Page 24 of Arranged Wolf's Nanny
“Do you want to go run in the woods?” Nicolas asked, folding his arms, also hovering close to his mate. “It might do you some good?”
“No,” Rick said, fixing his eyes out the window so he didn’t have to look at any of them with their damned concern. “I want to drink.”
“Is Rosalia okay?” Daisy asked, fiddling with her hands, her bright green eyes wide with concern.
Rick’s jaw clenched, his muscles practically trembling with rage.
“Did you…” Dane asked, trailing off as he exchanged an anxious glance with Nicolas. “I mean, have you and Rosalia…”
Rick turned to him with a snarl. “What? No! Of course we fucking haven’t! What the hell do you take me for?”
“Rick,” Felix hissed, “the kids are next door, watch the language!”
“My apologies,” Rick bit out, baring his teeth at Dane. “No, I haven’t touched her. You know as well as I do that she wants no part of this, whatever she might say.”
Felix looked down, anger flashing over his face. “I gave her every opportunity to withdraw.”
“It’s not your fault, Felix,” Lola said, sipping her tea, “it’s her father’s. The Green Mountain Pack is practically the textbook example of toxic top-down leadership coupled with mid-century integration of humanistic gender ideals.”
Dane coughed. “In English, that means John’s an asshole.”
Lola sniffed, “Well, quite.”
“I won’t force myself on her, no matter what her father wants,” Rick snapped. “She’s terrified enough as it is without having to worry about any damnedmarital duties.”
Nicolas shifted. “I hate to ask, but I know you too well, Rick. Is this some sort of ploy to get the marriage annulled?”
Rick’s eye twitched, “I won’t insult you by pretending I hadn’t considered it. But no. I said I would marry her,bemarried to her, and I won’t break my word.”
An image of Rosalia flashed before his eyes, half-naked and near hysterical with fear at what his refusal of her might mean. And, to his immense surprise, he found himself entirely unwilling to expose her to her father’s wrath if it was within his power to keep her safe.
He suppressed a growl. It was his wolf responding to a female in distress. Nothing more.
And yet something inside him wrenched at the fact that the first time she had dropped her carefully polished walls around him, it was due to sheer terror. Perhaps it was merely his bruised ego.
Or perhaps…
No. No, he was tired and angry and in no place whatsoever to be thinking about the girl. His ire at his predicament, hisrage, was purely aimed at John Heath. The girl was merely incidental.
“She’s actually very lovely, underneath all the…” Daisy waved her hand in front of her face. “Refinement? Is that what we’d call it?”
“Whatever it is,” Dane said with a sly smirk towards Rick, “awfully familiar, don’t ya think?”
Rick’s answering snarl ripped through the air.
“Leave him alone,” Lola said, tugging her mate’s wrist. “Tonight isnotthe night to goad him. I don’t want to have to scrape you off the floor if he decides to go for you.”
Dane snorted. “As if he’d win.”
“Want to find out?” Rick asked, his voice dangerously soft.
Dane shuddered. “On second thought, perhaps not.”
Rick scowled, secretly disappointed. Dane was one of the only males he could trust himself to actually spar with, secure in the knowledge that no matter how wild they let themselves be, both would walk away with minimal damage.
Nicolas seemed to sense his encroaching desire for violence, and he pushed off the countertop. “Come on, I knowyou said you want to drink, but you’ll feel a hell of a lot better if we run the woods.”
Rick looked at him for a moment, his jaw working, before biting out, “Fine.”
