His Nanny Mate By Eve Above Story

Chapter 11: Tooth & Nail
Moana

“Follow me,” the director of the orphanage, Sophia, said. Her sad expression when I mentioned my identity gave me cause for concern, and as I followed her blonde head of hair up the narrow wooden stairs to her office, I felt my heart start to beat faster than it had been before.

Sophia led me into her office and gestured for me to sit as she closed the door behind us. I sat on the edge of the straight-backed wooden chair across from her desk, clutching my purse nervously in my lap.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about your heritage sooner,” Sophia said as she walked over to one of the tall metal filing cabinets at the back of the room that contained records of current and past children at the orphanage. “It’s our policy to not bring it up, for the sake of the children’s m*ntal health. I hope you understand.”

“Of course,” I replied. I watched as Sophia pulled open one of the drawers and began thumbing through the rows of manila folders. Sophia had been here since I was a child; at the time, she was a spry young woman, around the same age as I was now. Now, as I watched her search for my file, I noticed the slight hunch developing in her aging back, the tufts of gray hair that hadn’t been dyed yet at the nape of her neck, and the subtle wrinkles starting to form on her hands and forearms.

“Let’s see…” she whispered to herself, rifling through the folders until she found one with my name on it. “Here we go.” She pulled it out and walked over to the desk, setting it down in front of me.

I glanced up at her nervously for a moment, waiting for her nod of approval before opening the folder.

Inside of the folder, aside from my basic intake files and other basic information, there was only one thing: a single, sharp canine tooth.

my brow and picked up the yellowed tooth, turning it over in my hand. There was a distinct cr*ck down the center, but

I asked, looking back up

sat down in her chair. “As you know, we get a healthy mix of both human and werewolf children,” she said, leaning back and clasping her hands together

and my fingers involuntarily closed around the tooth. “Why?” I asked, feeling the resentment toward werewolves bubble up inside of me.

“But not always. You see, children without wolves would also often be subject to an entire host of discrimination for their entire lives.

make me feel any less resentful. If anything, they

My parents left me because I

my best guess.” Sophia said.

me think that they did it thinking that it was for your own good. Perhaps they had no choice, even.” Sophia paused to take a breath, her lips spreading

I had been gripping it so hard that

think they left me with this tooth so I could

was quiet for a few moments before she reached across the table and took

I felt Mina’s presence again and

that she was just as confused by her late appearance as I

by to say goodbye, and to thank Ethan for his invitation. As I poked my head into the recreation room and saw Ethan sitting on the floor and helping the children with their papier mache, I couldn’t help but smile. Even though what I had learned from Sophia made my resentment toward werewolves rise up inside of me, seeing an Alpha werewolf being so kind as to teach orphan children restored my faith once more. Maybe werewolves really weren’t all so bad — and maybe I wasn’t quite

me looking and shot me a bright smile

what I said about the exhibition, by the way,” he said. “I’d love

down at the floor as I felt my face go a bit red at the Alpha’s kind words. “Thank

Ethan replied, sticking his hands into the pocket of his apron and c*****g his head as he

if so, have you ever heard of

nodded with a pained look on his face. “I’ve heard of that,” he replied in a hushed tone so that the children couldn’t hear. “But I’ve never heard of the children trying to find their parents. I don’t