Page 24 of Bully Wolf’s Nanny (Silvermist Wolves #1)

“Very upset,” he repeated softly, quietly whispering into her ear. To any onlooker, it might look like a lovers’ embrace. Disgust coiled in his stomach at the idea, and he dropped her, stepping back and readjusting the rolled cuff of one sleeve.

Francesca collapsed to the floor, coughing and hacking, clutching her throat.

“You’re a bastard,” she hissed, all pretense at civility gone.

“Yes, I am,” he replied, raising a cynical eyebrow, “and you’re the idiot that endangered my child.

I would count your lucky stars you’re still breathing.

” He crouched in front of her, examining her like some specimen in a museum.

“Because there are certain leniencies in the law when it comes to shifters and their children.”

“I’m not a shifter,” she spat, shoving him back to rise to her feet. “I’m a human! You can’t treat me like this!”

“Human-shifter laws go both ways,” he said, “and you’re not the only one who can take advantage of them.”

“I don’t understand,” she shouted at him, her mouth a vicious curve. “I’m the mother of your child! You slept with me! Why don’t you want me now?”

Nicolas rolled his eyes. “I was drunk when I slept with you. I barely even knew what you looked like. You were a warm hole to fuck. The best thing you ever did was give me Gracie and then fuck off.”

“And Daisy?” Francesca spat. “Is she just a warm hole to fuck? Oh yeah, I managed to work that much out. It’s fucking obvious.”

“Don’t talk about her like that,” Nicolas growled.

“Or what? You’ll send me away? I’ll sue you from here to the next century. One way or another, I’m getting my fucking money.”

“It’s funny,” replied Nicolas, “that’s the first honest thing you’ve ever said.”

Francesca sniffed, haughtily peering around. “Let’s get out of here. This whole fucking state is complete trash.”

She pushed past him, anger radiating from her in waves. By the time they got back to the hospital room, she was practically spitting fire. Nicolas too could feel the rage bubbling in his chest. How dare she? How fucking dare she presume to take anything from him?

And it wasn’t even the money. God knows he had enough of that. He would have gladly paid a few million to banish Francesca back to whatever vapid hole she crawled out of when she turned up on his door, but no. She had presumed to try and seduce or blackmail it out of him.

It was sheer fucking arrogance at its worst. And there was nothing Nicolas hated more than arrogant idiots.

But what she had done to Daisy…what she had done to the relationship they were building…

Francesca wasn’t getting a fucking cent. He would see to that. It was personal now.

She would leave with her life and be grateful.

As they strode back into the room, Daisy looked up in surprise from her chair, Thea curled into her lap, clutching a teddy. One of the doctors rushed into action, adjusting his wonky glasses and leafing through various sheets of paper.

“Mr. Accardi, you’re back! Excellent news, I just have some—"

“Are they ready to leave?” Nicolas growled, ignoring the way Francesca sucked her teeth in annoyance. Daisy merely watched him, a fawn caught in the headlights, her hands trembling slightly where she held Thea close to her.

The doctor blinked. “Um, well, yes, we’ve had them in observation long enough so we can discharge them, but there are just a few things—"

“Then do it. Discharge them. We’re going home.”

He didn’t wait for permission to scoop Gracie out of her cot, cradling her close to him, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair. The doctor flapped around him, the noises closer to resembling some sort of squawking bird than a man.

“Give me that, you bumbling idiot,” Francesca hissed, plucking the paper out of the doctor’s hands, “what is it, test results?”

“Well, yes, as I was trying to say, we ran a few tests because the nature of the—"

Nicolas didn’t wait for him to finish his sentence.

He strode out of the room, hand protectively holding the back of his daughter’s head as she fussed against his shoulder.

He heard Daisy ushering Thea to follow, and the sharp clack of Francesca’s heels against the bleached linoleum floor.

Part of him wanted to turn, to tuck Daisy into his other side, Thea too.

To hold his family close and not let anything get between them ever again.

But instead, he clenched his jaw and carried on walking. It was his wolf that wanted those things right now, and with the recent danger to his daughter, he didn’t trust himself not to lose his temper entirely if one more fucking person decided it would be a good idea to test him.

There would be time for reconciliation once they were safely home and rested.

Reconciliation, and the sweet savagery of justice.

He couldn’t help the wicked sneer on his face as he remembered the voicemail he’d received not three hours earlier. One that held the answer to all his problems.

“Nicolas, it’s Rick. Your instincts, as always, were impeccable. There’s a loophole if we can prove she was lying about the relationship. You may want to ask that security team of yours to look into it.”