Bully Alpha Daddy (Gold Wolves Black Ops #1)

Chapter 4 - Declan

As I walked back into the living room, my mind reeled with the bizarre turn of events that had taken place in the last thirty minutes. I had been expecting to introduce a new nanny to Dani. Instead, a blast from the past had waltzed back into my life, though she had looked just as surprised as I had been.

Mira. The girl I used to tease relentlessly. Not a girl any longer. My wolf, for his part, was ecstatic. The instant he had caught a whiff of her scent, a pleasant cinnamon and jasmine, he had gone wild, pacing internally, tail swishing, wanting to pull her close. He was thrilled she was here, and all he cared about was being near her. And deep down, part of me was happy to see her as well. Last time I saw her, she was little more than a kid. Now, she had grown into her curves. Her hair had turned an almost golden color instead of its old straw. Her face, though round, had an elegance and grace about it. Her eyes were a brilliant green.

I surprised myself with how happy I was to see her. But I didn’t want to come across as overeager. That wasn’t something I did. I kept my emotions to myself. Still, having her here was oddly comforting. I liked knowing she was nearby.

Still, something about the way she showed up didn’t sit right with me. The story about her nickname felt like an outright lie. She was hiding something, and I needed to find out what.

***

I barely saw Mira the rest of the first day. She had gotten in late as it was. She poked her head out when I told her we were having pizza for dinner but opted to eat in her room, saying she was recovering from the long drive. I didn’t blame her. As such, it wasn’t until the next morning that we spoke again for any length of time.

The smell of bacon and eggs wafted through the halls, getting stronger as I moved toward the kitchen. The sound of sizzling oil soon joined the mouthwatering scents. The closer I got, the more I realized that Mira’s scent of cinnamon and jasmine lingered beneath that of the freshly cooked food. My wolf growled his approval, more enticed by her scent than the promise of breakfast.

When I walked into the kitchen, I found her hovering over the stove. She was humming to herself, the sound barely audible over the roaring vent above the stove and the crackling bacon. I watched her for a minute as she glided from pan to pan, busying herself with toast before piling a large pile of eggs into a bowl. It wasn’t until she turned to put them on the island that she finally registered I was there. Her eyes met mine, and she squeaked, jumping slightly.

“Good morning,” I said, biting back a laugh at her reaction.

“You scared me,” she muttered, hand going to her heart. I tried not to notice the way her ample breasts heaved as she panted. The shirt she was wearing was low-cut, and it was hard not to stare.

“Sorry,” I said, pulling my attention away from her chest. “I didn’t mean to. I just smelled breakfast and came to inspect.”

“I was hungry. And I wasn’t sure when you or Dani woke up, but I figured I might as well make enough for everyone.” She gestured unnecessarily at the pile of food. “I, uh, hope you like eggs and bacon.”

“It’s my favorite,” I said. “Dani tends to prefer sugary cereal, which I rarely let her get. She’ll pretend she doesn’t like eggs and bacon, but she really does. Just tell her she doesn’t have to eat it when she complains that she doesn’t want any, and she’ll eventually concede.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, giving a small smile. “Anyway, knock yourself out.”

“Thanks.” I walked over and began loading food on my plate. Every so often, I would sneak a glance at Mira. It still felt strange to see her again after assuming that era of my life was gone for good. Dozens of emotions that I had kept down over the years bubbled up, threatening to rise to the surface, though I willed it not to happen.

Trying to come up with a conversation topic, I fished for the first thing that came to mind. “So, what were things like in your pack before you came here?” I asked.

She choked on her eggs, spluttering for a moment as she coughed, her eyes watering. When I patted her back, I felt her muscles tense beneath the palm of my hand.

“I’m fine,” she said a little tersely, shifting away from my touch. “Food just went down the wrong way.”

“Right,” I said, knowing full well that it was utter bullshit. People didn’t typically have that sort of reaction when you asked about their old pack, especially if they had left on amicable terms. Granted, if things were amicable, most people wouldn’t leave their pack for a random nanny position.

All of a sudden, a creeping suspicion crawled over me, and for the first time, I truly wondered what Mira was doing here, and why she had hunted down a nanny position hours away from her old pack.

“How do you like the food?” she asked. “I tend to prefer my eggs a bit on the dry side, so I hope that’s all right.”

