The Protector's Heart (Wilde Creek Three) (22 page)

Malachi’s eyes widened as he looked at his
beta. Ren shrugged. “I wasn’t sure what would happen to Nila if
Isaiah knew that she’d killed Damien, regardless of whether it was
an accident or not. If he wanted physical retribution, I figured I
could handle it better than she could anyway.”

“I don’t know what to say, except thank you,”
Malachi said, feeling completely humbled by his pack member’s
actions.

Ren smiled. “Someday you can repay the favor
and take the fall for me, okay?”

“You got it.”

Acksel cleared his throat. “I’m sure it’s no
hardship, but Isaiah said that he doesn’t want our pack to step
foot in Dorlan again, even if the zombie apocalypse has come and
the world is ending. He never wants to see Nila or Jack again and,
in front of his pack members, he renounced his genetic tie to
Jack.”

Brynn swallowed a large bite of her second
sandwich and said, “What does that mean?”

Dade scrubbed his fingers across his
stubble-laden jaw. “It means that he no longer claims Jack as his
flesh and blood.”

“Um, he can’t just make a statement like
that; it’s a scientific fact that they’re related.”

“Not according to pack law. It’s an
old-school thing, love,” Acksel said. “If he hadn’t renounced his
claim on Jack, then Jack could have possibly shown up at his pack
some day and asked for sanctuary.”

“Like at a church?” Brynn gave another
confused look.

“Yes, like at a church. A relative is
required to offer sanctuary if it’s asked for, unless the relative
has publically renounced their relation, which Isaiah did. Now,
Jack is on his own, severed from contact with that side of his
family. Nila never has to worry about Isaiah or anyone else from
Damien’s pack or family members coming for Jack.”

“That’s good news,” she said.

“It’s the best damn news I’ve heard all day,”
Malachi said.

Ren said, “By the way, I found that asshole’s
finger on the floorboard.”

Mia made a gagging sound and Malachi
chuckled. “I think Nila will be glad to hear that Jack didn’t eat
it. Did you give it back to him?”

“Hell, no. He tried to hurt your mate. I
stomped on it and then kicked it into the gutter.”

“Thanks, man.”

Ren chuckled and took another swig of
beer.

The conversation switched to lighter topics,
including the upcoming full moon. In a week, Malachi would have to
leave Nila and Jack and go hunting. He wasn’t crazy about it,
especially when he knew that she harbored bad memories from many
full moons waiting for Damien to come back and knowing he’d been
unfaithful to her.

When the tray of sandwiches was gone and beer
bottles littered the top of the coffee table, Acksel sent the pack
members home to rest, save for those protectors who were on
schedule to patrol. Adam and Jeremiah began to clean up while
Acksel and Brynn argued about her ability to help clean. In the
end, Acksel won, because Brynn kept yawning and making his
point.

“See you guys in the morning,” she
groused.

“I think I can head home, right? I don’t need
to stay here?” Mia asked.

“Don’t like my couch?” Acksel asked.

“It’s not that, I just want to sleep in my
own bed. Mal?”

“I think its fine. Do you want me to run you
home?”

“Nah, Adam said he’d drop me off on his
way.”

Acksel watched Mia and the omegas clear the
table and then he turned to Malachi and said, “What do you want to
do about the full moon? I know I don’t have to tell you that my
home is open for Nila and Jack that night. Brynn and Eveny would
enjoy the company.”

“Thanks. I’ll take you up on that. I’d like
to claim her and Jack.”

“I’ll have my dad and the elders make the
arrangements, and you can do it before we go hunt.”

A weight lifted off his shoulders and he
breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks for everything, Acksel, I mean
it. You’re a good alpha and a good friend. You went above and
beyond tonight; I’m indebted to you.”

“I’m a
great
alpha,” he amended.

Malachi said goodnight to Mia in the kitchen
and made Adam promise to get her home safely, and then he strode
silently back to the guest bedroom. He really wished he’d been able
to take Nila home tonight, but he’d needed to hear what had
happened while he was gone. He was surprised that Ren had taken the
fall for Nila, but in a way he also wasn’t surprised. Although Ren
could be a tough son of a bitch, he was a good guy at heart.
Someday Malachi would be able to repay the favor.

