The Protector's Heart (Wilde Creek Three)

by R. E. Butler

  “Disappeared how?”

  “Who knows? Damien’s dad has a lot of friends, he probably just sent him out of state to another pack, a thank-you for taking the fall for Damien.”

  “I don’t understand why he won’t leave you alone. You left him, you gave him divorce papers.”

  Nila looked so sad right then that it took everything in his power not to go to her and comfort her. “I don’t know why, either. Falling for his charms was one of the worst things I ever did. I don’t regret Jack, but I regret ever meeting him or his pack.”

  Malachi hated hearing how much she despised wolves, even though she clearly had good reason for her feelings.

  When lunch was over, he wasn’t any closer to figuring out how to talk to Nila. By the time the work day done, and Brynn was closing down the computer, Malachi felt as tongue-tied as ever when it came to the pretty blonde. Nila, wrapped up in a dark wool coat, a white fuzzy hat covering her hair, looked out the glass door and frowned. “It’s really coming down out there.”

  “Do you want to ride with us? We can pick up Jack and take you home, even come get you in the morning,” Brynn offered.

  Malachi’s heart jumped into his throat and his wolf whined pitifully in his head, wanting desperately to have her in the SUV with them.

  Nila swallowed audibly and looked over her shoulder. “Thanks, but no, I’ll be fine. I guess my plans to go to the grocery are out, though.”

  She met his eyes for only a heartbeat, and then she pushed the door open and disappeared into the falling snow.

  “Damn she’s stubborn,” Brynn said as she wrapped a scarf around her neck and tugged on gloves.

  “That’s the pot calling the kettle black.”

  “Hey, we’re talking about two entirely different situations here. You didn’t knock her up and ignore her like a certain alpha male we both know.”

  “I thought you forgave him for that.”

  “I did, but I reserved the right to throw it in his face anytime I want. Nila’s stubborn in a different way. I wish she could see how sweet you are.”

  “Oh, I’m blushing here,” Malachi said.

  Brynn slugged him on the arm. “You’re sweet but you’re also kind of an ass.”

  He opened the door for her, bracing himself against the cold as he took her elbow and guided her safely to the SUV. He looked at the tracks that Nila’s sedan had made in the parking lot, wishing that she’d taken Brynn up on her offer. He would’ve loved to drive to the daycare and pick up Jack with her and then take them both home. It was important to him that she was watched over. He had driven by her home more than once, even shifting and scouting the woods around her home. Her house was secure enough — dead bolts on the front and back doors, an alarm system — but she’d be safer in his house, that was just a fact.

  After dropping Brynn off, he drove to the home that Mia rented in the development behind Nila’s. A small section of woods separated the two streets, and it was easy enough for Mal to shift in Mia’s backyard and trot across the woods to watch Nila’s house, which he did from time to time. He’d smelled other wolves in the woods, but the scents weren’t fresh so he knew that no one had been sniffing around Nila’s house in a couple of weeks.

  Stomping off his boots on the front porch, he opened the front door and said, “Hey Mia.”

  “Hi Mal, I’m in the kitchen.”

  He inhaled the scent of pot roast and his mouth watered. Mia was a damn good cook, something she’d learned from their mom. Their parents had lived in Wilde Creek until Acksel had taken over as alpha a few years ago, and then they had decided to leave the pack and join his dad’s brother’s pack. Malachi had left with them, thinking he’d have a better chance of finding a mate if he were away from Wilde Creek where he’d never even had a passing thought of mating any of the she-wolves. Now Nila was here, though, and she was his mate. He was glad he’d moved back.

  After eating his sister’s amazing pot roast and mashed potatoes, he moved the heavy mahogany desk from the family room to the spare bedroom. She wiped the desk off with a dust cloth and he moved the computer to the clean surface. “Planning to write the great American novel?” He teased.

  “No, I just want it out of the family room. I keep banging my hip on the edge of the desk when I walk by. How’s work going?”

