by Leela Ash
“Well, I appreciate that. I’m a pretty busy guy.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Riley said, walking briskly into the living room. “Come on, honey, it’s time to go.”
“Noooo!”
Lily’s protest roused Erin, who looked from Riley to her father in confusion.
“Don’t worry, we’re coming back. Tomorrow?” Riley asked Walker. Walker nodded. “When you’re done with your landlord, if that works.”
“Absolutely,” Riley said, smiling despite Lily’s tired struggles.
“All right then,” Walker said, his handsome face bright with a smile as he lifted Erin effortlessly off the couch and strode toward the door to see them out. “See you tomorrow.”
4.
“Daddy! When is Lily coming?”
Walker sighed. It was the fifth time Erin had asked since she woke up.
“I told you, she’ll get here when she gets here. Her mommy had to talk to her landlord and then they’ll be over. I promise.”
Erin’s face drew into a pout and she turned on her heel and went back into the living room. Walker shook his head and looked back down at the newspaper. His ad was front and center, and yet, it still hadn’t had the effect he had been hoping for. The way he worked with engines was pure magic; everybody who came to the shop told him so. And yet, for some reason, no matter how hard he tried, he had a hard time attracting clients. He was grateful for his regulars, who swore by his work and recommended him to everybody they could think of, but most people preferred to go to the big human-run corporate garages that were starting to pop up on Stonybrooke’s every corner. It was getting a little bit out of hand, but if the shifters saw other shifters working there, they didn’t seem to care whether the garages were human-owned or not. They were loyal to some degree, but the extent of that loyalty was constantly tested. And most of the other shifters in town, unfortunately, were too lazy to support shifter-run businesses when they could just go across the street to get their cars tuned up. Even when that meant they might get their car back with more problems than it went in with. Those human bastards could be tricky sometimes.
Walker had a true passion for motors and engines and making things run and work smoothly. That was something all his clients delighted in. He had learned from a master of machinery and had gone on to truly hone his talents as he moved on in life. It was his passion, and he pursued it tirelessly.
“Daddy! I see a car!”
Walker stood with a deep sigh, half relieved and half jealous at the attention that Riley and Lily were generating from his daughter. Usually, she was only excited to see him, but at the same time, he was really happy to be able to see her feeling happy about other people. It had been a while since he had seen this side of his daughter. She simply wasn’t interested in other people since her mother had left, and chose, instead, to cling to Walker’s hip and hold tightly to what she knew would never change. Hopefully, having Lily and Riley in the house would change that for her for good.
Still, he couldn’t help but feel just a little hurt when Erin barely acknowledged him after he opened the door and let Lily run inside. The girls went immediately to play, as if they had been waiting, since the moment they had conked out, for this moment and it was as serious as a business arrangement.
“Well, they didn’t waste any time, did they?” Riley asked him, watching the girls play with one slender brow raised. The wolf inside him stirred once again and he frowned inwardly. What was he thinking? There was nothing more inappropriate than allowing the wolf to rear its head. Even if she were his type, claiming his nanny was hardly the move of a responsible gentleman, and that was what Walker always intended to be.
“No, none,” Walker said, laughing quietly as he watched Erin drag Lily around the room, showing off the block towers she had been working all morning on. “It’s pretty incredible, really. I’m not used to feeling invisible in my own house.”
“Aw,” Riley said, her voice a low tease. “Is somebody having separation anxiety?”
Walker couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well, we wolves are pack animals. Loyal to a fault. It makes sense that I would feel a little…”
“Threatened?” Riley asked helpfully.
“...jealous,” Walker replied. “I don’t get threatened unless there is a good reason.”
Riley nodded. “Well, that’s good. You’re not like most other men then.”
Walker laughed. “No, I would imagine not.”
“It’ll get easier,” Riley said, smiling warmly at him. “It’s good for them to socialize at this age. I think it’s good for all of us, in a way.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it is,” Walker said, his eyes lingering on Riley a little longer than he meant for them to. She was kind of pretty in her own way. Even if she did remind him of a librarian.
“Did she eat yet?” Riley asked, looking away from him suddenly as if she could almost sense the thoughts Walker was trying to battle away from his mind.
“Oh, yeah, we had breakfast a little bit ago. She usually gets hungry at around noon, so…”
“Okay,” Riley said, smiling warmly at him. “Anything else I should know?”
“No, you know pretty much everything already. And she’s vocal for a four-year-old, so if she wants anything, she would probably just tell you about it.”
“Good to know,” Riley said, her eyes glittering softly at him before turning away and heading into the living room with the girls.
“Daddy’s going to go, Erin,” Walker said. “Can I get a hug?”
“Yeah,” Erin said, though her tone made it sound like a hug was the most inconvenient thing he could possibly ask of her. It stung a little, but when he caught Riley’s eye, she smiled encouragingly at him. He felt a little better and picked Erin up in a sweeping daddy hug, causing her to giggle as he kissed her face.
“You be good and have fun with Lily, okay?”
“Okay!” Erin exclaimed, scrambling out of his arms and back to her friend.
