Page 52 of Alpha Wolf's Nanny
“You’ve got a storm following you tonight,” Rick said without looking up. “Whole pack’s up in arms.”
Felix stepped inside, closing the door behind him. “You made sure of that.”
Rick’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I made sure they knew the stakes. I didn’t twist your arm.”
“You knew what you were doing, riling them up.”
“Someone had to,” Rick said coolly, “because it sure as hell wasn’t going to be you, lost in the woods over some girl you barely know.”
“I’m notlostanywhere,” Felix snapped, “and she’s not just some girl.”
“Exactly my point.”
Felix paced, the firelight casting his shadow long across the floor. “You think I don’t remember what happened with Sarah? She broke my heart, she hurt my boys, she walked away from us. How could I forget about that?”
Rick’s expression hardened. “Then how the fuck can you eventhinkabout going down that road again?”
“BecauseCassie isn’t Sarah.”
“You don’t know that,” Rick said, slamming his drink down. “She’s human. That’s all I need to know.”
The silence hung between them, thick as the smoke curling from the fire.
Felix stared at him. “This isn’t just about me. Or Sarah. Is it?”
Rick’s lips tightened. But he said nothing.
“Youhatehumans,” Felix said, watching him. “Not just mistrust. Not wariness. Not distance. It’shatred. Why?”
Rick looked away. Then, with a bitter laugh, he stood and walked toward the window, looking out into the dark.
“You want to know why?” he said, voice low. “Fine. Let me paint you a picture.”
He didn’t turn around.
“There’s a pack in Turkey. Mountain wolves. Old, proud bloodline living secluded in the forest. Got exposed after a tourist caught a half-shift on camera. Within a week, their whole village was burned to the ground. The few that survived ended up in cages.”
Felix stood silent, watching Rick’s shoulders tense.
“There’s a tiger clan in Northern India. They used to roam near the border. Gone now. Shot out by paramilitary contractors paid off by mining companies. The bodies were dumped in a ravine.”
His voice grew colder. “In Argentina, a group of university students lured a panther shifter into bed so they could live-stream his shift and sell it to a documentary crew. He was skinned alive.Alive, Felix.”
Felix’s gut twisted. He had heard rumors. Whispers of atrocities. But nothing of this magnitude.
“How have I not heard about this?”
“Because it’s my job to keep it under wraps,” Rick hissed, “becauseyouordered me to pursue peace and the Shifter Accords through any means necessary. If word of this were to get out, shifters all over the world would be demanding blood—don’t try and tell me they wouldn’t. The situation is too unstable. Too flammable. Because it’s not like shifters everywhere are treating humans well, either. Both sides are committing horrendous acts against the other.”
“That’s what we’re trying to stop, Rick. That’s what we’re working towards.”
Rick’s jaw tightened. “Trust me, I want nothing more than peace for our people. I know what I am. What savagery I’m capable of. But I believe we as shifters should be free to live as we are, without the influence of humans. If it were up to me, the two groups would live completely separately.”
“Society tried that once. It didn’t end well.”
“Don’t lecture me about our history,” Rick said, turning now. “Don’t tell me this ends in peace. Because humans don’twant peace. They wantpower. And shifters? We scare them. So they’ll kill us. Slowly. Legally. With politics or with bullets.”
Felix exhaled slowly. “Not all humans are like that.”
