The Protector's Heart (Wilde Creek Three) (7 page)

“Why did you want to be her protector?”

“She’s my sister’s best friend, and Acksel
and I have known each other our whole lives. As my alpha female,
her safety is important to me. But it’s not the most important
thing in my world.” His voice deepened and he gazed at her
intently.

Her mouth went dry. “What?”

His lips pursed for a long moment and then he
said, “You’re important to me, Nila. I don’t want you to hate me
just because of my DNA.”

Her chest tightened and her breath froze in
her chest. “We’re just having dinner.”

His face shadowed darkly and she saw the hurt
in his eyes before he schooled his features and looked down at the
plate, stabbing his fork into a chunk of pork chop. He didn’t say
anything else, and her appetite swiftly disappeared. She’d insulted
him. Again. He finished eating faster than she thought possible,
and then he stood, left the kitchen, and returned with a strange
metal bar with rubber on both ends.

“I want to show you the new security stuff,
and then I need to go.” His voice was calm and clipped, and it made
her chest hurt.

He shoved the metal bar under the back
doorknob, so the rubber-pronged end surrounded the doorknob handle
and the angled rubber bottom pressed into the floor. “This is a
security bar. It can withstand 350 pounds of pressure. It won’t
necessarily stop someone who’s really determined to get in, but it
will slow them down. I have one for the front door, too. When I’m
gone, you should install it.”

He showed her the small white boxes on the
inside of each window, explaining that they were alarms. If someone
broke one of the windows, the alarm would sound. He gave her the
new security code, explained how to arm and disarm the system, and
then he said, “I canceled your other security program. This is my
company’s system. If someone tries to get into your house, or you
press the emergency button, my 24/7 monitoring service will alert
the police and send help.”

She felt him pulling away from her
emotionally, and it left her feeling colder than the snow on the
porch. “Malachi, I —”

He turned to look at her as he adjusted the
collar of his coat. He waited for her to say something, but she
didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry.” She hugged her arms around
herself. In a heartbeat, Malachi’s strong arms were around her. She
stiffened involuntarily, but his gentle hold didn’t change. He
didn’t try to force her to do anything, he just held her. It was
the most comforted she’d ever felt.

“I’m not him, Nila, and I never will be.
However long it takes for you to see that, just know that I’m not
going anywhere.”

Her defenses crumbled and she tunneled her
hands under his coat and hugged herself close to him. Tears fell as
she buried her face in his chest, gripping him like her life
depended on it. She cried long enough that her throat grew raw and
her eyes burned. He did nothing but rub her back and hold her
close, letting her cry on him.

“I-I made you angry before. I’m s-sorry.”

“What?” He cupped her cheek and lifted her
face until she was looking at him. “Mad? When did you make me
mad?”

“At the table, and when I didn’t let you in
right away.”

He brushed the tears from her cheek with his
thumb. “I wasn’t mad at all, sweetheart. My wolf was being pretty
vocal earlier, and I didn’t want to show you that side of me.”

Her hands tightened on his back, the material
of his shirt gripped tightly in her fists. “I know what you are,
Mal. I don’t want to hold my past against you, but I don’t know how
to stop myself.”

“We’ve got time. I’m not going anywhere
unless you tell me to.”

“Okay,” she sighed the word and pressed her
cheek against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.
He held her for a long time, just the two of them in the family
room, and then he gave her a final hug and said goodbye, making her
promise to use the security bar when he left.

As she closed and locked the door, setting
the alarm and using the security bar, she realized she was shocked
at his behavior. He hadn’t tried anything with her. She was upset
and vulnerable, and he left. She wasn’t really sure what to make of
it.

Picking up the phone, she called Diane.

“Hello honey,” Diane said, answering in her
always-cheerful manner.

“Hi. Are you busy?”

“Never for you. What’s up?”

Nila proceeded to tell Diane about the
situation with Malachi. Diane was silent for a long moment. Nila
collapsed onto the couch, tired from the emotional upheaval of the
evening and all the pacing she’d done while she talked.