“See you tonight,” Walker said, holding Riley’s gaze. She nodded, and he left with his heart feeling uncharacteristically warm, despite his daughter’s mild rejection. It was almost as if, coming home, he would have a whole family waiting for him again.
***
“You’re in early!” Marcus said, perched on the hood of his designer sports car. Marcus wasn’t the type to be modest about his money, and he had the cocky swagger of an entitled rich boy. Walker probably would have hated him if they hadn’t been friends for so long, but the guy had a good heart and that’s all Walker could ask for. Besides, their packs were in good standing with each other, and the alliance was important to maintain, for everybody’s benefit.
“That woman you mentioned to me before, Riley Maxwell? She accepted my proposal to watch Erin.”
“That’s great, man!” Marcus said. “That mean you can come out with me tonight?”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Walker said, exhaling. “I know the crowd you’re running with these days. They’re not really my kind of people.”
“I know, but it was worth a shot. So, how’s the pup like her new nanny so far? Riley’s great, right?”
“She is,” Walker said, lifting the hood of Marcus’ car and taking a look inside. “Erin loves her. And she really loves Lily.”
“Lily? Who’s Lily?” Marcus asked, frowning.
“You’re kidding, right?” Walker said, pursing his lips at his friend. “Lily! Riley’s daughter.”
“Ohh, the human kid. Right. I didn’t see her around much. Most folks weren’t really into having other kids around theirs. Especially humans.”
“Right,” Walker said, turning away to hide the disgust on his face. As much as he liked Marcus, the attitude of the royals never ceased to disgust him. They were always so judgmental of things that didn’t fall within their narrow dogma. He couldn’t imagine living in such a confining lifestyle. He probably would have ended up like Marcus, who was a thrill seeker and went out of his way to gen
erate excitement in his life.
“Well, anyway, I’m glad I hooked the two of you up. The little munchkin deserves some joy after what that bitch did to you guys.”
Walker darkened. He hated talking about Molly when other people brought her up to him. It was shocking that he had opened up about her as much as he had with Riley. There was just something so kind and open-minded about the way Riley listened to him. It made him feel safe to express how he felt to her.
With Marcus, it was another story, though. Marcus hated Molly from day one and didn’t let him forget it when he turned out to be right about her. Marcus was the only person he had told the whole story to, and he had lived to regret it. Marcus loved being right, and knowing he had been right about something as devastating as Walker’s relationship gave him a little bit of an attitude. It was strange that someone like Marcus, a human, could sense something in Molly that Walker had completely missed. But then again, love was blind, as the saying went, and Walker had been just as blinded as anybody else would have been. It was the sad, humiliating truth.
“So, how’s business going?” Walker asked.
Marcus grinned. “It’s booming, man! You have no idea how many people out there aren’t able to even restart a computer, let alone deal with the serious IT stuff.”
“Well, you’re a genius. It’s a good business for you to be in, really.”
“Hell yeah, it is,” Marcus said, grinning.
For being a human, Marcus definitely carried himself like an alpha. He wasn’t actually as confident as he let on. Walker knew better, but confidence was the name of the game when it came to business ventures, and Walker was glad that at least one human as kind as Marcus was in Stonybrooke, helping the shifters in the city to get connected and understand the world they lived in just a little better.
“Any new projects going on?” Walker asked, giving the engine of Marcus’ sports car a little tune up. It was nothing major; he had done the same thing just a few weeks back as he chatted with Marcus about cars and the latest woman on Marcus’ radar.
“Actually, yeah,” Marcus said, beaming at Walker. “You know the Raders?”
“Who doesn’t know the Raders?” Walker replied.
“They’re doing something really intense for their company. They need a bunch of security shit set up, and guess who they came to?”
“Nice!”
“Yep. So, the team and I are going to get to work on that today, once I get out of here. It’s a serious thing too, man. I’ve never worked on something so damn secretive before. These guys don’t trust their security to just anyone, either. I mean, this is a multi-billion dollar industry, you know what I mean? They need it tight.”
“No doubt,” Walker said, slamming the hood of the car down and grinning at Marcus. “Congratulations, man! Sounds like that will bring you a lot of cash.”
“You have no idea,” Marcus said with a soft chuckle. “It’s lucky, man. If I wasn’t naturally talented at this stuff, who knows where I’d be.”
“Well, you are meant to be here, in Stonybrooke, with us,” Walker said. “You’re part of the pack.”
“Thank my stars every day for that, too,” Marcus said. “If I hadn’t been adopted by Kenga, I don’t know what would have happened to me. He took me off the streets, cleaned me up, and made me part of the family.”
“And we’re proud to have you,” Walker said, punching Marcus on the shoulder. “I’ve got some work to catch up on, but it was good seeing you, man.”
“Yeah! I’ll be around again soon.”
Walker nodded and watched Marcus drive off before heading deeper into the garage. Now that his friend was gone, the real work could begin.
***
Walker trudged through the yard, his entire body aching. It had been a rough day, and he’d had a car fall on him. Instead of going to the hospital, though, he walked it off. Nobody else had seen it happen, so he had managed to weasel his way out of a hospital visit.
