The Protector's Heart (Wilde Creek Three) (9 page)

He left his men to watch the house and wake
him in the morning, and flopped down on the bed in the master
bedroom. Unzipping his jeans, he reached for his cock, which had
gone hard as granite when he’d started thinking of all the ways to
make Nila pay for walking out on him. He fisted himself and closed
his eyes, imagining the scent of her tears and her pain-filled
cries as he meted out his punishment for walking away from him.
He’d start by taking his son away, and then he’d break her until
she had no will of her own. He chuckled darkly.
Enjoy your last
night of freedom, bitch
.

Chapter 7

Nila felt unsettled all day. She’d almost
called off work and kept Jack home, but Malachi promised she’d be
safe, and she believed him. He’d sent a protector to the daycare to
keep a discreet eye on things, which helped her feel better about
leaving him there, and she’d seen a strange car in the parking lot
of the clinic and recognized one of the males from those who had
patrolled around Diane’s home last night.

Malachi had been a reassuring presence with
her during the day. Even when she was with patients, she was aware
of him at the reception desk, keeping an eye on things. No longer
only guarding Brynn, but also guarding her. The day crawled by, but
by the time she was ready to leave, she felt like she could breathe
a little easier. She’d expected Damien to retaliate further, maybe
smash the windows again or slash her tires like he’d done two
months earlier.

She and Jack had ridden with Malachi that
morning. He’d taken Jack to the daycare first and then picked up
Brynn. He’d seemed lost in thought for the drive to the clinic, but
she’d had a lot on her mind, too. After her revealing one-sided
conversation with him the night before, she’d decided that she
wasn’t going to give Damien the satisfaction of scaring her into
walking away from Malachi. It had been tempting to just push him
out of her life and go back to the way things were with just her
and Jack, but the truth was she didn’t want that life anymore. She
didn’t want to look over her shoulder forever or sleep on the couch
anymore, and she wanted to really share her life with a man who
respected and cared for her. That man was Malachi. He’d shown
himself to be more of a man than Damien ever had, and she’d be a
fool to walk away from him.

As she pulled her purse from her locker, she
felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She lifted it and glanced at
the screen. It read ‘Mem Hosp’. Her mouth went dry and panic seized
her. Why would the hospital be calling?

“Hello?”

“Am I speaking with Nila Caruthers?” A
brusque female voice asked.

“Y-yes.”

“Miss Caruthers, I’m calling from Woodland
Memorial Hospital. You are listed as the emergency contact for
Diane Gordon. She was brought into the ER earlier.”

“What happened?”

“You’ll have to speak to the doctor on call.
Come to the ER entrance and check in with the reception desk and a
doctor will meet you.”

The call ended and she stared at her phone.
Malachi was suddenly there, and she turned to look up at him. “It’s
Diane. She’s in the hospital.”

His eyes narrowed. He reached past her and
pulled her coat out, holding it for her. “Come on, sweetheart,
let’s go.”

He wrapped his big hand around her elbow and
walked her out to the reception area. Brynn stood, looking worried.
“Is everything okay?”

“We need to go. Call Sam and Acksel and tell
them to meet us at the daycare.”

Brynn nodded and pulled her phone from her
purse as Malachi led Nila out of the clinic and to his SUV. He
opened the back door; Brynn climbed in and then Malachi led Nila
around to the passenger side and helped her in.

He left them in the SUV and moved swiftly to
the other car with the wolf and spoke to him for a quick moment
before climbing in behind the wheel of the SUV and starting the
engine.

“Devin is going to follow us,” Malachi
said.

“Sam and Acksel will meet us there.” Brynn
said. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Nila turned in the seat and looked at Brynn.
“Something happened to my friend Diane, and she’s in the ER. I
don’t know what it could be, except that someone hurt her.”

“Your ex?” Brynn asked softly.

Nila nodded tightly and felt her eyes sting
with tears. Malachi’s arm slipped over her shoulders and he
squeezed. “Hey, it’ll be okay.”