“Let me ask you this: is this Malachi fellow
kind?”

“Yeah. But so was Damien.”

“Oh, bullshit.”

“Diane! You never curse.”

“And you never used to look at your past with
such rose-colored glasses. Damien was
not
a nice male, your
aunt and I never thought so. He didn’t treat you like a queen; he
treated you like you were his property, and he never once treated
you like a wolf’s mate.”

“What?”

“He never marked you or brought you into his
pack. You spent full moons waiting for him to come back. Don’t you
remember crying to us about how you could smell the other women on
him but he always said it was nothing? Come on, honey. I’m not
saying he never cared for you, I’m just saying that he never
treated you like he did. From what you’ve told me, Malachi is
entirely different. Would Damien have slept on the couch for you?
Gotten Jack before his crying woke you? Shoveled the damn walk,
cleaned the snow off your car, or installed a security system? Get
real, get a clue, and grab hold of that male before some other
woman smarter than you digs her claws into him.”

She didn’t like the thought of that at all.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m scared he’s
going to betray me. I feel like I can’t trust my own instincts
because I was so wrong about Damien.”

“I can’t tell you what to do, honey, but I
can tell that you already care about Malachi, and he clearly has
feelings for you. He wants you safe even if it means he’s not the
one keeping you safe, and he spent how long at your house tonight
and didn’t even try to kiss you? Snatch him up, Nila, fast.”

Nila chuckled. “Thank you, Diane. I love
you.”

“I love you too. Now get some sleep, and when
you get up in the morning, grab that wolf of yours by the collar,
give him the kissing of a lifetime, and tell him you’re ready to be
his mate.”

“He didn’t ask me to be his mate,” she
pointed out.

“Trust me. My first husband was a wolf, and
when a wolf finds his real mate, he can’t help but want to be with
her.”

Another point in favor of Malachi and against
Damien, who only seemed to show up around the full moon to cause
her trouble. Nila ended the call and lay back on the couch, looking
up at the ceiling. Diane was right. Malachi wasn’t acting anything
like Damien, even back in the beginning when she’d thought Damien
was treating her well.

Lifting her phone, she called Brynn. “Hi. Do
you have a minute to talk?”

There was the muffled sound of Brynn telling
Acksel to leave her boob alone, and then she said, “I’ve got plenty
of time to chat. What’s up?”

“It’s about Malachi,” she said, wiggling
against the cushions until she was comfortable, as she began to
talk to her friend, who happened to be Malachi’s boss.

* * * * *

Malachi thought Brynn was acting weird as he
drove her to work the next morning. She was grinning from ear to
ear, but refused to say why. In fact, she hadn’t said a word the
whole drive.

“What is up with you? Did you secretly kill
Acksel in his sleep for snoring? I know you said you were going to
do that once.”

“No.” She drawled the word out and then
giggled.

“Brynn,” he sighed, “spit it out or stop
giggling, you’re making me batty.”

“I can’t, Mal. But I had a great phone call
last night and…it’s going to be a good day, I promise. In fact, I
think I’ll stay in for lunch and you should find something to do
with yourself. Get some fresh air.”

She giggled again and then coughed, trying to
hide it.

He groaned. Mia and Brynn had spent the
better part of their younger years driving him nuts, and Brynn
apparently hadn’t grown out of it. Then again, neither had Mia.

He escorted Brynn into the office and then
went to the room that housed the security system to review the
overnight recordings. He paused when he entered the room and Nila
was standing next to the chair.

He blinked in surprise.

“Good morning,” she said softly.

He noticed that her hair was down today.
Usually she had it up and out of the way while she worked. He liked
seeing her hair down.

“Hi, Nila.”

She cleared her throat and her cheeks pinked.
“I was wondering if you wanted to go to lunch with me today?”

Clarity washed through him. Brynn knew about
this. It’s why she was acting like such a loon.

“I’d love to.”

“Really?” She looked genuinely surprised.

“Of course. Do you want me to make a
reservation at Luna’s?”

“Brynn already did.” She paused and said,
“You’re not mad, are you? That I talked to Brynn about this?”

