Page 49 of Bully Wolf's Nanny
Dane rolled his shoulders, licking the blood from his teeth, but his gaze wasn’t feral with anger. Instead, there was a sort of calculating victory in his dark eyes.
It caught Nicolas by surprise, and he lowered his fists slightly. “What?”
“You love her, don’t you?”
Too stunned to maintain his fighting pose, his fists fell down to his side entirely, shock replacing the blinding rage. “What?”
“Sorry ‘bout what I said,” Dane stepped over the broken table to clap Nicolas across the back. “I didn’t mean to be disrespectful about her. I just wanted to see for myself.”
“You…” Nicolas reared back, baring his teeth, “you fucking bastard!”
“Guilty as charged,” Dane held his hands up. “You never would have admitted it. Far too bloody stubborn for your own good. Hopefully now you can stop being so fuckin’ dumb and actually do something ‘bout it.”
“Felix,” Nicolas spun around to see Felix with his arms crossed and one eyebrow raised, “were you in on this?”
“Now, why would I agree to a plan that involved destroying one of my tables?” Felix said, glaring at Dane. “But I do admit I was curious.”
“Well, I hope yourcuriosityis satisfied,” Nicolas hissed, stalking back to the bar and accepting the fresh glass of whiskey offered to him.
“I really don’t see what the big deal is,” said Dane, coming up beside him, careful to maintain enough distance that should Nicolas decide to swing again, he would have time to avoid the punch.
“I have to agree with Dane,” Felix replied. “Why don’t you just be with her? Francesca’s presence doesn’t change anything. Daisy’s a sweetheart, she’s brilliant with Gracie, you may even be able to convince her to rejoin the pack. So what’s the problem?”
“The problem,” Nicolas said, his fists tight, “is that she’s made it clear she wants fuck all to do with me.”
Felix and Dane exchanged a glance.
“If it’s something to do with Francesca,” Felix said carefully, “then you know we’ve got Rick working on a legal solution—"
“It’s not Francesca,” Nicolas replied. “Well, it is Francesca. She’s a raging bitch, and Daisy seems to have gotten it into her head that I want some kind of relationship with her, no matter how many times I’ve tried to convince her otherwise. The real problem, though, is she doesn’t fucking trust me. And why should she? I already destroyed her life once, why the fuck would she hang about and let me destroy it all over again?”
“Nicolas,” said Felix, “you didn’t destroy her life. She’s here, isn’t she? No offense, but she’s made of stronger stuff than that.”
“That’s not the point,” he said, his voice raising. “I promised her I wouldn’t hurt her. And I did. Sure, it was to keep her safe, but it doesn’t change what I said. She’s better off without me.”
“Nicolas—"
“End of discussion.” Nicolas finished the rest of his drink, pulled out a ridiculously generous sum of bills for the barkeep, and left before Felix or Dane could say anything.
Chapter 16 - Daisy
Daisy hadn’t heard Nicolas get back the previous night, and she hadn’t heard him leave this morning. The only evidence that he had been there at all was the smashed remains of a glass that had been hurled against the wall and now lay in sparkling shards against the marble floor of the kitchen.
With a long sigh, she got to work clearing up the mess before anybody else got up.
Two weeks. Two long, awful, horrible, terrible weeks alone with Francesca and the girls, with no Nicolas around to run interference when the other woman got too spiteful.
She honestly didn’t know how she was going to cope.
It wasn’t that Francesca was all bad. Sometimes she had it in her to be quite sweet, especially with Gracie. It was just with Daisy that she was…well…not as nice as she could be. It didn’t take a genius to work out why. Every time Nicolas paid her the slightest amount of attention, Francesca’s scent would flare with irritation, even underneath the bizarre pheromone perfume she wore. Daisy was competition, no matter how professional and polite she tried to be.
At least she seemed to really be trying with Gracie. Sure, she didn’t change her diapers, or prepare her food, or help keep her clean and presentable, but she’d learn how to do those things with time. Hopefully, it would be sooner rather than later, because Daisy was running out of strength.
Nicolas was ruthless when he wanted something. And no matter how many times she’d told him it was better for Gracie that they not continue their relationship, he seemed adamant that she was wrong.
She scoffed to herself. Chances were, the only reason he was so persistent was because she was saying no. If she relented and let him have her, he would get bored within a week. Especially with Francesca around, throwing her charm at him with relentless zeal.
Daisy didn’t have the energy for any of it. She didn’t want to compete, she didn’t want to try and keep Nicolas for herself, she didn’t know how. The only option was to gracefully bow out at the soonest opportunity. Sure, Thea would be upset, but she would recover. She’d made lots of friends with other shifter kids in the pack, and Daisy was already looking for a house or apartment relatively close to Silvermist so that they could stay in Iron Walker territory. When the time came, Thea could join the pack. They didn’t need Nicolas for that.
