Page 53 of Arranged Wolf's Nanny
The sting of his ribs barely registered. “I don’t give a shit,” he said, rounding on Felix. “Where the fuck is my wife?”
“I’m here,” a small voice came, and he whirled around to see Rosalia hesitating in the doorway, her eyes flicking between the males. Her hair was partially wet, piled high atop her head, and she was wrapped in a bathrobe.
Rick cleared the distance between them in less than a heartbeat.
And stopped, just shy of touching her.
Her eyes widened ever so slightly at his outstretched hands, her cheeks turning ever so slightly pink.
He swallowed, his jaw tightening. “You were injured, are you alright? Do you need anything?”
She smiled, a quick, beautiful, confused thing, and rubbed at her arm. “Still a bit tender, but I’m mostly healed now.”
Rick followed the movement of her hand, his teeth baring. “That absolutefucking bastard—”
“What about you?” she interrupted, her hands hovering over his chest. Not touching. God, he wanted her to touch him. “I mean, you took all three of them on, yourribs—”
“I’m fine,” he said, glancing down. Indeed, the gashes had mostly closed over, and his bones had set. There was some pretty nasty bruising up his naked torso, but he’d had worse. Much worse. At least his pack brothers had had the presence of mind to put some trousers on him.
“What happened?” Felix said, and Rick turned, still having to fight his instincts to push Rosalia behind him.
“It’s my fault,” Rosalia said, stepping out from behind him, her hands folded neatly in front of her, her head bowed. Rick’s eyes stayed trained on Felix as she walked contritely towards him, wary of even the slightest movement from the other male. “I…I ran away. Into the woods. I guess I got too close to the territory line.”
“You were nowhere near the territory line,” Dane growled. “It’s why it took us so long to get to you.”
“Some of the perimeter security feeds picked up the”—Nicolas winced—“the screaming. We dispatched then and there.”
“Not fast enough,” Rick snarled, his fists clenching tight as he stalked forwards to stand behind Rosalia. She didn’tflinch from him. If anything, she stood taller, leaning backwards slightly into him, as if pulled by some invisible force. Rick wasn’t even sure she was aware she had done it.
“Come on, Rick, be reasonable,” Dane said, rubbing the back of his head. “We had no way to predict the Black Claws would be so bold. I mean, why now? Why only three of them?”
“The party,” Rosalia said, her voice quiet, uncertain. “They must have known we were hosting a party. Other packs were invited. Maybe they figured everyone would still be celebrating, or that enough of our enforcers would be drunk that they’d get away with it…” she trailed off, fiddling with her sleeve, looking down at the floor. “Apologies, I…I shouldn’t get involved.”
“No,” said Felix, “it’s a good theory. It explains why there were only three of them. They obviously wanted to get in and out undercover and hoped we’d be too distracted.”
Rosalia sucked in a sharp breath, her hands clasping together.
Something in Rick’s chest twisted.
“Surely they must have known that if we found them, we’d kill them,” said Nicolas, “and what could only three of them hope to achieve?”
“We wouldn’t have found them,” Dane replied, baring his teeth, “not if Rosalia hadn’t been out in the woods. We had a bare-bones patrol out, around the major sites. I think the bastards were trying to run recon.”
“Why was Carter with them?” Nicolas asked. “Surely Raph knew this mission would be dangerous. Why send his only son and heir to the pack?”
“Because Carter’s an arrogant son of a bitch,” Dane said. “Always been desperate to prove himself.”
“Was,” said Rick, his voice eerily calm, “hewasan arrogant son of a bitch.”
Felix looked at him, hard. Rick matched his gaze, not flinching away, not apologizing. Why the fuck should he apologize? Felix seemed to read the steel in his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’ll need a proper debrief on this in the morning. Whatever it is you’re planning against the Black Claws, Rick, it better work. We need to be ready.”
“In the morning, then,” Rick said in that same, quiet, deadly tone. Rosalia shuddered.
Felix strode out, jaw tight, Dane throwing Rick a salute as he followed.
“Looks like you got your war,” Nicolas murmured as he brushed past.
Rick growled, but Nicolas just raised an imperious brow and shut the door. Their footsteps echoed down the hall, and Rick didn’t relax until he heard the front door close.
