The Protector's Heart (Wilde Creek Three) (8 page)

“Slattery here.”

“Good morning, sir. This is Vivi Parker at
the communications center. I have an alert that the windows are
being broken at 128 Forrest Road. It’s flagged that we should call
you first and then the police.”

“Call the police. I’m on my way. Did you say
that windows are being broken, as in multiple ones?”

“Yes, sir. The windows are being broken one
after another, very systematically.”

“Damn it. Call me back if any other alarms
are triggered.”

He tossed his phone into the cup holder
between the seats with an aggravated snarl. “I need to take you
back inside. Something is going on at your house.”

“Take me with you.”

“No, it could be dangerous.”

She clenched her teeth and defiance lit her
eyes. “If you leave me here I’m just going to drive myself.”

“Damn it, you’re stubborn.” He put the
vehicle into gear and pulled out of the parking space. “You’re to
stay in the car and do exactly as I say, got it?”

“Yes.”

He grabbed his phone and called Sam, the head
of the protectors, quickly explaining the situation and asking him
to send any available protectors to Nila’s house. When he ended the
call, he knew that he was potentially driving his mate into a
dangerous situation, but he hoped like hell that whoever was
breaking her windows was gone by the time they got there. If
Malachi got a hold of whoever it was, he was going to lose it, and
he didn’t want her to see the dangerous side of his wolf.

* * * * *

Nila’s phone buzzed as Malachi drove to her
home. She pulled it from her purse, glanced at the screen, and then
froze.

“No security system will keep us apart,” read
the text from an unknown number. She had replaced her cell every
time Damien figured out her number. She didn’t know how he was
doing it, because the only places that ever had her number were the
daycare and work, and the only people she willingly gave it to were
Diane and Brynn.

“It’s Damien,” she said.

“What?” Malachi asked, his voice tight with
anger.

“He just texted me. He’s the one who’s
breaking my windows.” It had been easy enough to overhear the
conversation with Malachi and the security company. Someone was
breaking all her windows. Dread pooled in her stomach. She hadn’t
wanted to believe it was Damien, but the text proved it.

“How the hell does he have your cell number?
I thought you told Brynn that you didn’t give it out to
anyone.”

“I don’t.” She deleted the text and then
called the daycare to check on Jack. Everything was fine with him
and no one had seen anyone suspicious hanging around. Breathing a
sigh of relief, she dropped the phone into her purse and leaned
back against the seat.

“If you’re not giving the number out, then he
clearly knows someone who can get him the information. Maybe a
private investigator or a crooked cop.”

Malachi turned a corner sharply. Two police
cars and several other vehicles were parked on the street in front
of her house, and men were milling around in the yard. Since
Malachi didn’t say anything about the non-police people in her
yard, she assumed they were protectors.

He pulled the SUV to a stop at the curb and
turned to her. “I’m going to check things out. Stay put and lock
the doors when I get out.”

“Okay.”

His eyes narrowed and he reached out and laid
his hand on her neck. His thumb rubbed her throat and she raised a
brow at him. “What?”

“I’m making sure you’re not in shock.”

She smiled in spite of how nuts the situation
was. “I’m okay.”

“You’re being calm.”

She shrugged. “He could have done a lot more
than break the windows. Clearly he was having someone watch the
house who reported about you being here. I’m glad that it was just
the windows.”

He frowned, his thumb rubbing against her
throat lightly, and said, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

When he shut the door, she pressed the lock
button, reassured by the clicking sound of every door being locked.
He stared at her through the side window for a long moment, and she
wondered what he was thinking. Was he wondering if he was nuts for
getting involved with her? She was beginning to think anyone was
nuts to be around her.

She watched as Malachi first spoke to the
police, and then made his way around the house, apparently using
his phone to take pictures of the damage. From the street, she
could see the two windows at the front of the house were completely
broken out. It wasn’t like someone had just lobbed a rock through
them — both windows were entirely gone, the jagged remains glinting
in the afternoon sunlight.

Shit, the house was going to be a mess.

