Page 62 of Alpha Wolf's Nanny
“And now you don’t?”
His gaze dropped for the first time, just briefly. “No. Now I think you’re something else. Still dangerous, maybe. But not the kind I feared.”
Cassie’s heart thudded against her ribs. She wasn’t sure how to take that. She didn’t even know what he meant by it.
“I’m not going to thank you,” she said, voice quiet but firm, “you terrified me that night. I thought you were going to kill me.”
“I know,” Rick said, and for the first time, there was something human in his voice. Not warm, exactly, but weighted. Honest. “You have every right not to trust me. And I won’t pretend I suddenly trust you. But…I regret how I handled things. You didn’t deserve that.”
Cassie didn’t respond. She wasn’t sure she could. Instead, she cleared her throat, glancing up the stairs. “What’s really going on? Is Felix in danger?”
Rick stared at her, his expression unreadable, before his face finally cracked into an unnatural smile. “I doubt it. Old enemies emerging from the shadows. Ancient grudges coming home to roost. It really is just a scouting mission. I doubt they’ll find anything, if I’m honest.”
“That’s…annoyingly vague.”
“You’re not part of the pack,” he replied, his voice silky smooth and deadly, “why would I start spilling pack secrets to you?”
She was just about to reply with something perhaps not very well thought through when the thunder of little feet on the stairs distracted her. A second later, Danny and Logan came barreling around the corner, backpacks bouncing against their backs.
“We’re ready!” Logan announced, puffing out his chest.
Cassie smiled despite herself, crouching down to pull them both in. “Good job. I’ll be right behind you, okay?”
Danny clung to her neck for a second longer than usual. “You promise?”
“I promise. Twenty minutes, tops. Be good for Uncle Nick.”
They nodded, both looking more solemn now as they turned to Nicolas, who had followed them down. “Got your chargers?” he asked, ruffling their hair.
“Yes!”
“Toothbrushes?”
“Yes!”
“Pajamas?”
“Packed!” Danny grinned, clutching his bag.
Cassie stood and walked them to the door, hugging each of them one more time before stepping aside. Nicolas lingered for a moment, catching her gaze, his head tilting imperceptibly towards Rick. “You’ll be okay?”
“I will,” she said with a small smile. “I just need to gather my things.”
From his face, it was obvious that he’d heard the conversation between her and Rick. His face was drawn, guarded. Warning. “Be quick,” he said quietly.
“I will.”
And just like that, they were gone, swallowed up by the night.
Cassie stood alone in the hall, the door still slightly ajar, her heart hammering with unease.
She shut the door with a soft click, the silence that followed pressing in on her like a second skin. The absence ofthe boys’ chatter, their stomping feet, their laughter…it made the house feel colder.
Rick hadn’t moved.
She turned, folding her arms once more. “I guess I’ll go and pack then, unless you want to tell me any more about what the hell is going on.”
“You haven't been here very long, not really,” he replied, voice calm, though something in his posture, too still, too careful, made her hackles rise. “This sort of thing happens every now and then. Thankfully, it’s rarer with each passing year.”