  “It’s not exactly hard to sit at the doctor’s office and look at security footage all day.”

  “I suppose not,” Mia said, smiling. “How long are you going to have to sit with her?”

  “I don’t know.” He frowned, leaning against the wall.

  “Well, don’t you think that you could just drive her to work, look at the footage, and then leave? I don’t know why you have to stay with her all day anymore.”

  “Because Acksel said so.”

  Mia hummed. “I’m sure it’s not a hardship since you get to ogle the nurse, but really…it’s one thing to drive her around, but it’s another to sit there all day. Don’t you have a business to run?”

  He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I was planning to talk to Acksel about it. I think you’re right. I could still drive her everywhere, but I don’t need to sit there all day.” Plus, he did need to focus on his business. L&M Security wasn’t going to run itself, not with Lucian out of the country, anyway.

  As if hearing him think his partner’s name, Mia said, “How’s Lucian, anyway?”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Fine.”

  He’d known for ages that his sister had a crush on his human best friend, but Lucian had strict instructions to steer clear of Mia. He didn’t give a damn how Mia felt. Lucian was a great friend, but he led a dangerous life and it would be just Mia’s luck to get caught in the crossfire, and that was something Mal would never allow.

  Mia rolled her eyes. “I was just asking.”

  He snorted. “Yeah, right. How’s Reese?”

  She looked startled. “Mated now, I guess. I haven’t talked to him since I went through my heat cycle in the fall.”

  Mal mentally scrubbed that thought out of his head. He didn’t want to think about his sister going through a heat cycle every September. The boring-as-white-paper Reese had been a safe bet for her to go through the cycle with because he was an honorable guy. Mal flipped through the names of the single males in the pack. “You ever thought about going out with Zander?”

  Her brows rose. “No, why would you ask me that?”

  He shrugged. “He’s a good guy, he’s pack, and his mom makes the best meatloaf in town.”

  “Only you would think a potential mate’s qualities should include a family member’s meatloaf.”

  “I’m just saying…he’s pack.”

  “You said that twice,” she said irritably. “I get that you think I should be with a wolf, but my wolf isn’t feeling that right now, okay? How about you take care of your own love life and leave mine alone.”

  Okay, he’d overstepped and pissed her off. When they were kids, he’d always enjoyed making her mad, but as adults he didn’t like her being angry with him. Closing the distance between them, he hugged her and kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry. I just want what’s best for you.”

  She hugged him back. “I know. Thanks.”

  They walked back into the family room and he grabbed his coat and shoved his feet into the boots that he’d left near the front door. He opened the door and Mia whistled. “Wow, it’s really coming down out there.”

  “If this keeps up, no one will be going to work tomorrow,” he said.

  “You going to check out Nila’s house?”

  He glanced over his shoulder as he stepped out onto the porch. “What?”

  “Don’t look coy, it’s me you’re talking to. I know you’ve been shifting, I’ve seen your tracks in the woods. If you’re going to go, you should do it now before it gets much worse and you get stuck here. You know you’re welcome to stay, but if we have a snow day tomorrow I’m planning to watch all six Star Wars movies from the Blu-Ray collec
tor’s set, including all the extras.”

  “No thanks.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m heading home; it’s too late now anyway.”

  Giving his sister a wave, he trudged through the foot of snow on her steps and made his way to his SUV. He looked at the woods. If he shifted and took a run by Nila’s house, he’d have to stay at Mia’s, which he didn’t really want to do. What he could do, though, was go to the grocery for Nila, since she said she wasn’t going to be able to. He was pretty sure that the doctors’ office would be closed in the morning and the thought of her and Jack going without something they might need made his wolf howl in worry.

  Getting into the SUV, he left Mia’s and called his mom.

  “What kind of things would a twenty-one-month-old baby like?”

  There was a short pause, and then his mom said, “Um, are you talking about your mate’s son?”

  He’d told his parents about Nila when he first met her. His mom was dying to meet them, but knew she needed to keep her distance for now.

