The Protector's Heart (Wilde Creek Three) (6 page)

“I’ll miss you hanging out here.”

“You’ll survive. If I don’t start paying more
attention to my company, though, it might not make it.” He rubbed
his temple, worry about Nila’s change in attitude clouding his
mind.

“What’s up with Lucian? Mia said he hasn’t
been around in months.”

Malachi made a face. “Mia shouldn’t worry
about him.”

Brynn snorted loudly. “Oh, okay, then why
don’t you stop worrying about Nila?” He gave her a confused look
and she shrugged. “You can’t stop thinking about Nila, so why would
Mia stop thinking about Lucian?”

He growled. “They are
not
mates. She
has a childhood crush on him and needs to get over it.”

“Man, you’re a dick sometimes. You don’t know
what she and Lucian are, because you’ve done your damnedest to keep
them apart, what with your
never touch my sister
rules. You
can’t stop nature, Mal, no matter how hard you try. You should just
let them get together and see what happens. If they’re mates
they’re going to be together no matter what, and then you’ll be the
jackass who kept them apart for all those years.”

“His life is too dangerous; she could become
a target.”

Her brow arched. “Isn’t he like a scary-ass
body guard or something like that? Luke is human and he kept Eveny
safe from those wolves who tried to hurt her.”

“Don’t remind me.” Acksel’s only sister Eveny
had been intent on going through the heat cycle alone in a family
cabin in the mountains, and Acksel had attempted to intervene,
telling one of the wolves where she was so he could ‘help her out,’
in her time of need. Instead, the wolf had gathered some friends
and gone up there with the intention of brutally raping her, and it
was only Luke’s intervention that kept Eveny safe. Luke’s
protection of Eveny had begun the slow transformation of the pack
from wolf-only to accepting of humans. Before Eveny and Luke became
mates, a wolf in the Wilde Creek Pack would be banished forever for
choosing a human mate. Now, with Brynn, there were two human mates
in the pack, and Brynn’s status as alpha female went a long way
toward helping the pack accept humans. It didn’t matter a bit to
Malachi that Nila was human. She was his, and that meant he
accepted what she was. A bit of bitterness swam through him. Didn’t
Nila know that Malachi was her mate? Even if she was human,
couldn’t she feel
some
kind of connection to him? Why
couldn’t she look past what he was to the male he was inside, and
see he was nothing like her ex?

“Wow, I’m sorry if I insulted you or
something,” Brynn said, rubbing her arms and shuddering.

“What?”

“You’re growling, and your eyes are
amber.”

He pressed his palm to his forehead and
forced his wolf down. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to talk about Mia
and Lucian anymore, okay? I wish a lot of things were different
right now, the least of which is Lucian’s dangerous life and my
sister’s interest in him.”

Brynn smiled softly. “It’s okay, Mal.”

The front door opened and a patient walked
in. Malachi turned back to the laptop and went over security
footage once more, just to give himself something to do so he
didn’t obsess over Nila’s change in attitude.

Unfortunately he didn’t have much luck with
that.

* * * * *

Nila pulled a bottle of apple juice from the
refrigerator and poured some into a sippy cup, closing the lid and
setting it on the highchair tray. There was a knock at the front
door and her heart stopped in her chest for a long moment, before
she reasoned that Damien would never knock. He’d bang his fists on
the door and demand she open it.

Glancing at Jack and seeing him happily
playing the drums on the tray with his plastic spoons, she walked
quickly to the front door and looked through the peephole.

Malachi.

She’d spent the day pretending to be aloof
about him. About lunchtime, she’d become aware that his mood had
soured and he looked really unhappy. She knew her own behavior was
to blame, and part of her had felt bad.

“What do you want, Malachi?” she called
through the door.

“I said I’d upgrade your security system, and
I’m here to do that.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Why?”

“I keep my promises.”

“You didn’t make a promise, though.”

She could hear his aggravated, low growl, but
for once it didn’t frighten her. “If you don’t want me here, Nila,
I can have one of my people come and do the upgrade instead. I just
want you to feel safe, and if you don’t feel that way with me here
then I’m defeating my own purpose.”

