Page 67 of Bully Wolf's Nanny
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.
Just as she was about to crouch low and shift, she noticed a particular scar across the wolf’s snout. It looked familiar, almost like…
“Mommy,” Thea’s voice was amused, “why are you growling at Dane?”
“You can try and come at me if you really want to,” Dane’s sardonic voice filled her head, “but I don’t think it’ll end the way you intended,” he added with a cheeky wink.
She nearly collapsed to the ground with relief. “Jesus, Dane, what the hell?”
The wolf chuffed, trotting over to her, red eyes merely amber, sparkling with mischief. “I was on my way back from a mission and smelled engine oil. Car troubles?”
