The Alpha's Nanny

She turned toward him. Did she feel the same? Did she want him? He wanted her so badly, he could fucking taste it.

“What’s her name?”

“What?”

“Your baby. What’s her name? I don’t know what to call her and I don’t want to make up some random name. I didn’t think you’d appreciate it.”

“You want me to name my kid for you?”

“No, for you and your mate. Isn’t that how it goes? Every person deserves a name.”

He watched her.

“If you don’t want to tell me that’s fine,” she said.

“It’s Daphne,” he said. He didn’t have a fucking clue why that name sprang into his head.

“Daphne, I like it,” she said.

She stepped close and he tensed as she reached out, touching the girl’s face. “Hello, Daphne. I’m going to take good care of you.”

He wanted her hands on his body.

She spun on her heel and left. He stopped himself from looking at her tempting ass. Nothing ever came from allowing him to crave something he could never have.

“You’re a pain in my ass already, you know that,” he said. Daphne, he’d have to remember the name.

“I could have just killed you. It would have made all of this easy.” The woman he’d stumbled upon giving birth. It looked like she’d been shot by her own people. She’d begged him to take care of her baby. She was bleeding out from between her thighs and the bullet wounds in her chest and thigh.

He’d warned her of what he was.

“I don’t care. You’re only a monster when you choose to be. Please, she’s innocent. Love her like your own.”

Seconds after he held this little girl in his arms, her mother had died.

He didn’t know how long she’d suffered, especially from the wounds and the bleeding, but she’d finally looked at peace.

Now he had a kid, a human, and one big future problem he didn’t want to think about. It only gave him a headache and he was all over having those.

Rubbing at his temples, he tried not to think. This was going to be hard.

He walked down the hall, slowly, quietly. Daphne was already falling asleep on his chest. Again, it amazed him how something so innocent and precious could trust him like this.

He’d take care of her, he’d promised. His pack wouldn’t expect him to care like this. They only wanted a fearless leader, and that was what they got.

Winter hummed as she ironed, her back to him. He watched her.

The long blonde locks were no longer dirty. She’d taken a couple of baths since she got here and the vanilla scent still surrounded her. The shirt she wore hid the curves he wanted to touch.

As if she sensed him, she turned to face him. “Is everything okay?”

“I believe she relaxes when she’s near you.” His wolf also liked being in the same room as her. Just by being close to her, he felt … better. He didn’t know how to describe what his body did, but he felt connected to her.

She smiled. “She’s a wonderful little girl. I am sorry about your mate. It must be so hard for you.”

“She wasn’t my true mate.” The words spilled from his lips before he could stop them.

“Oh, I thought mates were for life in the wolf world.”

“Most of the time they are. This wasn’t the case.” He didn’t like lying to her. “Do you have a mate?”

“Nope.”

“Not one?”

She shook her head.

“I find that hard to believe.”

“It’s not hard to believe,” she said with a laugh. “They couldn’t stand me. I wanted to leave and not stay and fight. It’s not acceptable to them.” She sighed. “Besides, to them, I was too fat. To be any use to them, they’d need me to lose weight and I’m not changing who I am to satisfy men I don’t love.”

“Too fat?”

She smirked. “Come on, don’t tell me you don’t think I’m overweight.”

“No, I think your curves are sexy.”

“Oh,” she said.

He’d already said too much. This woman didn’t have any power over him, and he wouldn’t let it start now.

Her cheeks were a pretty shade of red. “Thank you. Describing me as sexy is really sweet. No one would ever say that about me.”

“Don’t think it will save you.”

“I won’t.”

“Good.”

“Are you used to threatening people?” she asked.

“Only those who get in my way.”

Daphne had fallen asleep at this point.

“If you don’t believe in violence and there’s no man in your life, what was it you did for fun?”

“When you found me, I was locked in a cage, a jail. If I was lucky, I got a book thrown at me.”

“Away from the fighting and pain, what were you like?”

“Are you trying to get to know me?”

“I need to know if I have to kill you,” he said. The lies kept on falling from his lips.

“Oh, right. Yes, killing me. You think about doing it a lot. When the wolves became known, I’d started delving into animal rights and laws. I’d recently gone vegan, and my parents supported me in my decision. I was fifteen and I thought I knew everything. Fast forward five years, well, I can see that life is not as easy as I thought it would be.”