“They’re fine, but you didn’t answer my question,” I pointed out.

She raised an eyebrow, tilting her chin up as she met my gaze. Something about the steel there, the defiance, excited me and my wolf more than I would have imagined. She really wasn’t the same complacent girl I used to tease mercilessly. That look alone nearly made me march over, pull her to her feet, and press my mouth against hers. It was only by sheer force of will that I managed to hold back, even as my wolf urged me to go for it.

“I feel like that’s rather private,” she said.

“You’re my daughter’s new nanny,” I retorted. “I want to know more about what you’ve been up to.”

She shrugged, pushing away from the table. She made her way back to the coffee pot. “There’s not much to say. I lived there for a few years, had a not-great job working in customer service for a while, then decided to leave. I found the nanny position and applied on a whim.”

Suddenly, she hissed. I looked and saw she’d poured the coffee too quickly, making it spill over the lip of the mug and onto her fingers.

I jumped to my feet, hurrying over. “Are you okay?” I asked. Instinctively, I reached out to check her hand. She pulled away before I could.

“I’m fine,” she bit out. Without another word, she grabbed some towels and began mopping up the spill. Her hands trembled slightly.

I watched with interest. Whatever was going on, she wasn’t telling the whole truth. Something was wrong.

“Did something happen at your old pack?” I asked gingerly.

“No, of course not,” she said quickly, not meeting my eyes. She glanced down, looking at her jeans where a single drop of coffee had landed on her thigh. “My jeans are ruined. I’m going to go change,” she muttered.

Without another word, she brushed past me and hurried toward her room. I stared after her, my eyes lingering on the hall where she had vanished.

One thing was for certain: Mira wasn’t being entirely honest with me. Something was going on. If I didn’t know any better, I would say she was in trouble. But it was also clear that she had no interest in telling me anything about it.

I had never been good at letting things lie. Something was wrong. My wolf wasn’t going to stand for this, either. If she wasn’t going to tell me what was going on, then I would take care of it myself.

***

The Gold Wolves all had offices in Town Hall. It made it easy to reach out to them when I needed help from the inner circle. As such, all I had to do when I wanted to talk to Will during lunch was go down the steps and walk halfway down the hall to the open door where Will lounged in his chair, feet propped on the desk, the keyboard in his lap as he typed away. He glanced up when I walked in.

“What’s up?” Will asked, continuing to type without glancing at the screen.

“I was hoping I could get you to do some research for me,” I said.

He reclined a bit more in his chair. “I mean, you’re the boss, so of course. What can I do for you?”

“I need you to look into Mira Everwood.”

Will’s brow furrowed, and he finally stopped typing as he gave me his full attention.

Head tilting, his ears pricked as if his wolf had heard something intriguing. “ Everwood ?” he asked. “Isn’t that—”

Before he could ask what I knew he was about to ask, another voice cut in.

“Did you just say Mira?” Jackson asked. I turned to see him standing in the doorway, his brow furrowed. “As in, my Mira?”

There was no use lying to him. He was going to find out eventually. “Yeah,” I answered.

“Why are you looking into my sister?” he demanded.

I let out an exhale. “Turns out she’s Dani’s new nanny.”

The silence following the statement was deafening. Jackson’s jaw worked, mouth moving silently up and down as he tried to process the statement. I could see his eyes darkening in anger and his hands curling into fists.

I held up my hands in defense. “I didn’t know it was Mira when I hired her,” I clarified. “If I had, I would have told you before now.”

Jackson stared at me incredulously. “How the hell did you not know who you were hiring?”

“That’s sort of what I wanted to talk to Will about,” I said. I turned back to the bemused Will, now far more engaged in the story than he had been a handful of seconds earlier. “When Mira first applied for the job, she used a different name. When I’ve tried asking her about her old pack, she clams up and refuses to talk about it. Something seems off, and I would like to find out what’s going on. I was hoping you could look into it for me and see what you could come up with.”

“I can do that without relying on fancy tech,” Jackson growled before spinning on his heels. “I’m going to go have a chat with her myself.”

Before I could argue with him, he had marched out of the room. I had no doubt where he was heading. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. Mira wasn’t going to be happy.

I turned back to Will, who watched Jackson’s departure with interest, one eyebrow raised. When he saw I was looking, he glanced back to me.

“I’ll do some research,” he promised.