She opened her mouth to tell him to send
someone else, but she couldn’t make herself say the words.
Unlocking the deadbolts and security bar and twisting the lock on
the knob, she pulled the door open and stepped aside to let him
in.

He had several bags that he carried in with
him. As she shut and locked the door, Jack called out,
“Carrot?”

Nila wasn’t sure, but she thought that Jack
was calling Malachi ‘carrot.’ He hadn’t said his favorite word
since he’d said it to Malachi the day before. Was it a
coincidence?

“I was getting ready to feed him dinner.”

“Go on and do whatever you need to, I’ve got
this.”

He seemed tense; his lips were drawn into a
tight line, and he looked like he was clenching his teeth together.
She stared at him for a moment longer, feeling the need to
apologize. She’d made him mad. Unlike her ex, he wasn’t lashing out
at her physically or verbally. In fact, he seemed to be doing
everything in his power to remain non-threatening and calm.

She walked into the kitchen, uncertainty
gnawing at her. As she prepared Jack’s dinner, she thought about
all that Malachi had done for her since she’d met him. He’d done
more for her in a few weeks than Damien had in all the years she’d
known him. Damien had been kind on the surface, but he’d never gone
out of his way to help her. Never shoveled her drive or brought her
groceries, and even though Jack was Damien’s son, he never looked
at him with any kind of affection. The sort of affection that
Malachi gave freely to Jack — that he seemed willing to give to her
if she’d let him.

Swallowing the sudden lump in her throat, she
pulled a package of pork chops from the refrigerator and put a pan
on the stove to heat. She hadn’t bothered getting to know anything
about Malachi. Considering how much attention he paid to her, how
much he’d learned just by watching, she was starting to feel like a
colossal bitch.

“Your mom’s an idiot,” she told Jack as he
picked up SpaghettiOs with his fist and shoved them into his
mouth.

“Carrot?” he asked, grinning widely with
sauce-covered cheeks.

“Carrot.”

* * * * *

Malachi’s stomach growled when the scent of
cooking pork wafted into the family room. Nila would think a
predator had gotten into the house if he didn’t stop that grumbling
sound. He forced himself to concentrate on finishing the
installation of the new security system, which he’d completely
revamped. She’d had a bare-bones system before, but it wasn’t
enough protection. Along with closing out her account with the old
security company, he’d added her to his 24/7 monitoring service,
which would alert the police and his staff of a break-in.

His phone buzzed, and he pulled it from his
pocket. “Hey, Lucian.”

“Hey. I just got an update from our staff
that you’re doing an installation in Wilde Creek. Anything I should
know?”

“Checking up on me?” Mal joked.

“You know it. Protecting my investment.”

Malachi had told Lucian about Nila when he
first met her. Lucian was Malachi’s best friend, aside from being
business partners. Malachi wanted Lucian to know what was going on
in case something happened to him, so that Nila would always be
safe. He knew that if he was incapacitated, Lucian would come and
protect Nila in a heartbeat, regardless of his other
obligations.

Lucian sobered. “Is this just a general
security system, or did something else happen?”

“No, nothing’s happened, but I’ll feel better
knowing she’s more protected.”

“Window alarms?”

“Yep.”

“Motion detectors outside?”

“I haven’t installed them yet.”

Lucian hummed. “Sounds like you’ve got it
settled. When’s the wedding?”

Malachi chuckled. “I’ll let you know.”

“You do that.”

“Are you coming back to Wilde Creek anytime
soon? I’m tired of paying you a salary when I’m doing all the
work.” Lucian went quiet and Malachi straightened. “Is everything
okay?”

“Yeah, of course. I don’t know when I’ll be
back, but if you need me, you call and I’ll be there in a two
shakes. Got it?”

Malachi said goodbye and hung up, sliding the
phone into his pocket.

“Was that your business partner?” Nila
asked.

Malachi turned to find her leaning against
the doorjamb. He nodded.

“What else does he do besides run the
security company with you?”

He hesitated, and saw her eyes narrow and a
frown mar her pretty face. “He’s a hunter.”

“Like deer or duck?” Her head tilted as her
brows rose.

“Not remotely. He hunts rogue shifters for
the government. It’s part of the military, a small group of highly
trained soldiers that go after shifters who have harmed humans or
become unstable.”