With a deep sigh, she laid her head back
against the seat and closed her eyes. When she’d made the decision
to leave Damien, she’d known that he was unstable. At the very
least he acted like a child whose favorite toy had been taken away.
She thought he got pleasure from her fear, knowing that he
terrified her. He wasn’t as muscular as Malachi, having more of a
lean, wiry build, but he was still powerfully strong, thanks to his
wolf shifter genes.

She opened her eyes and watched Malachi speak
to the other men. Even though she couldn’t hear what they were
saying, she could tell that the men respected him. They weren’t
afraid of him, that he might lash out unexpectedly just for the fun
of it the way that Damien did. No, these men — these wolf shifters
— respected Malachi because he was worthy of respect and deserved
it.

Twenty minutes passed before Malachi came to
her side of the SUV and she unlocked the door. He opened it and a
blast of cold air whipped into the interior, making her shiver
immediately.

“Come on, sweetheart.” He offered her his
hand and she took it without a second thought. He pulled her gently
from the interior of the SUV and guided her up the front walk. She
gave him the house key and he unlocked it and ushered her inside,
cautioning her to be careful of the glass. She gasped as she looked
around. Bricks had been tossed through the windows, and littered
the floor and furniture. Everything looked broken, as if the bricks
had been thrown with more purpose than simply breaking the glass.
Looking through the open door of Jack’s bedroom, she saw that the
crib was destroyed.

She didn’t even realize she was crying until
Malachi embraced her, bringing her into his warmth and holding her
close.

“Shh,” he crooned softly. “It’s going to be
okay.”

She ducked her head against his chest and
fisted his shirt in her hands. “How can you be sure?”

“Because I know I’m not going to let anything
happen to you or Jack.”

“Malachi?” She said his name, and a fine
tremble wove through her body.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

She lifted her head and stared into his eyes.
“Why are you here with me?”

Brynn had told her that Malachi believed Nila
was his mate, that his wolf and his human side were in agreement
that she was the woman meant for them. Diane had been right in
saying that Damien had never treated her like anything but
property. When he said that Nila belonged to him, he didn’t mean he
wanted to take care of her forever, he just meant he was keeping
her, whether she liked it or not.

Malachi lifted his hand and stroked the curve
of her cheek. “You’re my mate, Nila. I want you to be my mate, not
because I’m making some kind of Neanderthal claim to you, but
because you’re constantly in my thoughts and I can’t live without
you. I want you to be my mate because you want me to be yours,
because you can’t live without me, either.”

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Closing it again, she leaned her head against his chest and sighed.
She was buoyed by his words. He’d been in her thoughts since the
day they met. She’d been fighting the connection between them, but
here, in his arms, the last thing she wanted to do was fight.

A throat cleared and she lifted her head from
his chest and looked at a handsome man with short, dark hair.

Malachi said, “Nila, this is Jeremiah, part
of my pack. He’s going to stay here and make sure that the windows
are replaced and everything gets cleaned up.”

“What?” She blinked in surprise and turned
her attention to Malachi.

He smiled. “Jeremiah is going to take care of
things. All you need to do is pack a bag for you and Jack and I’ll
take you back to work.”

“A bag?”

“You can’t stay here tonight,
sweetheart.”

“But where will I go?”

“Do you even have to ask? Come to my home.
Everything that’s mine is yours.”

She shook her head and pushed away from him.
“That’s just insane. He broke all my windows because you installed
a security system. What do you think he’ll do when he finds me and
Jack at your house? I’ll go stay with Diane. She lives here in town
and I know she’ll take us in.”

Malachi’s eyes flashed from blue to amber.
“My home is safe.”

She took a step back, instinctively tensing
to flee if he raised his fist. He seemed to sense her fear
immediately. The amber faded from his eyes, and he jammed his hands
into his pockets. “If you’re not willing to stay at my house, then
I’m going to be there, guarding you.” She opened her mouth to
protest, but he shook his head. “Go pack. The police are waiting
for your statement, and your lunch hour is almost up.”

