Page 9 of Alpha Wolf’s Nanny (Silvermist Wolves #2)

“So…Cassie…” Nicolas began, his voice carefully neutral. He didn’t need to say anything else; Felix could read him like a book, and right now his sharp eyes were boring holes into Felix. Felix fought down a growl. Nicolas might be his best friend, but Felix was the alpha.

“I know you think my offering her the job was a bad call,” said Felix, “but she’s been amazing with the boys. We’re keeping it professional. What happened the other night doesn’t mean anything.”

“Professional?” Dane asked, sipping his beer. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”

Felix glared at him. “Are you implying something?”

Dane’s eyebrows waggled. “Just that there ain’t much professional about how you’re lookin’ at her.”

Nicolas moved between them before Felix could snarl a reply, shoving Dane’s shoulder. “Go on, fuck off and let me talk to him.”

Dane gave a mock-dramatic sigh. “You ain’t the boss of me, Accardi.”

“Perhaps not, but I will put you on your ass if you push me.”

“In your dreams, pretty boy.”

Nicolas gave him another, albeit slightly friendlier, shove. “I’m serious. Go track down the kids. Ever since Thea went to war with Danny and Logan, they’ve all been getting far too many reckless ideas.”

“Where d’ya think they get the inspiration?” Dane chuckled before giving Felix a small salute and wandering towards the trees at the bottom of the garden, where the far-off calls of their playing children echoed from deeper beneath the canopy.

The two men stood silent awhile, Felix waiting for Nicolas to say his piece, and Nicolas no doubt trying to find a way to say it that wouldn’t result in a black eye. The corner of his mouth quirked, a small divot forming between his eyebrows, as it always did when he had a problem to solve.

Felix groaned. “Just spit it out!”

“Look,” Nicolas said, “you know I trust your judgment better than anybody else’s. You’ve led us through thick and thin, and your instincts have never been off before. Except with…”

“With Sarah,” Felix bit out, the irritation already tightening his jaw, “you don’t need to remind me.”

“Don’t I?” Nicolas asked, folding his arms. “You never really talk about her. I mean, I get it, what she did was unforgivable, and you’re allowed to be angry—”

“Of course I’m fucking angry,” Felix whirled on his friend, muscles bunching. “Every time one of my boys is upset, every holiday when they look at the front door with hope, every birthday when there isn’t so much as a fucking card —”

“I know, Felix,” Nicolas said, raising his hands placatingly, “trust me, we were all there, we all saw her do it. She swore to you up and down when you got married that she would stick with you even through the shifter stuff, and when she turned tail and ran, I wanted to hunt her down and shake her and remind her that she made a promise to you. To all of us. And she broke it. And you—”

“Had a fucking meltdown,” Felix finished, his tone biting, his fists clenched.

But when he saw only care in his friend’s face, he breathed out, trying to release some of the tension.

Nicolas wasn’t his enemy. He was only trying to help.

“I know I was a mess, okay? And I know I never should have put Sarah in that position to begin with. Everyone knows shifter-human relationships are doomed. But I thought…ah, I don’t know. ”

“You thought you could make it work,” Nicolas finished for him, clapping him on the shoulder. “In all fairness, if anyone could, Felix, it would have been you. It wasn’t your fault that she wasn’t who she said she was.”

Felix laughed bitterly. A note. That was all she had left. A note.

I can’t do this anymore. It’s too difficult. I’m sorry. Our boys will be better off with you. With the shifters. Take care, Felix.

She hadn't even said goodbye to them. Not a word to Logan or Danny. Just vanished overnight like none of it, the wedding, the promises, the birth of their sons, had ever mattered.

Felix gritted his teeth.

He didn’t like talking about her. It was easier to just bury it. Because that’s what alphas did. They moved forward. They looked after their pack because that was their job. His job.

But today, something about the presence of Cassie, her warmth, her easy laughter with his sons, her wide eyes scanning every corner of the gathered pack like she wanted to belong but was holding herself back, had cracked something open.

He didn’t want to talk about Sarah.

But here he was, with Nicolas, dragging the bones of his past out into the sun.

“I thought I was doing the right thing,” he said finally, voice quieter now, “with Sarah. Thought if I showed her what it meant to be part of a pack, she’d fall in love with it like I did. I thought she’d love my boys enough to fight for them.”

“She wasn’t built for it,” Nicolas replied. “That’s not your failure. It’s hers.”

Felix nodded once, roughly. His jaw still ached from clenching. “Yeah. But I won’t make that mistake again.’

“Is that why you’re pushing Cassie away?”

Felix didn’t answer.