“I didn’t know there were people like
that.”

“No one knows what Lucian does aside from me.
His family thinks he’s just a soldier; they don’t know that he goes
after dangerous shifters to help protect the population. He travels
a lot, and he’s very good at his job.”

Her brows creased. “No one knows? But you
told me.”

He exhaled slowly. “I trust you not to tell
anyone what Lucian does. It’s important to him that his family is
safe, and the safest thing for them is to be in the dark about the
specifics of his job.” He watched her brows draw closer together
and this time he didn’t stop himself from crossing over to her and
looking down into her beautiful face. “You’re safe, Nila. I
wouldn’t have told you if I thought it would place you in danger.
He deals with bad guys, and sometimes bad guys go looking for
people to hurt in vengeance, which is why he does all that cloak
and dagger stuff. But it’s got nothing to do with you.”

She peered up at him, her chocolate gaze
roaming his face. “Are you safe? You’re his business partner.”

“He keeps that part of his life separate from
our business, so yes, I’m safe.” He wanted to grin like an idiot
because she cared if he was safe or not.

She inhaled slowly, her eyes darkening, and
the soft, sweet scent of her arousal spiked in the air between
them. He almost bit off his tongue, but he managed to put some
distance between them. “I’m going to head outside to install some
motion lights around the outside of the house.”

“I made dinner. When you’re done.”

His head shot up. “You didn’t have to.”

“I know. I think that’s why I did it.”

He smiled at her and she returned it, turning
into the kitchen and leaving him alone. Gathering his things, he
headed out into the cold to hook up the motion lights. He couldn’t
help but smile. She’d made him dinner. He’d dance a jig if he knew
how.

Dinner with his mate. Was there anything
better outside of naked bodies between sheets? Hell no.

Chapter 6

It took Malachi about two hours to get the
outside lights installed. Every now and then she’d hear a ladder
moving around, some drilling, and the occasional muffled curse. She
put both of their dinners in the oven to keep warm and got Jack
ready for bed. By the time Malachi came inside, Jack was snoozing
in the bedroom with the door shut, and she was positively
starving.

“Come eat, Mal.”

He took off his coat and toed off his boots.
“You called me Mal.”

“Sorry. Brynn does. Is that a nickname just
for her?” She felt a little stab of jealousy.

“No, not at all. My sister does, too. I like
you calling me that.”

He followed her into the kitchen, and her
heart started thumping. She’d never really cared if anyone liked
her cooking before. Jack was easy and her biggest fan, but serving
Malachi dinner suddenly seemed stupid. If he hated her cooking, he
might not want to come over anymore.

She gave herself an internal shake. She still
wasn’t one hundred percent sure what she wanted to do with Malachi
anyway. He might be gorgeous, but he was still a wolf, and she’d
never had good luck with wolves. She was feeling like a bad hostess
and wanted to feed him, that was all this was. She didn’t need to
read anything into it, because there wasn’t anything there.
Right?

She pulled the plates out of the oven and
turned around, finding him setting the table with silverware and
folded napkins. She clenched her teeth to stop from gushing over
how awesome he was. Setting the plates on the table, she pulled a
jug of sweet tea from the refrigerator and filled up two glasses.
She sat down and said, “I wasn’t sure what you liked to eat, but I
figured meat was a good start.”

He looked down at their matching plates —
pan-seared pork chops, macaroni and cheese, and steamed green
beans. His blue gaze met hers, and he flashed her a brilliant
smile, making that dimple show in his cheek again. “It’s perfect. I
do love meat, but heck, I’d eat anything you made.”

She felt herself blush and turned her
attention to the food. While they ate, Malachi told her about his
family, and how he’d just recently come back to Wilde Creek to live
and rejoined the pack as one of the protectors.

“You’ve mentioned that before. What is a
protector?”

He swallowed his bite of food and took a
drink of iced tea. “There are two main groups within our pack — the
protectors and the omegas. Protectors are those who’ve proven
themselves to be good guards. Our job is to keep pack members safe.
I’m Brynn’s personal protector, but other protectors guard the
alpha house, drive Acksel around, and patrol in the town and the
pack’s territory.”