”

“Not scary ,” Cassie said, picking at a fingernail, “just…he’s difficult to read sometimes.”

Daisy shrugged. “He carries a lot of responsibility. I think he wants to be easy-going, but a male in his position doesn’t always have that luxury.

He’s in charge of one of the biggest packs in the country, a pack that has a seat on the world stage when it comes to shifter politics. Of course, it takes its toll.”

“I see,” said Cassie, although she didn’t really. What she did need to do was more research into all these…politics.

“Plus, there are the boys,” Daisy continued. “I mean, I adore them. We all do. But they are a handful, and ever since Sarah left, he’s had to raise them all on his own.”

“Sarah?” Cassie asked.

“His ex-wife. Human. They got married young, while Felix and the New Guard—that’s like the inner circle of the Iron Walkers—were still in the process of overthrowing the Old Guard.

She said she could handle all the shifter stuff, but in the end, I guess she couldn’t.

She left, and I don’t think she’ll ever come back. ”

“That’s awful,” said Cassie softly, thinking of Felix and his insistence that humans and shifters shouldn’t mix. Of course he would think that after something so terrible. And the boys, those lovely boys. Her heart broke for them.

“We all have our baggage,” said Daisy with a deceptively light smile. “And hey, you’re here now to help him out with the boys! And I, for one, will toast to that. Cheers, ladies!”

“Cheers,” Cassie murmured with the others, raising her glass to her lips.

She certainly had more than her fair share of baggage.