Page 51 of Alpha Wolf's Nanny
“Alpha,” one young male stepped forward, his gaze downcast, his expression carefully neutral.
“Speak,” Felix said, turning to him.
The alpha shuffled, glancing back at his friends, before heaving in a fortifying breath. “You let the human live.”
“I did,” Felix said, “what of it?”
The male, whom he now recognized as being called Harry, swallowed, his scent spiking with anxiety, and Felix sighed.
“You are free to speak your mind.”
Glancing up, Harry’s face held nothing but respect. But still, beneath it, Felix could see the confusion. The disagreement.
“We have our laws for a reason, Alpha,” Harry said carefully. “Just because a human might be…close to you—”
Felix snarled, the sound echoing through the room, the wolves wincing away from him in fear.
“Is that what you think? That I let her live because she happens to be my…my nanny?”
“Would you have let a stranger live?” Harry asked, a moment of pure bravery.
Felix opened his mouth, but found he had no response. Would he have shown a stranger mercy? A human had not entered Pine Shadow Grove since he took leadership. Alphas' past had indeed killed humans on sight, but he had never had to be the executioner.
Keep the pack safe.
“A well-meaning stranger, stumbling into things they don’t understand? Of course, I would have let them live.”
Harry exchanged another glance with some of his friends. Felix looked them over. Young alphas, all of them, no doubt keen to make their mark in the pack. Still, a young alpha knew not to questiontheAlpha unless they had a damn good reason. Felix owed it to them to hear them out. He knew that. It didn’t stop his blood from boiling in rage.
“Maybe that’s the problem,” Harry said. “The humans don’t understand. They’veforgotten.”
Felix’s jaw worked. “How old are you, boy?”
Harry bristled. “I’m nineteen.”
Felix’s eyes narrowed. “Nineteen. So tell me, Harry, what exactly haveyouseen of what humans have forgotten?”
Harry didn’t answer.
“Exactly,” Felix growled, “you know what your elders have told you. What you’ve read in curated pack histories. You get to exist, safe from harm, because those who came before you made it that way. We still fight every day to ensure that both humans and shifters can live safely and freely. That comes with compromise. To blindly hate humans, to insist on violence, is the response of a child.”
Felix swept his gaze around the room. “Ihaveseen what humans can do. I’ve seen the impact of their hatred. And I know better than anyone that fear makes monsters out of men. But if we give in to that fear, if we react to ignorance with blood, we lose the right to call ourselves protectors.”
A hush fell.
“Cassie made a mistake,” Felix continued, voice lowering. “She should not have been there. And yes, she’s human. But Isaw no malice in her. No threat. Just a frightened girl stumbling into something she didn’t understand.”
He paused.
“If I had killed her, what lesson would that teach the pack? That mercy is weakness? That fear should govern us?”
The wolves didn’t answer. But the tension in the room shifted. Muted. Muddled. Not resolved, but quieter. For now.
“I spoke yesterday. And I meant what I said,” Felix growled. “We will not hide. We will not be ashamed. But we willnotgive in to baseless violence. If anybody has an issue with that, anyone wants to challenge me for what I did, you know where to find me.”
No one moved.
Felix didn’t wait. He left the main room and stalked down the hall to the private office upstairs reserved for the senior ranking members of the pack. Sure enough, he found Rick in a leather armchair by the fireplace, sipping something dark from a tumbler, booted feet resting on a footstool like he didn’t have a care in the world.