She leaned against him, the seatbelt biting
into her hip and chest, but she wanted to be close to him. “Why is
this happening?”

He didn’t answer her, but he didn’t have to.
She knew exactly why it was happening. Damien was going to get to
her one way or another, but first he was going to go after the
people she cared about. She looked at Malachi; the grim
determination on his face, the tight set of his jaw.

He glanced at her. “Don’t.”

She blinked in surprise. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t look at me like you’re saying goodbye
because things just got fucked up. I’m not going anywhere.”

She pressed her forehead into his shoulder
and closed her eyes. “Good.”

It took only a few minutes for her and
Malachi to pick up Jack. By the time they exited the building,
there was another SUV in the parking lot and Brynn was talking to
Acksel.

“I already moved the car seat,” Acksel
said.

Malachi had explained to her inside the
daycare that Brynn was going to take Jack home with her so that she
and Malachi could go to the hospital. Malachi was concerned that
Damien might try to take Jack if he were with them at the
hospital.

Nila didn’t want to leave her son, but she
knew Malachi was right. Malachi opened the passenger door of the
SUV and Nila strapped Jack in. He babbled at her, and then looked
over her shoulder to Malachi.

“Carrot?”

Nila glanced backward. Malachi was grinning,
and it made her stomach flip. He was sexy, and this situation
sucked big old donkey balls. In a perfect world, she would be going
home with Malachi and spending the night with him while Jack slept
in his crib in the next room. But her world was far from
perfect.

She pulled a sippy cup of juice from the
diaper bag and gave it to Jack along with a few of the toys she
kept tucked inside. She kissed his cheeks and whispered that she
loved him, and then she slipped from the SUV and told Brynn what
things he liked to eat for dinner.

Brynn hugged her. “He’ll be fine with us,
honey. I hope your friend is okay.”

She stood with Malachi and watched the wolves
get into the SUV, Brynn sitting in the second row next to Jack.

“Let’s go,” Malachi said, nodding to Devin,
who was going to follow them.

She let him lead her to the SUV and shut her
inside, and then they were on their way. She didn’t know what she
would see at the hospital, but she hoped that Diane was okay.

* * * * *

Malachi listened as the ER doctor explained
that Diane had been beaten severely when she left her house earlier
that day. Neighbors had found her after she crawled to their house
and called for help.

“She’s heavily sedated now, but you can see
her. She’ll be here for a few days, and then she’ll need to be
released into someone’s care.”

Malachi answered before Nila could. “We’ve
got it covered.”

The doctor nodded and left, and Nila turned
and leaned heavily against him. Immediately he wrapped his arms
around her.

“Are you ready to see her?”

“No. I’m scared for what happened to her. You
heard what the doctor said.” She lifted her head and looked at him,
her eyes wide with fright. “I never wanted this for her. I screwed
up.”

“How?”

“I should have gone home with you. You
wouldn’t have been caught off guard by Damien and his buddies and
beaten within an inch of your life. I put her in danger. She could
have been killed because of me.”

He saw panic and guilt tighten her features.
He growled lightly and cupped her face. “You didn’t cause anything.
Your ex is a vicious nutcase. No male of honor attacks a female for
any reason. You made a choice, and Diane welcomed you. She’s your
friend and there’s nothing wrong with helping friends.”

She swallowed hard and blinked tear-filled
eyes at him. “I can’t take care of her during the day, I can’t lose
my job.”

“I said it’s handled, trust me.”

She smiled briefly and tears surged over her
cheeks. He brushed them away and kissed her forehead. “Go see
Diane. I’m going to make some calls.”

She gave him a watery smile, took in a shaky
breath, and pushed open the door to Diane’s room. Malachi waited
until the door shut before pulling out his phone.

By the time visiting hours were over, Devin
was sitting on a chair outside of Diane’s room to guard it, and
arrangements were made for Diane to go home with Kammie, one of the
omegas.

Nila held his hand as they walked out of the
hospital. “What’s an omega?”

“A non-ranked wolf.” He opened the passenger
door and helped her inside, and then shut the door and climbed in
behind the wheel. “How much do you know about pack hierarchy?”

