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CHAPTER1
Winona watched as the third boy disappeared over the wall.Again? I swear I’m gonna lose it, these kids are impossible.How many times had she specifically instructed themnotto do just that? She’d already tried reasoning with them, even threatening them with the dreaded ‘no video games’. They just wouldn’t listen and really didn’t care. She had hoped they would have been content to play in the piles of leaves that covered the ground, but of course that would have been way too convenient.
She sighed. Sometimes being a nanny really sucked.
And that was when you had to deal with regular old ‘boring’ humannormiekids!
But shifter pups, cubs, and other young ones? Forget it. They were like…well,animals!
It was hilarious to her when normie parents got worked up about their kid’s antics.Try taking care of a shifter kid.
Take today, for example. She’d even actually taken their phones from them, which, with most normal pre-teens, would have been such a soul crushing experience that they would descend into the pits of despair and would be unable to even function, let alone misbehave.
These hellions, though? They knew, just like she did, that they’d have their precious little electronics back in their sweaty little hands just as soon as mommy got home. Mommy’s belief was that her precious little babies were “wrestling with their inner bear” or some shit like that.
Winona shook her head. It was infuriating sometimes. She didn’t have kids of her own, and definitely didn’t have pups, but she knew the parents weren’t making it any easier.
She’d been nannying long enough to know this family most certainly did not have their priorities straight.And yes, I am the judge and jury on this one.Every time she turned around, they were undermining what minimal structure she was trying to set up. The parents wanted their kids to have literally everything they wanted, and they couldn’t see the damage that they were doing. Any time she even hinted at any rules or limits, the father would go on a rant about not wanting to dampen their budding bears. The boys were growing up wild, while believing that there were no consequences for their behavior, ever. What a shame.
Bitter, party of one?
She loved nannying. It was something that she almost felt she had been born to do. She loved children more than adults and she preferred them any day of the week. She had worked with all kinds of families, but never one like this one. And she had plenty of experience with shifter kids, too. She used to see it as a challenge, or maybe it was just a skill she had developed trying to bring some semblance of order and stability to her own chaotic family when she was young. Either way, she was just about over it.
A blood curdling cry pulled her out of her ruminations. She started running to the get to the property the kids had accessed. She already had an idea of what had happened.
She arrived around the corner just in time to see two of the brothers wrestling on the ground while Riley, the third, lay at the base of a particularly tall tree with his leg most likely broken.
Great. This is gonna be fun.
She pulled out her phone and dialed as she got to him, first nine-one-two, the shifter emergency number, and then the number of the father’s office.
As she assessed Riley and did her best to soothe him, she listened to what the other brothers were arguing about.
“You made him fall!” Jimmy was yelling at Jonah.
“How could I make him fall? I was already over the wall when he got to the top! It’s not my fault he’s so clumsy,” Jonah countered just as loud.
“But you were the one that told him he could do it!” His brother insisted.
“He shouldn’t have listened to me anyways! Hasn’t he learned anything? I swear, he’s dumb as a rock.”
The yelling volley match was not helping anything. Looking over at the boys, she took a deep breath and stated, “You two, over here now. Your brother is lying here, probably with a broken leg, and all you can think to do is fight? Jimmy, go back to the house and wait for the ambulance, Jonah, go get him a pillow! I’m staying with him until help arrives.” Turning to the boy, she said, “You’ll be fine, help will be here soon.”
When the phone connected to the father’s office, she prepared herself for the deluge she knew would come. And sure enough…
“How did they get up that high in the first place? Tell me you didn’t let them shift! I knew I never should’ve hired a human nanny! What kind of nanny lets the kids climb a tree that high? What the hell is the matter with you? Letting them run around has its limits! You should know that! At least you had the sense to call 9-1-2. You did call 9-1-2, right? Not 9-1-1.” Did the man even breathe? Whatever.
“Yes, Mr. Demeter,” she intoned.
He continued as if she hadn’t said a thing. “And see to it that he gets to the hospital. Ask for Joanna, got it? But let’s not misunderstand one another. Be sure to bring whatever things you have with you. I will meet you there. Do I need to tell you to drive the other boys over? Text me the details. I will settle up with you for whatever I may owe you there. That will be the end of our need for your services. You are fired, Ms. York, fired.” Yeah, there was no way the man was breathing as he ranted. She wondered if he turned red from lack of oxygen when he went on these tirades.
“Okay, Mr. Demeter, as you wish.” More than a few witty comebacks flew through her mind, but she had learned not to let her emotions get the best of her long ago.
“And ask for Joanna, understood?”
“Yes Mr. Demeter. I am familiar with the protocol. I’ll ask for Joanna.”
God, this guy is crazy.Does he think I’m an idiot?