“What happened to you?” Riley asked, her voice a hushed whisper when he pushed into the house.
“Is it that obvious?” Walker said with a pained laugh. He winced, and Riley came close to him, eyeing him sharply.
“You’re hurt!”
“It’s nothing serious,” Walker mumbled dismissively, pushing past her and heading into the kitchen. “I’m fine. Seriously.”
“You don’t look fine to me,” Riley hissed, following him on his heels. “What happened?”
“Nothing!” Walker exclaimed, wincing as he opened the refrigerator door. There was a bowl of leftovers inside and he took it out to microwave it. “I just had a rough day, is all.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Riley mumbled. “I can tell when someone’s lying to me. I’ve worked with kids for the past seven years.”
“Okay,” Walker grumbled, slinking heavily onto one of the chairs and taking a slow bite of his food. “I had a car fall on me today.”
“What?!”
Walker pursed his lips in annoyance and shook his head. “I told you. It’s really not a big deal. I’m just kind of sore.”
“Did you see a doctor?”
“No! It’s not the first time it’s happened. My kind are made like steel, you know. I’m really going to be fine.”
“You’re ridiculous. I’m drawing you a bath.”
Walker waved his hand dismissively and got back to eating the rest of his food as Riley disappeared quickly from the room and headed to the back. Soon, he could hear water running and sighed, shaking his head. As nice as it was to have someone worrying about him, it was pretty unwelcome. All he wanted to do was relax and enjoy his meal in peace without having to answer twenty questions all the time.
“You know,” Riley said, reappearing in the kitchen. “You owe it to your daughter to take the best care of yourself you possibly can.”
“Oh, here we go,” Walker mumbled, rolling his eyes.
“Yes, here we go!” Riley exclaimed. “You can’t take care of someone else until you take care of yourself first! It’s a common piece of advice that really makes a lot of sense. You have to put the oxygen mask on yourself before you can save anyone else. And it’s our job to care for these children. We can’t do that if we’re bleeding to death internally and think we’re too macho to go see a damn doctor.”
“I’m not bleeding internally!” Walker exclaimed.
“How do you know?” Riley demanded.
“I’d probably be able to smell it!” Walker said.
Truth be told, he didn’t know whether that was true or not, but he wanted to shut down the conversation and frankly, he was hoping that, being human, Riley would just accept his explanation.
But she didn’t. Instead, she continued speaking, her eyes passionate and fiery as she spoke to him. “You need to care for yourself, Walker. Just because sometimes it feels like you don’t matter doesn’t mean that it’s true. Your wife left you, yeah, but your little girl is with you until the end of time. And she needs you to be strong. Not a moron! Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
Walker nodded glumly, his mouth contorted in a pout. He hadn’t been spoken to like this since his mother had passed away, and now, with Riley here lecturing him on caring for himself, he couldn’t help but feel mildly ashamed.
“I’ll go to the doctor’s in the morning, all right? Just to be on the safe side. But really, I think I’m fine.”
“You’d better be fine,” Riley said, her intelligent eyes alive with fire. “Someone is going to need to be here for that little girl. Her mother sure as hell isn’t.”
Walker cringed, knowing Riley was right. It was stupid to be reckless with his life. Not when he had Erin to worry about.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t waste your time apologizing to me. What you need to do is be more careful next time. All right? That’s all this is about.”
Walker nodded, the wolf inside him conflicted. It wanted to win the fight at all costs, but at the same time, all he wanted
to do was claim the woman who was stirring up such confusing and passionate emotions within him. She was unlike any woman he had ever encountered, and he wanted, more than anything, for her to be his.
But that wasn’t possible. And even if it was, this was a business arrangement. There was nothing he could say or do that would make his feelings for her okay. There was no justifying having an attraction to the nanny. An attraction that didn’t even make sense. She wasn’t even his type.
“I’m getting into the bath now,” Walker said, grunting in pain as he got himself to his feet and limped slowly down the hallway.
“Good.”
He hesitated outside the bathroom door. “Aren’t you leaving?”
“Oh no,” Riley said, eyeing him sternly. “I’m not leaving you alone. If anything happened to you, this poor little girl would have to be the one to find you and try to call for help. I’m not letting that happen.”
Walker scowled. “You’re being a bit dramatic, don’t you think?”
“I don’t think you’re being dramatic enough,” Riley countered.
Walker threw his hands up, at least as high as his limited mobility would allow him to, and went into the bathroom and closed the door. He tried to remove his shirt but roared in pain.
“What?” Riley asked, bursting through the door.
“Do you mind?” Walker hissed.
“Are you all right?” Riley asked, ignoring his protest and coming up close to him. She examined him closely and shook her head. “You need help, don’t you?”
“Even if I did, I would rather die than ask for it,” Walker grumbled.
Riley shook her head. “You’re a stubborn man,” she said softly, slipping her fingers quickly underneath the brim of his shirt and helping him to peel it off. She did it so easily and effortlessly that he was forced to remember she was a nanny. She had done it probably thousands of times to pups all over Stonybrooke, and he suddenly felt like the world’s biggest child.