Page 30 of Bully Wolf's Nanny
He chuffed, the sound coming from his chest instead of reverberating through her skull, and took off into the woods.
“Try to keep up,” he called back at her.
She wrinkled her nose, glancing once more at the house behind her, before following him through the dark trail of the forest.
The steady beat of her paws against the earth spoke to her innate, primal need to run wild. She picked up speed as she wove through the trees, gaining confidence with every step, breathing in great lungfuls of the cool dusk air.
Nicolas was right. She had forgotten how much she needed this.
As a human, Daisy had never particularly considered herself graceful. Her wolf, on the other hand, muscles lean and built for the forest, possessed all the coordination and elegance necessary to sprint through the trees. She turned her body this way and that, yipping with delight at the heady rush of the race, pushing herself harder to follow Nicolas’s trail.
She knew he wasn’t going anywhere near as fast as he was actually capable of. He would sprint ahead and then slow to turn, to make sure she was still behind him, his glowing eyes near-silver in the darkness of the forest. Still, she decided it would be fun to pretend, and flattened her ears as she bounded towards him with a snarl, happy to give chase.
His ears pricked up in delight at the prospect of a challenge, and with a snarl he leapt away from her, almost mocking her with elaborate leaps and turns through the woods.
At some point, she wasn’t sure exactly when, their roles reversed, and she found herself being chased by him. Adrenaline pumped through her muscles as she darted away from his snapping jaws, crowing with victory each time she evaded his attacks.
Of course, he had been going easy on her, and she realized the moment he decided he was done playing when he darted off to the side up a great boulder, gaining height. She paused for just a second, trying to work out his strategy, but that was all the time he needed.
He launched himself from the boulder, clearing her by several feet, twisting in the air so that when he landed, he was facing her with his muzzle peeled back over snarling teeth. She yelped, stumbling backwards, only to find herself pressed against the very boulder he had used to get out in front of her.
“Well, well, well,” he said, sauntering closer, “look what we have here.”
His fur was so dark that the edges of him bled into the darkness of the forest. Only his eyes shone out at her. His eyes and his teeth.
“You didn’t play fair!” she whined, backing up slightly until her back hit the rock.
He chuckled. “Who said anything about playing fair?”
With that, he ducked low, and then launched at her, tumbling them both down into the dirt. They rolled over each other, playfully nipping at each other’s necks much like pups would, until finally he let Daisy pin him to the earth.
“Haha!” she sang, her paws digging into his side, “I win!”
“Are you so sure about that?” His eyes gleamed, but he didn’t move to dislodge her from her victorious stance.
“Yup,” she said, finally jumping off to allow him to stand and shake his fur, “I won fair and square. What’s my prize?”
He paced around her, huge and dark and intimidating, but she didn’t cower away from him.
“What would you like?” he asked, his voice dripping honey.
She hesitated before answering.
Here they were again. At the edge of a cliff. Ready to tumble off.
Sensing her sudden panic, he sat, tilting his head slightly. “I know what your prize can be. Come with me to New York.”
“What?”
“You heard me.” His ear twitched. “It’s time I showed Gracie the office. Let her meet everyone at the firm. And I’d like you and Thea to come with me. It could be like a holiday. We’ll go to the theatre, and out to dinner, whatever you like.”
His voice had taken on that odd quality again. The one that seemed cool and collected, but with a hint of dark promise running through it.
She looked at him, really looked, as if her wolf’s superior vision could somehow pierce through his mind and get to the bottom of whatever it was he truly meant.
“Is this a job request?”
He paused before answering, “No. It’s not a job request. It’s a…it’s a request.”
