His Nanny Mate - Season 3 Episode 7

Edrick

Moana really could be far too stubborn for her own good sometimes.

At first, I thought that we were coming to an understanding; she seemed to be on the same page as me when we discussed the dangers of not having security to keep an eye on her.

When I told her that she would need to have a bodyguard in her classroom in case anything happened, however, her reaction was full of unnecessary anger. Of course I expected her to be upset, but I thought that she at least understood the reasons behind why it was so important. There was a possibility that she could shift unexpectedly while she was teaching and cause mayhem. There was also a possibility that if my father or anyone else who wanted the Golden Wolf dead found out that she was the Golden Wolf, someone could come and try to hurt her. Nowhere was safe, and it didn’t matter if she was teaching in the middle of the day in broad daylight. If someone wanted her dead, it would be too easy to get the job done unless she had someone by her side to keep her safe. Why couldn’t she just understand that?

Maybe I was a little too harsh when I told her that I would take her away to the mountain estate, but it was the first thing that came to my mind, and it was the truth. If she couldn’t comply and at least attempt to have some sort of sense of self preservation here, then we would need to leave the city after all. She had two choices: live with the fact that she would need a bodyguard in her classroom for the foreseeable future and stay in the city where she could keep her job and Ella could continue to go to school, or refuse to have a bodyguard in her classroom and go to live with me at the mountain estate. There was no in-between.

When I told her that she had no choice, however, Moana got even more angry. Her face got red and she clenched her fists at her sides angrily, glaring at me with her green eyes. “If something happens, I can handle mys—”

“Oh, can you?” I growled. “Just like how you almost got yourself and my daughter killed just a couple of weeks ago? Hm? What about your supposed ability to protect yourself then?”

Both of us fell silent. Moana stared at me for several seconds in disbelief; admittedly, I did feel a little bad for my choice of wording, but I was telling the truth. I was forgiving of Moana, and I knew that she had been skillfully manipulated into trying to run away, but I was still wary about her decisions. I needed to keep my daughter, my mate, and my unborn child safe.

Moana opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again and suddenly stormed out. A few moments later, I heard her bedroom door slam shut.

I cursed under my breath and whirled around to walk over to my desk, where I angrily plopped myself down into my chair and let out an audible groan while I buried my face in my hands.

Why did she need to be so stubborn? Why was it that these sorts of things always devolved into an argument, even when I was just trying to help her? Was it me? Was I the problem?

Sighing, I sank further down into my chair and rubbed my eyes exhaustedly.

“Was I too harsh?” I asked my wolf.

“Maybe a little,” he responded. “It wasn’t her fault that she got manipulated. You know how Olivia is.”

I sighed again. “I know that,” I replied, not caring if I spoke out loud. “It’s just that…”

Suddenly, I heard my door creak open. I looked up from my hands to see Ella standing in the doorway with a pout and with her arms folded across her chest. “Hey, Princess,” I said gently. “Is everything okay?”

Ella stared at me for a moment. She was still in her school uniform; we hadn’t even had dinner yet, and Moana was already furious with me. No doubt that Ella heard our argument, too.

“You made Moana cry,” Ella growled.

My eyes widened slightly. “I did?” I asked. I didn’t mean to make her cry. I was just telling her the truth. But before I could say that, Ella suddenly stormed up to me and grabbed me by the sleeve with a fiery look in her eyes. She yanked on me angrily and took a step back while still holding my sleeve in her little hand.

“Come on,” she said, her voice firm for such a little girl, almost as though she was a small adult. “You need to apologize.”

“I need to apologize?” I asked with a chuckle. Maybe Moana needed to apologize first, I thought to myself. She was the one who got so angry with me that she stormed in here as soon as she got home from work and dragged me into my study to fight with me.

“Daddy!” Ella shouted, stamping her foot on the floor angrily. “Apologize to Moana now for making her cry! She’s my mom now and I don’t like it when you make her sad!”

As Ella spoke, my eyes went even wider. Ella had referred to Moana as her mom. I hadn’t heard her mention that before, although now that I thought of it, Moana had just mentioned that Ella told everyone that Moana was her mom at school. The thought of it created a sudden warmth in my chest, and I couldn’t help but smile a bit.

Suddenly, during my moment of weakness, Ella dragged me to my feet. As she dragged me out of my study and toward Moana’s room, I didn’t resist. She then dragged me over to Moana’s room, unceremoniously shoved me inside, and slammed the door behind me.

Moana was sitting up on the bed. We stared at each other for a few moments in shocked silence, and during those moments I realized that Ella was right; Moana had been crying. Her eyes looked red and puffy, and her cheeks had a slight sheen to them from the tears. She seemed to be trying to hide it, but I could tell right away. And the instant I saw that she had been crying, I realized that I had been far too harsh on her earlier. I shouldn’t have said those things; I didn’t mean any of them. I never wanted to make Moana cry.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, taking a tentative step forward. “I didn’t mean it.”

Moana said nothing. She just looked up at me with those reddened eyes with their emerald green irises. Her lower lip was quivering slightly, and she bit it to make it stop. Now, more than ever, I wanted to hold her and kiss her all over. I took another tentative step forward, taking in the way that her red hair was messed up from crying into her pillow, and felt an ache in my chest as I realized just how much of a jerk I had been.

Still, Moana said nothing. But then, without a word, she just held her arms out for me.