  “Yeah. Nila said that she couldn’t go to the grocery tonight because of the weather so I thought I’d stop myself and take some things over. Unless you think that’s a dumb idea?”

  “It’s a great idea, honey. You’ll show her that you were not only listening about her needs, but trying to help.”

  As she began to list things he should pick up at the grocery, he made a mental list, hoping he got everything and that Nila would accept his help. Maybe she wouldn’t, and it would all be for nothing, but maybe she would and he’d be one step closer to her seeing that he wasn’t anything like her ex.

  Chapter 4

  Nila looked out the front window but couldn’t see much in the darkness. The power had gone out at 9:30 and hadn’t come back on, so an hour later, she’d built a fire in the fireplace and pulled Jack’s crib into the front room. He was sleeping soundly in his footy pajamas, his favorite stuffed wolf tucked close.

  Headlights flashed along the front of the house as a big vehicle pulled into the driveway. Who was that? She wasn’t expecting anyone. Immediately she wondered if Damien had come for her and Jack. The alarm system wasn’t working because the electricity was off, which made her wish she’d taken the security company’s advice and installed a generator for just such an emergency.

  The SUV’s headlights blinded her for a moment, but she blinked past the spots in her vision and watched the driver’s door open and the interior light illuminate Malachi.

  What the hell?

  She grabbed her coat and tucked her feet into the boots at the front door, casting a glance at her sleeping son before opening the front door, stepping out into the bitter cold, and closing it behind her.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked. Malachi had superior hearing; he would be able to hear her even if she was whispering.

  He got out, shut the door, and opened the passenger door, extracting two grocery sacks. He didn’t say anything until he reached the bottom step of the porch.

  “I remembered you saying you weren’t going to get to the store because of the snow, so I stopped for you.”

  He made no move to come up the steps, crowd her, or push past her into the house, like her ex would have done. Of course, her ex didn’t care if she had groceries or not, unless he was asking her to make him something to eat.

  Her mouth opened and closed, twice, before she said, “What are you doing?”

  With the SUV’s headlights illuminating him from behind, he looked so much like a freaking angel she almost forgot she was trying to keep him at arm’s length. He looked like a guardian angel — arms full of groceries, a halo of light around him, snow falling against his dark hair.

  Without stopping his smile, he set the bags down on the top of the porch and said, “I’ll get the others and then I’ll take off.”

  He made two more trips to the SUV. When he was done, seven paper sacks were lined up on the porch. “I wasn’t sure what kinds of things Jack would eat, so I called my mom.”

  She forgot the cold and the snow. She forgot everything but the man standing on the sidewalk in front of her house, and the words he’d just spoken.

  “You called your mom about Jack?”

  He shrugged, looking embarrassed. “I don’t know a lot about kids, so I went to an expert. I didn’t think that if I called you you’d tell me what you guys needed, anyway.”

  She snorted, but inside she knew he was right. If he’d called her and offered to bring groceries, she would have been too proud to accept. He was being kind, and yeah, maybe he was trying to show her that he was different from her ex, but at the moment he wasn’t asking anything but for her to accept the groceries.

  Her mouth opened before she could stop it. “Help me bring them in, but be quiet because Jack is sleeping.”

  He smiled so broadly that he looked as if someone had given him the best present ever. She picked up the nearest bag and opened the front door, stepping in and holding it while he picked up several bags and walked ahead of her. She carried her bag to the kitchen and Malachi moved like a ninja, silent and fast, bringing in the other bags and closing the front door quietly.

  The kitchen was through the family room, and without the heat, it was cooling quickly. “It’s cold enough outside to leave the milk and stuff on the back porch,” he said, shifting some things into one sack and unlocking the door at the back of the kitchen that led to the tiny concrete porch. She watched him put the cold things – milk, eggs, packages of deli meat and cheese, and an eight-pack of her favorite strawberry-banana yogurt – onto the back patio and shut and lock the door.

