Page 52 of Nanny for the Wolf Daddy

“Nox …” she whispered into the night.

Was this truly the way things were going to end? After everything they had been through with Violet, with Archie, and with the sick and mangy wolves? Was their fate going to be determined by her making the mistake of running through the cave toward the back rather than beyond it?

Her heart spasmed at the thought of not only dying but of losing Nox entirely. His life would be forever changed without her, and her soul wouldn’t move on without him. Even if she could haunt him, it would never be enough.

Her thoughts were dark and sinister as her brain screamed at her body to move, to do anything, and to go forward. The plummeting temperature turned the rain into ice hurtling from the angry sky above, landing in her mouth and flicking against her injured foot.

Lightning coiled across the sky, thunder cracking immediately. It would have been a beautiful sight if she was sitting in a window nook, cradled by her beloved, drinking wine or whiskey or whatever the fuck they were able to find.

Kelli rolled over onto her stomach, trying to crawl out of the ravine. Her foot throbbed with searing pain, and she was sure she had sprained or maybe even broken something in it.

“Fuck,” she whimpered, trying to pull herself through the shallow water.

He couldn’t find her that way. She would likely end up like those wolves they had killed, her body decomposing into the earth in a hopeless, last-ditch effort, reaching for life. He would never love again, and he would never find a mate again. He might even lose his connection to Violet, which was even more heartbreaking.

As she moved on her forearms, through the smacking of rain and gusts of wind, Kelli heard movement in the dense trees beyond. She froze, her body trembling with both terror and agony.

She wanted to call out because maybe it was Nox who would move heaven and earth to find her. But it also could be one of the sick wolves who had escaped the battle, coming to do Archie’s final bidding.

So she remained still, the freezing cold of the ravine blasting into her bones and making her numb, her resolve to survive fading.

Kelli squeezed her eyes closed when she heard the sounds in the forest again. She prayed for a quick death, one that wouldn’t haunt Nox and Violet too much.

“Nox …” she whispered instinctively.

The rustling sounds gave way to the scampering of a wolf bounding down the steep embankment that she had just tumbled down. She kept her eyes shut, waiting for the sweet embrace of death, hoping that the wolf’s teeth were sharp enough to cut through her like butter.

But after hearing the splash of heavy weight into the water, nothing happened. Still shaking and terrified, Kelli slowly turned her head, ready to face the dead eyes of a shifter possessed.

Instead, she came face-to-face with her mate’s near doppelgänger.

“Hello,” Nevel said. “I’m sorry we had to meet like this.”

Kelli’s chin quivered, and she began to laugh hysterically with relief. He looked almost identical to his brother, albeit a bit shorter, but with the same look of compassion in his eyes and the dazzling shade that ripped through the darkness of her soul.

“You came,” she muttered.

Nevel stood in the moonlight, a stunning sight for even the woman distracted by the thick pulsing of pain in her foot. He knelt and scooped Kelli out of the ravine, taking care not to jostle her foot, then carried her underneath the protection of the forest beyond.

He propped her up next to a tree that she could lean on while her other arm stayed wrapped around his neck.

“I had to do my brother a favor,” Nevel gently said. “You both put so much work into saving us and taking care of Violet. And for that, Elise and I are eternally grateful.”

Kelli nodded, continuing to shiver in the dark. Nevel looked down at her foot, which was twisted in an unnatural and unseemly direction.

“Are you hurt?” he asked softly. Nevel crouched, and the fact that he was naked never crossed Kelli’s mind. She was too hungry, cold, and injured to care about her brother-in-law’s parts flapping in the wind.

“I fell … down the hill,” she said, shaking.

Nevel noticed her trembling chin, then used his hands to rub her shoulders. She knew that shifters could create heat, but she still managed to feel surprised by how quickly he warmed her.

“That will do for now,” he said. “Let’s get you back to your mate.”

He took a step back into the shadows and shifted into his wolf form. Even though Kelli had seen Nox in his wolf form, she had never seen him change in front of her. The sight of the gray sprouting fur, the elongating of the jaw, and the snapping of bones and limbs was an uncanny sight and sound she wasn’t soon to forget.

When he had finished, he came to her side, lowering his body for her to climb on his back. It was difficult with an injured foot, but Nevel did his best to accommodate her, using his snout to help her shimmy into place.

She rested on his back with extreme exhaustion, then wrapped her hands into Nevel’s fur. It was as warm and cozy as resting near a fireplace on a winter night.

---