Jack and Nila were still asleep, and he stood
at the bottom of the bed and watched them, Jack in the play pen,
his favorite stuffed wolf tucked up under his chin, and Nila just
as he’d left her, on her side with her hand under her cheek. Jack’s
lips were parted and Malachi could see that his teeth had returned
to normal and the claws were gone from his fingertips, too.
Whatever stress had brought on the partial shifting, it didn’t
linger. He knew Nila would be happy about that. Stripping, he
stepped into the bathroom and took a quick shower to wash off the
dried blood and sweat from the fight. He put on clean shorts from
the duffel and slid under the covers, pulling Nila close. He
inhaled her sweet scent and closed his eyes, thankful she and Jack
were safe now.

Chapter 16

Monday morning, Nila and Malachi dropped Jack
off at the house of a widowed she-wolf named Olive. She lived next
door to Doc, and was happy to take care of Jack while Nila worked.
The daycare had contacted her on Sunday night and told her that
Jack was no longer welcome due to his dangerous associations with
wolves. She hadn’t been surprised. After dropping Jack off, Malachi
took her to Doc’s and she accepted his job offer.

Malachi hung up her coat in the breakroom of
the clinic. “I won’t need you to drive me to work every day once I
start working for Doc. He lives close to your house.”

“I like doing it.”

“It makes Brynn late.”

“Acksel makes her late.”

She giggled. “I like driving with you, Mal,
but it’s important to me to do some things on my own.”

“At least let me drive you through the
winter. I don’t like your car.”

“Don’t bad mouth the car.”

“You know what I mean. I’m going to get you a
nicer car, by the way.”

“You don’t have to.”

He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled
her to his chest. “Don’t be surprised if you wake up one morning
and find a new car in the driveway with your name on it.”

“Hmm, how will I ever repay you?”

“I’ll think of a few hundred ways.”

“I’ll bet,” she laughed. He kissed her and
gave her a gentle push toward the door and the conversation she
wasn’t looking forward to having with Doctor Kimmi.

Glancing over her shoulder, she smiled at his
thumbs-up. She straightened her shoulders and walked down the hall
to Doctor Kimmi’s office. Rapping on the doorjamb, she said, “Do
you have a minute? We need to talk.”

“Uh-oh,” Doctor Kimmi said, looking up from
her paperwork. “I never like conversations that start that way.
Have a seat.”

Nila sat down and pressed her hands together,
willing the nerves away. She had truly enjoyed working at the
clinic, especially Doctor Kimmi’s kindness and her willingness to
overlook all of her infractions when a lesser person would have
fired her after a week.

“I’ve accepted a job with the wolf doctor.
I’ll have less hours and more freedom to be with Jack. It’s not as
demanding, since he doesn’t have a ton of patients, but I can learn
about holistic healing from him and also learn more about wolves,
which will help Jack when he gets older.”

“Aw, I’m so sorry to see you go. I really
want to ask you if there’s anything I can do to get you to stay,
but I don’t want to take you away from Jack and what sounds like a
perfect job for you. How long can you give me?”

“Two weeks.”

“All right. Damn, I was hoping to get you to
work here for about thirty years.”

She chuckled in surprise. “I’ve enjoyed
working here, Kimmi. I hope you know that I care about you and
Frank a great deal, and I wouldn’t leave if it wasn’t the best
thing for me and my family. You’ve been so good to me. I can never
repay you for all that you’ve done.”

“You can give me a hug,” she said, smiling
sadly.

“Sounds good to me,” Nila said as she stood
and moved around the desk, hugging Kimmi as she stood.

“Don’t be a stranger,” Doctor Kimmi said.

“I won’t.”

Nila left the office and went into the
employee bathroom, giving herself a few moments to collect her
thoughts. She didn’t think she’d be so sad to be moving on, but she
was. A little bit, anyway. Kimmi and her husband had been really
wonderful to her.

A knock at the door made her twist the handle
to unlock it. Malachi stood in the doorway. “You okay,
sweetheart?”

