Page 75 of Bad Wolf's Nanny

His hand caught her wrist, not hard, not to stop her, justto keep her there. Tonot let her leavewhile everything inside him was burning.

She stilled. Slowly turned back.

The look in her eyes was something he couldn’t quite bear.

Hurt. Anger. Fear. And underneath all of it, that terrible, flickering hope.

“Let go,” she said tightly.

“Lola.”

“Letgo.”

He did.

But he didn’t back off.

“I can’t pretend this doesn’t matter,” he said hoarsely, “I can’t walk away and act like I didn’t just find out you’re—”

“I didn’t ask you towalk in.”

He stared at her.

She stared back, breathing hard now, like she’d run up a hill and didn’t know how to come back down.

“Do you evenwantthis?” she asked suddenly, her voice cracking. “Or is this just your pack instincts firing off like a reflex? Because I’m not a duty, Dane. I’m not a line item on your list of responsibilities.”

“Of course I want it.”

“Do you wantme?”

His mouth opened. But the words,realwords, got tangled up in his throat.

She saw it.

And flinched.

“That’s what I thought,” she said, and this time, when she turned, he didn’t stop her.

She vanished down the hall with Sam, leaving him standing in the center of her doorway like someone had stripped the walls from around him.

Everything was crashing down too fast to keep up with. His fear. His guilt. His anger at himself. His fierce, bone-deep desire toprotect her, to protect themboth.

And none of that made a damn bit of difference if she wouldn’t let him close.

He scrubbed a hand over his face and let out a slow, uneven breath.

She’s pregnant.

The words kept echoing through his head, louder every time.

And he’d blown it.

Again.

But this time, it wasn’t just her heart on the line. It was her safety.

The thought cut through the haze in his mind like a blade. Something primal in him snapped, reacting faster than reason could keep up.