Page 28 of Alpha Wolf's Nanny
“—and she told us all about Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, they’rebearsand they—”
“No, Perseus is best, he beat Medusa and he—”
“No, the bears are better ‘cause they’re named after shifters and—”
“Ooh, did you know thatCassieis named after a constellation?”
“I did know that,” Felix said with a wry grin as his boys demolished their desserts while he enjoyed a coffee. “Cassiopeia, right?”
“Cassiopeia was a queen in ancient Greece,” Danny continued as if Felix hadn’t spoken at all. “The gods trapped her in the stars ‘cause she boasted about how beautiful her daughter was. But I don’t think Cassie’s like that.”
“No,” Logan agreed, his nose wrinkling, “she’s more like…like…like Perseus!”
“Perseus?” Felix asked, his eyebrows raising, a shocked laugh escaping him.
“Yeah, Perseus, ‘cause she takes us on loads of cool adventures!”
“I think she’s more like, um…Andy-roma.”
“Andromeda?” Felix supplied.
Danny clapped his hands together. “Yeah, Andromeda! She marries Perseus. She’s the beautiful daughter. She got chained to a rock.”
“I’m not sure Cassie’s ever been chained to a rock before,” said Felix, his mind instantly flooding with images that were far from appropriate or respectful.
No rocks, though, just his bed. And he probably wouldn’t use chains, but he did have some rope in the shed—
“It doesn’t matter if Cassie gets tied to a rock anyhow, ‘cause we taught her how to pick locks,” announced Logan.
“You did what?” Felix asked, slightly flustered, his attention snapping back to his sons.
“Yeah, Uncle Dane taught us how, so we taught Cassie. It’s super useful to know how to pick locks. That’s what Uncle Dane says.”
“I bet it is,” Felix said through gritted teeth, resolving to have a little chat with Dane the next time he saw him. God knew the boys got into enough trouble without Dane teaching them even more methods of mischief. Felix made a promise to himself then and there that if Dane ever had a kid, Felix would go out of his way to corrupt the little beast with all manner of tricks and swear words and chaos. Give Dane a taste of his own medicine.
“So you both like Cassie, then?” Felix asked, interrupting their bickering about the best kinds of locks to unpick.
“Yeah!”
“Obviously!”
“She’s the best, she makes pancakes with chocolate chips and she tells us about dinosaurs and she—”
“—she does this thing where we’ll run and hide and then she tracks us down and then she’ll hide and—”
“—she helped us against Thea and we won three battles and now the Shadow Fangs might be joining the Stone Crows again and—”
“She’s great!” Logan finished with a cheeky grin.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Felix said. “Now go on, finish your ice cream, we’ve got to get to the Pine Shadow Club.”
As the boys wolfed down the rest of their food, Felix sat back, his hands clenching. Of course the boys loved Cassie. What wasn’t there to fucking love? She was completely brilliant with them. It had only been a month, and still Felix couldn’t remember how he had coped without her.
And yet, every day was nothing but torture. She was there, she was right there, and he couldn’t do anything about it. He’d told her he’d keep things professional, and he couldn’t even keep his hands to himself. Here he was, a grown man out to dinner, and he couldn’t stop fantasizing about her.
The boys practically launched out of their chairs as soon as their bowls were scraped clean, and Felix shook his head with a low laugh, gathering the plates and tossing a few bills down on the table for the waitress. He downed the rest of his coffee, letting the bitterness settle into his chest like a shield.
He needed it.