He seemed angry. Well, angry was an
understatement. He looked like he could punch a hole through the
wall, but he had purposely made himself calm down and appear
non-threatening. Once more she was reminded that Malachi was
not
Damien. She almost told him that she’d go to his house,
but she knew if she stayed there not only would she never want to
leave, but she’d be drawing Damien directly to him, and that was
the last thing she wanted to do.

Nodding, she walked into the bedroom and
opened the closet, grabbing an older diaper bag from the shelf. She
ignored the destruction and the crunch of glass under her shoes and
busied herself packing, trying to decide whether going to Diane’s
was really the best idea or not.

* * * * *

Malachi rubbed his snout on the porch railing
of Diane’s home. She was like an aunt to Nila, and the woman had
opened her door without hesitation to Nila and Jack. Malachi sat on
the front porch in his shifted form, using his enhanced senses to
keep track of what was going on around him. Three other protectors
were posted around the house. He’d asked Sam to get some volunteers
for the job; and Sam had immediately volunteered himself, and so
had Malachi’s cousins Devin and Hayden. Malachi would figure out a
way to thank them.

Nila was stubborn. He didn’t know why she
wouldn’t come to his house. The house was very safe, more so than
Diane’s for sure, since she didn’t even have a basic security
system. He lifted his muzzle and inhaled, sifting through the
scents around him and finding nothing but nature and the wolves
with him.

The front door opened and shut quickly, and
Nila sat down on the top step, a blanket wrapped around her. She
leaned against him and sighed loudly.

“I know you think I should be at your place,
Mal. It’s just that my life is so fucked up right now.”

He whined audibly and she ducked her head and
rubbed her cheek against the top of his head.

“You’re a good guy. I do feel strangely
connected to you. I’ve had to try really hard not to look at you at
work, but I can’t seem to help myself. I know I’ve been hiding
behind the fact that you’re a wolf to keep us apart, but you’re
more than this furry creature you shift into, I know that.” She
exhaled slowly and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “I just need
some time, Mal. Give me time to get to know you when things aren’t
so messy, okay? I can’t think about a future with you when I’m
afraid that Damien’s going to take everything from me. It would be
a lot better if he would find someone else to be with, but he
always comes back for me. He said he’d never let me go, and that
he’d make my life hell if I didn’t go back to him, and look at how
well he’s done that. I can’t even marry anyone else because he
won’t let me divorce him. And you know what’s really fucked up? He
never treated me like a real mate. He never claimed me as his mate
to the pack or marked me, he never treated me like anything but a
fuck toy and a maid. I was such a fool, and now I’m ruined, I’m so
hopelessly fucked.”

Malachi wanted to tell her that she wasn’t
hopelessly fucked at all, that he would figure out a way to get her
free of Damien’s hold on her, but since he was in his shift he
couldn’t do anything but growl softly and nuzzle her throat. She
sat with him for a long time, until it grew late and she shivered
from the cold. She kissed the top of his head and said goodnight,
and he watched her go into the house and lock the door. Settling in
for the night, he decided to talk to Acksel in the morning.

* * * * *

Damien watched from the upstairs window of a
house across the street from where Nila was staying. The occupants
of the house were gone, and he and his men had broken in through
the back door to stake out the house Nila was staying in. He
watched with narrowed eyes as Nila sat next to a wolf on the front
porch.

She was his! What the fuck was she doing
touching another male?

He growled. He should have brought a gun.
Then he could have just picked off the males one by one and taken
the bitch and his son back. He’d teach her a thing or two about
obedience, and make sure she never had an opportunity to leave him
again. His mind flipped through ideas on how to permanently ensure
that she stayed with him. He’d been toying with her since she left.
He enjoyed making her fearful, screwing with her just for his sheer
amusement. He hadn’t been without female company. As the son of the
alpha, he was a hot commodity and no one refused him. But he was
expending his time making Nila suffer, letting her believe she was
free of him and then tightening the noose. It was time to get her
once and for all.