Page 28 of Bully Wolf’s Nanny (Silvermist Wolves #1)

Seven Years Ago

Her heart pounded with excitement as she skipped out of school, bag in hand, butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

She couldn’t believe it. They had actually slept together.

The previous night had been like something out of a fairytale.

She was the princess, and he was her handsome knight in shining armor.

Well, perhaps not shining armor, something darker than that.

Perhaps he was actually the dragon. He was certainly possessive, enough.

She had only caught glimpses of him at school, and he hadn’t caught her eye at all. She wasn’t worried. She knew he didn’t like to draw attention to their relationship in front of members of the pack. He was protecting her. That’s what he always said.

It didn’t mean she wasn’t itching to see him again, to feel his hands on her skin. She skipped into the woods, down the familiar path, sure that he would find her.

And find her, he did.

He was waiting for her, leaning against a tree, expression unreadable as he watched her approach. Something in his eyes made her pause, made her heart trip over itself in her chest, and she swallowed down her apprehension.

“Hey, Nicolas,” she said with a smile, “how are—oh my goodness! What happened to your face?”

He lifted a hand to the cut on his lips, as if surprised to find the injury. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“But it must have been awful if it hasn’t healed yet! What happened, can I do anything, can I help?”

She reached forward to caress his face, but to her surprise, he slapped her hands away. “Don’t touch me.”

Recoiling, she held her hands against her chest, concern giving way to something worse. Dread, perhaps. There was nothing kind in Nicolas’s face. No warmth, nothing. With a start, Daisy realized the last time she had seen that look on his face had been…

Had been before he first kissed her. Back when all he wanted to do was make her life a living hell.

Her stomach twisted into a knot.

“Nicolas?” she asked, hating the way her voice wavered. “What’s going on?”

He observed her like one might observe a cockroach in a glass jar, lip curling in disgust. “What’s going on? What’s going on, you stupid bitch, is that you were fucking dumb enough to fall in love with me.”

Her heart thundered to a halt entirely in her chest. Her breath was stolen from her lungs, leaving her empty and hollow and aching.

Surely not. Surely, he couldn’t be serious. This was some sort of practical joke. It had to be. There was no way that even he could be so cruel…

But as he stalked towards her, face twisting in hatred, Daisy realized that he, in fact, could.

“You really fell for it. I couldn’t believe it.

The others certainly won’t. Do you want to know what’s really going on, Daisy?

What’s going on is I was challenged to fuck you.

The others didn’t think it was possible, didn’t believe that any girl would have such little self-respect, didn’t think any girl would ever open their legs to a guy who’d tortured them.

But you, Daisy, you proved them wrong. Congratulations. ”

“I…I don’t…”

“Of course, I probably could have fucked you that first time I kissed you, right up against the tree. You probably would have let me, wouldn’t you?

I mean, what other fucking hope would you have of a guy touching you?

No guy would ever want to go fucking near you.

But I admit, it was fun to draw it out, to let you come to me.

You invited me into your fucking house, Daisy.

I mean, it was fucking hilarious. After everything I’ve done to you. ”

“Nicolas,” tears were falling freely down her face now, her mouth open in horror at his words, “you don’t mean that. Tell me you don’t mean it!”

“Oh, I mean it,” he said with a sneer. “Don’t tell me you actually believed I loved you? Jesus fucking Christ. Look at you! Look at me. In what fucking world would someone like me ever want to be with someone like you.”

“You’re lying,” she said through the haze of tears, “I don’t know why, but you’re lying!”

He took a deep breath in through his nose, clenched fists trembling at his sides. “Believe what you want. I don’t care. As long as you fuck off. Your idiot parents broke faith today, no doubt in shame over their whore daughter, so go with them to whatever shithole they end up in.”

She reached forward, ignoring every instinct screaming at her to stop, and took his hand.

It was so big in both of hers, so warm, rough with calluses.

When he didn’t immediately shake her off, she blinked away her tears and tilted her head to look him straight in the eye.

“Nicolas, just stop. I don’t believe what you’re saying.

I love you, and I think you love me. Whatever it is, we can face it together. Just please, please don’t do this.”

He stared at her for a moment, his eyes an ocean, before he blinked and the icy walls slammed back into place.

