The mate of his nanny final

Chapter 226: Patrol

Edrick

"Moana... Just... Go inside."

Moana's eyes widened. She glared at me for a long moment before she took off like a bolt of lightning into the house.

Maybe I was being a little too harsh when she was only trying to at least help me carry the bags inside, but the property wasn't fully secured yet and I didn't want her standing out in the open if someone was trying to hunt her down. Maybe tomorrow, when the property was deemed safe, she could go outside with her bodyguard. But for now, she needed to be inside where it was safe.

"Should I go after her, Mr. Morgan?" Kat asked.

I nodded. "You don't have to be right next to her if she doesn't want it. But at the very least, keep an eye on her whereabouts."

Moana's bodyguard nodded understandingly, then took off after Moana. I sighed as I heard the echoes of Kat calling Moana's name.

Of course I felt bad for suddenly ripping her away and not being specific about why we were leaving so frantically, but I had no choice. There wasn't enough time to explain everything, and I didn't even know how I would say it yet.
Last night, I was almost one hundred percent certain that my mother was forced off of the phone with my father. I didn't know if my mom knew something before I mentioned it to her, or if she was only like me and just had her own suspicions before I confirmed it for her.

Either way, I took my mother's advice and got the hell out of town.

Moana was on the verge of shifting. I could sense it when she was sleeping last night; her wolf's power was starting to surge. Within a couple of days, she would certainly shift. And I was pretty sure that my dad knew that as well, and he would either come after her himself or send more Rogues to get the job done.

"You're being too harsh on her." Selina's voice suddenly caught my attention.

I let out a grunt as I pulled the bags out of the car, and only cast her a brief glance over my shoulder. "She'll understand eventually," I replied. "It's for the best."

Selina walked around to face me and suddenly grabbed my arm with more strength than I expected from a woman her age. "It won't be for the best if she resents you for keeping her in the dark," she insisted. "You need to talk to her."

I nodded. "I will talk to her. Just... Not right now. If I told her earlier, she might have put up more of a fuss and insisted on staying in the penthouse. Sometimes she thinks that she's capable of more than she really is, and I just wanted to make sure that she was somewhere safe before I told her the truth."

The old housekeeper didn't seem to like this. Her lips pressed themselves into a thin line, and she released her grip on my arm. I watched as she turned around to walk away, took a few steps, then stopped and turned back to face me.

"Moana is more capable than you realize."

That was all she said. Before I could say anything else, — not that I had anything else to say anyway — she stormed off and disappeared into the house.

Maybe Selina was right; maybe Moana was more capable than I realized. But that was a risk that I wasn't willing to take right now.

...

It was dark out when I slowly stepped out into the back garden. The moon was out, and it was well after dinnertime. Moana and Ella both refused to leave their rooms for the entire day, but I didn't really care.

I was just glad that we were safely out of the city and under the watch of nearly two dozen fully capable security guards, who had the entire estate surrounded by their patrol.
However, I wasn't fully satisfied. If I was going to be certain that Moana and my daughter were safe, then I needed to patrol as well to give myself some peace of mind.
That was why I decided to shift under the moonlight and walk the entire perimeter of the estate.

I let my wolf take over. Feeling myself shift was a relief, like an itch that needed to be scratched. As I took off into the woods and started making my way around the estate, I felt a sense of what almost felt like comfort taking over me.
First, I made my way through the woods behind the house. I checked every nook and cranny, behind every tree, inside every hollow log and behind every boulder. All I found were scared deer and squirrels, and the occasional raccoon. There were no Rogues in sight.

After that, I headed down and around to the front of the estate. I passed by a few guards on my way, also patrolling in their wolf forms, and we gave each other nods as we passed.

"See anything?" I asked one guard, Darren.

He shook his head. "Nothing. It's all quiet."
"Good."

When we left the city, I made a point to keep a couple of body doubles in the penthouse. Moana wasn't aware of this, but I had hired two people who looked similar to us when I hired our security guards; a girl with red hair and a tall guy with dark hair. I had them stay in the penthouse while we were gone to make it look like we were still there.

Of course, they also had some guards there of their own, and they were fully armed in case my dad or some Rogues tried to break in. But to me, it was a foolproof plan to keep people thinking that we never left the penthouse.
Maybe then no one would know where we really were.

A couple of hours later, I had fully walked the entire perimeter of the estate and found nothing. Satisfied now with my patrol, I decided to head back to the house to call it a night. Maybe, I thought to myself, Moana wouldn't hate me so much by then. I couldn't sleep without her, after all.

However, as I returned to the house, I realized that I was wrong in that assumption.
I stopped in the back yard as something caught my attention. The light was on in Moana's room and her curtains were open.

Still in my wolf form, I sat on my haunches and looked up at the window, hoping to get a glimpse of her. Slowly she came into view, brushing her hair as she paced back and forth in her room. I couldn't help but think how beautiful she looked now, and it made me wonder how much even more beautiful she would look when she finally shifted.

She must have sensed me watching, because she suddenly stopped and walked over to the window.

For a long time, our eyes stayed locked as she stared down at me and I stared back up at her.
I wanted to convey that I was sorry for being short with her earlier, but she only scowled down at me. And then, with an even deeper scowl, she yanked the curtains shut and disappeared from sight.

I sighed as I shifted back and walked up to the back porch with my hands in my pockets.

"Looks like I'm gonna be sleeping alone tonight," I whispered to myself.