Page 1 of Rejected Nanny Mate
Chapter 1 - Joe
It had been a long time coming. Really, I should have been expecting something similar, considering how much I'd slept around over the past few years. I just thought I'd gotten lucky and that my past sins would never catch up with me.
I'd tried to do better lately, taking a break from women and trying to keep my pack right. I'd seen two of the other Alphas that I was in alliance with find their mates and settle down, and it'd surprised me how much I wanted the same...eventually. So, I tried to make the necessary changes, but it was slow going.
And like everything else in life, the way I treated all those women was going to come back to haunt me. Somehow, I was still shocked.
Like most Alphas, I have a decent security system around my house. When you're one-third of one of the strongest alliances in the country, there is always the potential for trouble. Unfortunately, I found out that there were some magics that my security cameras just couldn't keep up with, and when my doorbell rang at 11:13 pm, there had been zero alerts to give me an idea of who was visiting so late.
It put me on edge, especially when I pulled up the camera feed on my phone and saw that there was no one actually at the door. Instead, there was a decent-sized wicker basket, covered with a sky-blue blanket. My initial reaction was amusement, and I was convinced this was the beginning of a stupid prank, so I opened the front door and peered down at the basket.
“What the fuck?” I muttered, stepping outside and closing the door behind me.
I sensed her immediately—not whoever had dropped the basket off, but the small life inside of it. The child was a wolf;that much was immediately certain, but more than that, she smelled like... like me.
Without a second thought, I yanked the blanket away and stared down at what was within, shock rolling through me so fast that it left me reeling.
My hands started to shake, and my heart raced.
For a few seconds, I just stood there, staring down at the little bundle before me.
Then, finally, my brain seemed to kick back on. I was quick to pull the baby into my arms, cradling it protectively as I took a few steps backward. I looked around, but there was no one, and if the drop-off had been some sort of trick to get me outside and vulnerable, I was playing right into their hands. Shaken, I stepped back inside the house and slammed the door, throwing the lock closed.
With trembling hands, I peeled the blanket back further, staring at the small creature.
Her skin was a soft tan color, her head round and her cheeks chubby, her little nose slightly upturned. I could see brown curly hair covering her skull, but I could also tell it would turn dark. I searched her features slowly, desperately hoping to find a hint of her mother's features on her face, but came up blank. She looked so much like me, and while it was no surprise that my genes were dominant, it left me grasping at straws.
Who the hell was her mother, and why would she have just abandoned her here with me?
No... not abandoned. Not really. If she were mine, then she belonged here just as much as I did.
Slowly, I settled onto the couch, cradling her as if it were the most normal and natural thing in the world. I'd been arounda fair number of babies, but never one as precious to me as this one. She was barely awake, her eyes heavy, but they were fixed on me, as green as the grass on an early summer day. The way mine had looked when I was younger. I racked my brain, trying to think of the women that I'd slept with in the right time frame to be her mother, but kept coming up short.
I don't even know how old she is,I thought, sick and ashamed. What had happened to the poor she-wolf that had given birth to this child? How desperate must she have been to leave her? To trust me with her, when I was so irresponsible and had been such a fool.
I felt a surge of protectiveness wash over me, and I gently kissed the baby's head. She smelled like powder. “Don't worry,” I murmured softly. “Daddy's got you.”
But did I? I already knew I'd be able to protect her against anything that might come our way, but that wasn't enough. A baby as young as my new daughter needed all sorts of things I was totally unfamiliar with, and I felt a yawning panic start to open up at my feet.
I adjusted the blanket, pulling it tighter around her, when I saw a small white tag sewn into the edge of it. It read “Rose”. No last name, of course, which would have made it way easier to find her mother, but I'd take what I could get for the moment.
“Alright, Rose,” I said, digging my phone out of my pocket. “I think it's time to call for backup.”
***
Samson was pissed about being woken up so late, but Scott had already been up with a heavily pregnant Nayeli, who had apparently been suffering from a sudden craving for ice cream. Thankfully, both took my calls, sleep, pregnant mates,and all. Both had been even more suspicious when I asked to talk to their mates and not them, but I'd earned their trust enough that they handed the phones over without too much of a problem.
An hour and a half later, two vehicles rolled into my driveway, and four wolves rushed to the doorway.
Kiera won the race and didn't even bother knocking. She was inside before I even had a chance to open the door. “Let me see her.”
“She's asleep,” I whispered, glancing down at the bundle in my arms. Rose had been fussy, but eventually settled. “But here. Take her and tell me that she's real, because I'm still not sure if I'm dreaming or not.”
Kiera took her easily and cradled her against her chest. Rose was so small, her tiny little face almost entirely covered by the large blanket she was wrapped in. “I don't think this is a dream.”
“It's definitely not,” Nayeli agreed, appearing at Kiera's elbow and leaning in to stare down at the baby. Her belly was round with her and Scott's pup, and she looked misty-eyed as she examined Rose's face.
“Why do you have a baby?” Samson demanded.