Nicolas’s brow rose. “You think I didn’t notice? You’ve been watching her like a hawk since she arrived. You’re hyperaware of where she is. You stepped in front of Rick like you thought he might eat her for dinner.”

“He might have,” Felix grumbled. Nicolas didn’t waver.

“You told me this was professional. But the way you look at her? That’s not professional. That’s your wolf laying a claim.”

Felix didn’t respond right away. He couldn’t. Because part of him wanted to deny it, deny the possessive curl in his gut when he saw other people talk to her, deny the way his wolf stirred every time she entered a room, but it would be a lie.

And he couldn’t lie to Nicolas even if he wanted to.

“She’s not pack,” he said finally. “She’s not one of us. And I won’t trap another woman in this world when she doesn’t know what she’s signing up for.”

“You think she doesn’t see it?” Nicolas asked. “She’s great with the boys in all of their chaos. She’s chatting away with Daisy like they’re old friends. She’s here , Felix, and she’s willing to learn. Just because Sarah couldn’t do that, it doesn’t mean—”

“It’s not the same,” Felix responded, fist clenching around his beer bottle. “She’s a human. More often than not, it goes wrong, and I have bigger shit to deal with than—”

“Felix, you’re allowed to want things,” Nicolas interrupted. “You’re allowed to hope again. You’ve punished yourself long enough.”

Across the lawn, Cassie laughed at something Daisy said, tipping her head back. Sunlight caught in the strands of her hair, and Felix felt his breath catch. She looked at ease now. Relaxed. Like she belonged.

But she didn’t. Not really.

He couldn’t let himself forget that.

“I made one mistake,” he said. “That’s enough.”

Nicolas didn’t argue, but his silence was heavy.

“I assume,” came a silky voice from behind them, “from the frosty attitude that you’ve been talking about your new nanny, Felix.”

“Leave it alone, Rick,” said Felix, “it’s a job.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to question you,” said Rick. “From the sounds of things, we’re in agreement, anyway.’

Nicolas rolled his eyes and opened a round of fresh beers, handing them around. “Should we change the subject, maybe?”

Felix sighed, turning to Rick. “How’s your daughter? I haven’t had the chance to say hello to her yet.”

“She’s well,” said Rick, inclining his head. “She’s flying back to school tomorrow evening. She’s showing remarkable promise in her lessons.”

“Where is she? It’d be nice to see a Reinhardt who knows how to smile.”

“I know how to smile,” Rick replied, his lips parting and curling upwards.

Felix tried not to shudder. He looked more like a tiger, baring his teeth.

Rick raised his head, sniffing the air once, then twice.

“She’s in the woods with your sons,” he said with a definite air of displeasure. “I told her to stay out of the woods.”

“She’s only six, Rick. She wants to play. Dane’s out with them, she’ll be fine.”

Rick hummed, eyes narrowing. “She’s a Reinhardt. My heir. That comes with certain…expectations.”

Felix and Nicolas exchanged a look. Neither one of them had ever really gotten used to the world Rick lived in.

Nicolas was wealthy, sure, and Felix commanded respect as alpha, but Rick’s influence ran deep.

His bloodline was old, one of the oldest from Europe, and rumor had it his family had ties to the highest levels of government and monarchy worldwide.

It made him excellent at his job, but also somewhat alien to the rest of the pack.

“Do you have to send her all the way to England for school?” Nick asked, his voice carefully neutral. “She’s still so young.”

Rick scowled. “I was younger when I was sent.”

Of course. God forbid the famous ancient house of Reinhardt actually show a speck of emotion towards their children.

He’d tried broaching the subject more than once with Rick and had always been iced out.

Still, he had hope that eventually they’d be able to talk him around to actually letting Eva grow up in Silvermist with the pack.

Sending her so far away from everything she knew seemed cruel to Felix.

“I’m gonna go say hi to the little tyke,” he said, “and check that my boys haven’t destroyed anything of yours that I’d have to pay to replace, Rick. Or that Dane hasn’t destroyed anything, now that I think about it.”

“If you see Evangeline, tell her it’s time to come inside now,” said Rick.

Felix waved a hand in assent, leaving Nicolas and Rick to drink their beers. Truth be told, he wanted a break from Nicolas’s piercing stare. He wasn’t entirely sure he’d convinced his friend to drop the topic of Cassie for good, and the knowing stare was beginning to make his skin feel itchy.

He glanced over to where Cassie had been sitting, and a jolt of panic ran through him at her empty chair. Daisy was gone, too. It only took one sniff of the air, however, to realize they were in the woods with Dane and the kids.