Wrenching his hand out of her grasp, he sneered at her, taking a step back.

“You still haven’t got it into your thick head, have you?

This was all a trick. I don’t love you, I don’t want to be with you.

I took your virginity because you were stupid enough to open your legs for me, and you weren’t even a good fuck.

Maybe if you spent more time at the gym and less time stuffing your face, I could have at least had something nice to look at. ”

His words may as well have been swords. They pierced through her, straight to her very soul, and in that moment, she knew he was serious. He meant it. This was real.

She didn’t bother responding. Just choked down a sob and fled into the woods, straight back home. Her parents were already packing. She joined them. They left the very next day for a hotel in a town outside Iron Walker territory.

They stayed there for two months while her parents worked out what to do. Every day was like a living nightmare. All Daisy could think about, from the moment she rose to the moment she closed her eyes to sleep was Nicolas’ words. The pure disgust on his face.

The aching love she still had for him.

So when she sat, bawling her eyes out in the hotel bathroom, clutching the positive pregnancy test in her trembling hands, something deep within her broke and was forged anew.

She would do this. She could do this. Her parents told her their intention to move out west, to Los Angeles, and she didn’t go with them.

She stayed, got a job as a waitress, eventually saved up enough for the deposit to rent a shitty apartment.

Her stomach grew bigger, and with each passing day her pain lessened.

Her daughter was born, and she remembered what it was to love. She met Amelia, and remembered what it was to laugh. She looked at herself in the mirror, dark circles and crumpled clothes and all, and remembered what it was to be herself. So she made herself a promise.

Never again. She would never fall for a man’s lies again.

***

Present day

“Damnit, damnit, damnit ,” Daisy cried, kicking the wheel of the useless car. It was no good. The thing was completely dead. She took one more look under the hood, praying that the answer would magically appear, but of course there was nothing.

They were stranded, in the middle of the woods, and night was falling thick and fast.

Thea watched from inside the car, her blue eyes watery, her little nose red. “Mommy? Mommy, can I help?”

Daisy sighed, looking up to the sky. “No darling, thank you so much for offering. Just…Mommy will work it out, okay? Go back to your book.”

Thea nodded, uncertain eyes flicking back down to the pages.

Daisy fought down a scream of frustration.

Why had she chosen this car? In a garage seemingly full of every make and model under the sun, why had she chosen the one car Nicolas Accardi owned that was bound to break down?

She knew the answer, of course. She couldn’t bring herself to steal one, and even with his ridiculously generous salary, there was no way she could have afforded one of the others.

Not if she wanted enough cash to get her and Thea safely to Los Angeles.

She checked her phone. Her old phone, the one she had kept even after Nicolas had given her a brand new one. Still no service.

Dusk was creeping closer, the sun dipping below the tree line. Daisy scented the air.

Still in Iron Walker territory. Shit.

Being a wolf wasn’t very useful when the thing she needed to defend herself against was other, bigger wolves. And there was no way she was leaving Thea here by herself to go find help.

She truly had no idea what to do. Short of placing Thea on her back and running the rest of the way to the nearest town, she was stumped. Perhaps she should wait for another car to come by, beg for help, ask to use their phone. It was the best she could come up with.

She was just mulling over the potential risks of just going at the engine with a large rock, when a thunderous growl trembled the very trees.

Her blood turned to ice.

She turned, slowly, reaching down for her wolf, eyes scanning the tree line.

The air hung heavy and still.

“Thea,” she said calmly, too calmly, “stay in the car.”

“What?” her daughter called, rolling down the window.

“Stay in the car, sweetheart,” Daisy said, “no matter what.”

“But Mommy—"

“Thea,” Daisy moved, blocking the view of her daughter from whoever, whatever , lurked in the shadows of the trees, “don’t say another word. Just stay. In. The car.”

An enormous black wolf, eyes glowing near red in the dying rays of the sun, emerged from the trees. Huge, crossed with scars, muscles tense.

The thick copper of blood wafted in the air.

She sucked in a breath. He was massive. One of the biggest wolves she had ever seen. Bigger even than Nicolas. His teeth glinted as his muzzle peeled back.

There was no way she would be able to take him down.

But Thea was with her.

She didn’t have a choice. She would protect her cub.