“I’m great.” She stepped out of the bathroom
and into his arms. He always seemed ready to give her a hug, to
offer emotional and physical support whenever she needed it. She
peered up at him. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

* * * * *

The full moon was the day after Christmas.
Malachi’s family had descended on his and Nila’s home at the crack
of dawn on Christmas Day, his parents’ car filled with so many
gifts that he was surprised his father didn’t get pulled over for
not being able to see out the back window. Jack had taken to his
parents immediately, but they’d also brought plenty of toys for him
as bribes. They’d loved Nila, too, not that he was surprised. She
was amazing. The day had passed quickly in a flurry of torn paper,
ribbons, and bows, and when his parents and Mia left after dinner,
they made him promise to bring Nila and Jack to visit, wanting to
reinstate their weekly Sunday dinners, which had fallen by the
wayside when Malachi moved back to Wilde Creek. He was happy to
share the weekly dinners with Nila and Jack. Some of his favorite
memories growing up revolved around those dinners, when he got to
stay in the dining room and listen to the adults in his family talk
about hunting and the pack. He wanted that for Jack, too.

Malachi spent the afternoon of the full moon
waffling between staying home and going to Acksel’s house. The pack
would gather behind his home before the hunt, but because it was so
cold out, there wouldn’t be the usual pre-hunt get-together. Those
wouldn’t pick up again until spring. For now, only those that
Acksel personally invited would be at the house before the pack
gathered, among them his father, the elders of the pack, his sister
Eveny and her human mate Luke, and Mia, because she and Brynn were
best friends. Malachi, Nila, and Jack were invited, but the more he
thought about it, the less he wanted Nila to experience anything
even remotely close to what she’d been through before with her ex’s
pack.

Something soft hit his shoulder and he looked
down to see one of Jack’s stuffed animals at his feet.

“Did you throw this at me?” he asked, bending
down and picking it up.

“I’ve been saying your name for two minutes,
where are you?” Nila asked from where she sat next to Jack on the
family room floor.

“Sorry, sweetheart, I’m just thinking.” He
sat down across from her with Jack between them and put the toy in
the pile of animals he was stacking. When the pile was five animals
high, Jack shoved it over and laughed loudly. Then he began the
process all over again.

“What are you thinking about so
seriously?”

“About staying home.”

He looked at her and she smiled knowingly.
“You’re not him, and you never will be. I trust you. I know you
won’t cheat on me. If you want to stay here, do it because it’s
something you want to do, not because you think I’m going to have a
meltdown when you go off into the woods.”

Her gaze was steady, and there wasn’t a hint
of her trying to pretend that she was anything but honest in that
moment. He loved that she trusted him, even when her history told
her wolf males were dishonest to the core. Besides, if he didn’t
bring her to the pack tonight, he wouldn’t be able to claim her and
Jack, and that was something he wanted to do badly.

He glanced at the marks on her neck and his
wolf made a humming noise that seemed to sound a lot like a purr
when it rumbled from his chest.

Jack’s head shot up from where he’d been
studiously watching the stuffed animals, and he lumbered to his
feet. Malachi went down to one knee and Jack pressed his palm to
Malachi’s heart. “Carrot?”

He growled again, louder this time, and Jack
grinned. “Woof.”

Malachi’s wolf huffed in indignation. His
growl sounded
nothing
like a dog. Nila chuckled and said,
“No, kiddo,
woollfff
,” she sounded the word out slowly.

Jack looked at his hand and then at Malachi
and said, “Woof.”

Malachi grabbed Jack, hoisting him into the
air and he squealed in delight.

“One of these days he’ll get it right,” Nila
said.

He set Jack on the floor and said, “I want to
go tonight, and I want you and Jack there to watch me shift, and I
want you to be waiting for me to come back from the hunt so I can
bring you home and we can…you know.”

“Go to sleep?” she asked with what he
supposed she believed was an innocent look.

“Eventually,” he said, grinning.

* * * * *

Nila wasn’t honestly worried about Malachi.
He had too much character to cheat on her. When they walked into
Acksel’s home, he left her with Brynn, Mia, and Eveny, and went to
speak to Acksel and the other wolves inside the house. Eveny, who
she hadn’t met officially, gave her a hug and said, “Welcome to the
pack, Nila. I’m so glad that Malachi has finally found someone
willing to put up with him.”