  He turned and said, “Take care, Nila.”

  He made it halfway through the family room before she managed to snap herself out of her stupor and race to him. She put her hand on the front door, not that she could stop him from opening it if he really wanted to.

  “How did you know I like that yogurt?” she whispered. She stared up at him, his beautiful blue eyes glinting in the firelight.

  He raised a brow. “I pay attention. You have one every day during your break.”

  She felt her insides tremble in excitement and scowled internally at herself. She was not going to melt into a puddle of goo because he happened to notice something that her ex, who had lived with her, had never once noticed.

  She blinked rapidly, unsure where the sudden stinging tears were coming from, and whispered, “I thought I’d make some hot chocolate, if you’d like to join me.”

  “Marshmallows?” he asked hopefully.

  She couldn’t help but smile. “Mini and regular.”

  * * * * *

  Malachi knew the roads were getting treacherous. He’d almost gotten stuck twice at the end of her development on the way to bring her groceries. The plows were out in force, but the snow was falling too fast for them to keep up. The news on the radio said that they were headed for a state of emergency in town, and that meant that soon no vehicles would be allowed on the road. But damn if he could pass up hot chocolate made by his mate. With marshmallows.

  “Take off your shoes, you’ll get my carpets all wet,” she said softly, smiling at him before toeing off her own boots, dropping her coat over a chair, and walking back into the kitchen. He glanced at the fireplace and thought it could use some more wood, so after he divested himself of his coat and boots, he added wood to the fire and then looked at the crib. Jack was adorable. He’d seen him at Acksel and Brynn’s engagement party, which seemed like an eternity ago. He looked just like Nila, but a slow inhale told him that the young boy was more wolf than human.

  He joined Nila in the small kitchen. The tile floor was old but clean, the curtains over the one large window in front of the table were cheerful red gingham, and the scent of beef stew lingered in the air.

  He caught the scent of gas as she lit the stove with a match and put a pan of milk on to heat. He sat on a padded kitchen chair and took the opportunity of her distraction to look at her in the glow from the electric candles on the cou
nter. She was wearing dark pink lounge pants decorated with penguins, and a dark top under a thick sweater. Her long hair was tucked back into a braid, and he wanted to undo it and run his fingers through the strands.

  “How long has the power been out?” he said in a low voice.

  “Since about nine-thirty. This house isn’t really insulated well so it cooled down fast, hence the fire.”

  “All the lights are out on this street, but my sister’s house still has power. I texted her before I got out of the SUV.”

  After she put the cold items in a bag, he put it out on the back porch for her, and then shut and locked the door. He stared down at the two deadbolts, his gut telling him that she’d put them in as a safety measure against her ex.

  “I know they won’t stop him if he wants to get in, but they’ll slow him down,” she said, her voice soft and sad.

  Mal turned slowly and faced her. Her back was straight with determination, but her eyes were haunted. Once more he found himself struggling not to offer her comfort. His wolf was genuinely aggravated that she was scared and he couldn’t help her.

  “I can help with the security, if you’d like. I have a security company.”

  Her head tilted just slightly in curiosity. “I thought you were Brynn’s bodyguard.”

  “That’s my pack job. I’m a protector, and that means I protect who the alpha says, and he says Brynn. As a sideline, though, I co-own L&M Security.”

  “You’re the ‘M’, who is the ‘L’?”

  “My best friend Lucian.”

  “Is he a wolf?”

  “No, he’s human. He’s got a…complicated life, and he travels quite extensively, but he does what he can for the company now until his life settles down.” Not that Malachi ever expected that to happen. Lucian wasn’t planning to retire from his real job anytime soon.

  “I don’t want to put you out.”

  He blinked, not sure what she was talking about, and then he realized she meant him helping with her home’s security. “It’s not a big deal. I saw the security company sign in the flower bed out front, and judging from the system you have in here, it wouldn’t take much for me to upgrade it so you’d feel safer.”