Page 58 of Arranged Wolf's Nanny
When they did sleep together, it was better than anything Rosalia could have ever imagined. Sensual and intense, burning and wild.
But then she’d wake up to an empty bed.
She tried not to take it to heart. It was understandable. Rick hardly seemed the type to be careless with his heart or his affection. But still, she found herself craving more.
“I’m surprised Dane survived the experience of Lola giving birth,” Rick murmured into her ear, breaking her from her thoughts, nodding towards the male in question. “He nearly took Nicolas’s eye out at one point.”
Rosalia chuckled. “Well, I heard that Lola promised to grind his balls into glue for one of her book rebindings if he so much as looked her way ever again.”
Rick snorted, the sound so unlike him that Rosalia couldn’t help the smile that pulled at her lips.
It was hard not to be happy. Lola had given birth to a healthy baby girl, and the whole pack had come together to celebrate. Some of their allies as well, members of neighboring packs, some of Nicolas’s New York contacts.
A new birth in a pack was always a time for celebration.
But as she looked around Nicolas’s garden, from a flustered Lola cradling a baby in the center of the room to Dane’s hollering cheers of celebration to the children squealing and laughing and running through people’s legs, she couldn’t help the kernel of anxiety taking root in her gut.
Felix was also on the edge of the gathering, Nicolas at his side, the two talking in hushed tones. Many Iron Walker alphas, enforcers mostly, patrolled the perimeter, looking the very picture of casual celebrants.
But they weren’t. Their eyes were too watchful. Their muscles are too tense. Their eyes tracked every foreign visitor to the gathering, their lips moving. When one turned, Lola saw a tiny wire running behind his ear and disappearing down his shirt.
“All these people,” she said quietly, turning to look at Rick, “they’ve notjustbeen invited for the celebration, right?”
Rick cocked an eyebrow. “Oh?”
Rosalia turned back to Felix, to the tight set of his jaw, “It’s a show of strength.”
“Clever girl,” Rick murmured, pulling her closer against him to speak low tones into her ear, “the Black Claws haven’t declared war, but Felix knows it’s inevitable. I killed their heir. Raph wants blood. We need to show the other pack that not only are we strong, but we also flourish. And should it come to battle, wewillbe victorious.”
“How can you be so sure?” Rosalia asked, turning around. She had known. Of course, she had. While Rick hadn’t said anything directly about it, there was no question at all that something was coming.
Something big.
And word was spreading. Even Katie had heard, writing to ask Rosalia if she was okay, if she was scared of the oncoming storm.
Rick’s smile was savage. “Because I’ve nearly finished certain…preparations. Preparations that will knock the legs out from under the Black Claws before they’ve even had a chance to draw their knives.”
Rosalia swallowed and didn’t say anything more. Rick had been utterly unrepentant about murdering the heir to the Black Claws. She had heard him one night arguing with Felix about it, saying that he should have taken longer. Should have savored it.
Such brutality might have scared her. Instead, it thrilled her.
But still, she worried. The Black Claws didn’t know that it was Rick who had killed Carter. The three bodies of the wolves had been dumped at the border, iron nails driven into their skulls. An ancient battle cry of the Iron Walkers, apparently. And a warning.
She had thought Felix might prefer greater diplomacy. But Cassie had whispered to her one morning in the library that for all his honor, all his decency, Felix was still a wolf at heart. And he did not flinch when doing what needed to be done.
Suddenly, Rick stiffened behind her, a low growl erupting from his chest. Rosalia glanced over to the gate.
Her father and some of his men were striding through, their expression blank.
“I don’t recall them being invited,” Rick hissed, both hands at her hips now, holding her tight.
Rosalia swallowed. “They’re our allies. Of course, they were invited.”
Rick didn’t answer, and Rosalia could almost feel the battle waging inside him. For the first week after the attack, he’d been more than a little protective, especially since she didn’t do anything to stop him.
But neither was he a fool. If he pushed too far, she would push back.
It had, after all, been his own words. Protection when sheneededit.