“Next to nothing,” she admitted. “I only know
the alpha is the boss.”

He smiled at her as he pulled away from the
hospital and headed to Acksel’s home. “That’s very true. So the
alpha is the boss. Under him is the beta, who handles discipline
issues among other responsibilities, and is the authority when
Acksel isn’t around. Our beta is Ren. Then there’s the theto, who’s
like the beta but accountable to him, and is the head of the
protectors. The protectors, like me, are ranked underneath the
theto, from the fourth position down. Then you have the omegas.
They’re not ranked, either because they’re female or they’re males
who are too weak through injury or age to be of use to the pack, or
decide not to engage in rank fights.”

“The females are automatically omegas?”

“Yes. Females are part of the general omega
population and aren’t ranked, except for Brynn, who’s the boss of
everyone except Acksel.”

She snorted a laugh. “I think she believes
she’s the boss of
everyone
.”

He grinned and reached over for her hand,
which she freely gave. “I’ve heard of packs where females are
ranked, but it’s not our pack’s way. The females and the pups are
important, the life blood of the pack, and the protectors are to
keep them, and the other omegas, safe.”

“Are wolves ranked right away when they
shift?”

“No. We’re automatically omega. The alpha
allows rank fights during the full moon, and a male can fight his
way out of omega status and become a protector.”

“So it’s just alpha, protector, and
omega?”

“It works best when it’s simple.”

“You’re a protector.”

“Yep.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment, and he
glanced at her when he came to a stoplight. “What?”

“I was just wondering how hard it was for you
to fight your friends in the rank fights.”

He shrugged. “It’s not fun, but the pack
works best when people are ranked appropriately. When I came back,
I fought for the fourth rank because that’s what I was when I left,
and I knew I was the best male for the position.”

“You don’t want to be theto or beta?”

He shook his head. “Their positions come with
a lot of responsibility. I like being fourth because I’m still
highly ranked but I don’t have the burden of leadership.”

She hummed in her throat and said nothing. He
let the conversation drop, thinking over what he’d said. He enjoyed
sharing pack life with her. She seemed completely out of her depth
with wolves, and he could thank her asshole ex for that. Females
were not treated well in her ex’s pack, and Nila hadn’t even had
the luxury of being a true mate to him, protected and cared for by
his pack. Malachi could admit that it was better this way, though,
at least from his perspective. She wasn’t wearing her ex’s marks on
her neck, and Damien’s pack hadn’t come for her.

He parked in front of Acksel’s house and
turned in the seat to face her. “When I was a kid, there was a
she-wolf in the pack whose mate was a real jerk. He didn’t treat
her well. He had a gambling problem and wasted what little money
they had at the OTB. They had young pups, and there were times when
I remember my mom taking food over to her, and my and Mia’s old
clothes. One night, he hit her and trashed their house. In the
morning, our alpha banished him from the pack and dissolved their
mating. She moved into the home of a widowed she-wolf and was taken
care of by the pack.” Nila looked at him curiously but said
nothing. “What you’re going through now isn’t supposed to happen.
Damien abused you. His alpha should have stepped in and protected
you.”

“Damien is the alpha’s son.”

“Doesn’t matter. Females are to be protected
at all cost, treasured members of the pack that are never to be
harmed.”

She swallowed audibly and the scent of fresh
tears filled the air. “I’m human.”

He shook his head. “It
still
doesn’t
matter. You’re precious, no matter what your DNA is.”

He hugged her, finding the seatbelt release
with his fingers so she could be freed, and pulled her closer. She
was here with him, and no matter what hell was going on outside, in
the end it only mattered that she was his.

“When you’re free, Nila,” he said softly, “I
mean
really
free, I want you to choose me. I want to be your
mate and take care of you and Jack.”

She tucked her head into his neck and sighed,
but said nothing. He was going to take her non-response to mean she
was thinking about it, and that was better than a flat-out no. He
knew they were a long way from really being together, but the first
step could come from him setting things right in her world and
making her safe.