He smiled and closed the distance between
them. He wanted to hug her, but he settled for just standing close
to her. “Not at all.”

“She said that you aren’t going to be coming
here anymore, and I thought this might be my last chance.”

“Last chance?”

“To take you to lunch.”

“You can see me anytime you want. I’m not
going to be sitting at the reception desk all day long anymore, but
I will be driving her back and forth to work, and taking her out
for lunch when she wants to leave. I could…” he paused, very
certain he was about to cross a line with her, push too hard and
drive her away.

“Could what?” She edged closer, tilting her
head back to gaze up at him.

“I could drive you, too.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I could pick you and Jack up, take him to
daycare, and then drive you to work with Brynn. If you wanted.”
Damn, he wanted her to say yes.

Something flickered in her eyes, and he
thought for a moment that it was jealousy. She wasn’t jealous of
Brynn, was she? Maybe it wasn’t too far-fetched for her to be,
considering how much time Malachi spent carting her around town.
His mind flickered back to the conversation he’d had with Acksel
earlier in the week about what would happen when he finally got
Nila to agree to be his mate. Acksel said they’d work it out, but
unless someone else stepped in as her personal protector, then
Malachi was stuck. Nila would have to share his time with Brynn,
while Malachi drove her around.

“I’m sorry,” he said, without thinking.

“Sorry for what?” Her head tilted, her hair
sliding over her shoulder. He reached out and caressed a lock,
finding it warm and silky.

“I’m sorry that my pack job means I have to
be Brynn’s guard.”

“Don’t be sorry for being a male that your
alpha trusts. Besides, this is just lunch, Malachi Slattery. Let’s
not get ahead of ourselves, okay?” She smirked at him, and he
tweaked her chin with his finger and thumb.

“Okay. What time?”

“11:30.” Her smirk slid into a full-blown
smile and his wolf grinned like a fool in return.

She left him in the computer room, and he sat
down heavily on the chair in front of the desk, amazed that things
were looking up for him with his sweet mate.

Malachi was nervous and watched the clock
constantly. Brynn called him a nutcase for being so twitchy, but he
could tell she thought it was a good thing.

Before he got ready to leave for lunch, Brynn
said, “Just remember that with us humans, the mate stuff can feel
foreign and sound kind of crazy. Humans just meet someone they’re
attracted to and fall in love, there isn’t some other furry person
in our brains telling us that we’ve found ‘the one.’”

“You said you were drawn to Acksel.” he
pointed out.

“Sure. He’s sexy, and I’ve known him forever,
but where he knew I was his mate, I doubted that the stuff between
us was real. It’s difficult to be in a relationship with someone
who’s so positive you’re meant to be together when one of you is
just feeling things out. If you go all caveman on her, you’re going
to scare her away. Her ex treated her like property. If you start
spouting off that ‘mine’ crap that Acksel does with me, then she
might think you’re more like her ex than you really are. She
deserves to be treated like a queen, and I know you’re the right
male for the job.”

“She really called you about me last
night?”

“Oh yeah,” Brynn said, grinning. “She was
very curious about you and whether it was okay if you went with her
to lunch. I said it was fine. I am your boss, right?”

He smirked. “Yes, Alpha.”

She laughed. “I love being the boss. Have fun
and be yourself. She already likes you, she’s still just wrestling
with her past.”

Nila walked down the hallway at that moment,
carrying Malachi’s coat. He was touched that she’d grabbed it for
him. “Ready?” she asked, hopefully.

“Do you want me to drive?”

“If you’d like.”

“I would.”

They said goodbye to Brynn. Malachi offered
his arm to Nila and she took it, leaning on him as they walked down
the steps and out to the SUV. The parking lot was mostly slush and
salt, but he still wanted her to be safe. He unlocked the passenger
door and helped her in, and then he came around to the driver’s
door and got in. As he turned on the engine, his phone buzzed.

He pulled it from his pocket and glanced at
the screen. His company was calling.

He mouthed
sorry
to Nila and answered
the phone.