Wilde Creek: The Protector's Heart Part 2

"Because Acksel said so."

Mia hummed. "I'm sure it's not a hards.h.i.+p since you get to ogle the nurse, but really...it's one thing to drive her around, but it's another to sit there all day. Don't you have a business to run?"

He scrubbed a hand through his hair. "I was planning to talk to Acksel about it. I think you're right. I could still drive her everywhere, but I don't need to sit there all day." Plus, he did need to focus on his business. L&M Security wasn't going to run itself, not with Lucian out of the country, anyway.

As if hearing him think his partner's name, Mia said, "How's Lucian, anyway?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Fine."

He'd known for ages that his sister had a crush on his human best friend, but Lucian had strict instructions to steer clear of Mia. He didn't give a d.a.m.n how Mia felt. Lucian was a great friend, but he led a dangerous life and it would be just Mia's luck to get caught in the crossfire, and that was something Mal would never allow.

Mia rolled her eyes. "I was just asking."

He snorted. "Yeah, right. How's Reese?"

She looked startled. "Mated now, I guess. I haven't talked to him since I went through my heat cycle in the fall."

Mal mentally scrubbed that thought out of his head. He didn't want to think about his sister going through a heat cycle every September. The boring-as-white-paper Reese had been a safe bet for her to go through the cycle with because he was an honorable guy. Mal flipped through the names of the single males in the pack. "You ever thought about going out with Zander?"

Her brows rose. "No, why would you ask me that?"

He shrugged. "He's a good guy, he's pack, and his mom makes the best meatloaf in town."

"Only you would think a potential mate's qualities should include a family member's meatloaf."

"I'm just saying...he's pack."

"You said that twice," she said irritably. "I get that you think I should be with a wolf, but my wolf isn't feeling that right now, okay? How about you take care of your own love life and leave mine alone."

Okay, he'd overstepped and p.i.s.sed her off. When they were kids, he'd always enjoyed making her mad, but as adults he didn't like her being angry with him. Closing the distance between them, he hugged her and kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry. I just want what's best for you."

She hugged him back. "I know. Thanks."

They walked back into the family room and he grabbed his coat and shoved his feet into the boots that he'd left near the front door. He opened the door and Mia whistled. "Wow, it's really coming down out there."

"If this keeps up, no one will be going to work tomorrow," he said.

"You going to check out Nila's house?"

He glanced over his shoulder as he stepped out onto the porch. "What?"

"Don't look coy, it's me you're talking to. I know you've been s.h.i.+fting, I've seen your tracks in the woods. If you're going to go, you should do it now before it gets much worse and you get stuck here. You know you're welcome to stay, but if we have a snow day tomorrow I'm planning to watch all six Star Wars movies from the Blu-Ray collector's set, including all the extras."

"No thanks." He rolled his eyes. "I'm heading home; it's too late now anyway."

Giving his sister a wave, he trudged through the foot of snow on her steps and made his way to his SUV. He looked at the woods. If he s.h.i.+fted and took a run by Nila's house, he'd have to stay at Mia's, which he didn't really want to do. What he could do, though, was go to the grocery for Nila, since she said she wasn't going to be able to. He was pretty sure that the doctors' office would be closed in the morning and the thought of her and Jack going without something they might need made his wolf howl in worry.

Getting into the SUV, he left Mia's and called his mom.

"What kind of things would a twenty-one-month-old baby like?"

There was a short pause, and then his mom said, "Um, are you talking about your mate's son?"

He'd told his parents about Nila when he first met her. His mom was dying to meet them, but knew she needed to keep her distance for now.

"Yeah. Nila said that she couldn't go to the grocery tonight because of the weather so I thought I'd stop myself and take some things over. Unless you think that's a dumb idea?"

"It's a great idea, honey. You'll show her that you were not only listening about her needs, but trying to help."

As she began to list things he should pick up at the grocery, he made a mental list, hoping he got everything and that Nila would accept his help. Maybe she wouldn't, and it would all be for nothing, but maybe she would and he'd be one step closer to her seeing that he wasn't anything like her ex.

Chapter 4.

Nila looked out the front window but couldn't see much in the darkness. The power had gone out at 9:30 and hadn't come back on, so an hour later, she'd built a fire in the fireplace and pulled Jack's crib into the front room. He was sleeping soundly in his footy pajamas, his favorite stuffed wolf tucked close.

Headlights flashed along the front of the house as a big vehicle pulled into the driveway. Who was that? She wasn't expecting anyone. Immediately she wondered if Damien had come for her and Jack. The alarm system wasn't working because the electricity was off, which made her wish she'd taken the security company's advice and installed a generator for just such an emergency.

The SUV's headlights blinded her for a moment, but she blinked past the spots in her vision and watched the driver's door open and the interior light illuminate Malachi.

What the h.e.l.l?

She grabbed her coat and tucked her feet into the boots at the front door, casting a glance at her sleeping son before opening the front door, stepping out into the bitter cold, and closing it behind her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. Malachi had superior hearing; he would be able to hear her even if she was whispering.

He got out, shut the door, and opened the pa.s.senger door, extracting two grocery sacks. He didn't say anything until he reached the bottom step of the porch.

"I remembered you saying you weren't going to get to the store because of the snow, so I stopped for you."

He made no move to come up the steps, crowd her, or push past her into the house, like her ex would have done. Of course, her ex didn't care if she had groceries or not, unless he was asking her to make him something to eat.

Her mouth opened and closed, twice, before she said, "What are you doing?"

With the SUV's headlights illuminating him from behind, he looked so much like a freaking angel she almost forgot she was trying to keep him at arm's length. He looked like a guardian angel - arms full of groceries, a halo of light around him, snow falling against his dark hair.

Without stopping his smile, he set the bags down on the top of the porch and said, "I'll get the others and then I'll take off."

He made two more trips to the SUV. When he was done, seven paper sacks were lined up on the porch. "I wasn't sure what kinds of things Jack would eat, so I called my mom."

She forgot the cold and the snow. She forgot everything but the man standing on the sidewalk in front of her house, and the words he'd just spoken.

"You called your mom about Jack?"

He shrugged, looking embarra.s.sed. "I don't know a lot about kids, so I went to an expert. I didn't think that if I called you you'd tell me what you guys needed, anyway."

She snorted, but inside she knew he was right. If he'd called her and offered to bring groceries, she would have been too proud to accept. He was being kind, and yeah, maybe he was trying to show her that he was different from her ex, but at the moment he wasn't asking anything but for her to accept the groceries.

Her mouth opened before she could stop it. "Help me bring them in, but be quiet because Jack is sleeping."

He smiled so broadly that he looked as if someone had given him the best present ever. She picked up the nearest bag and opened the front door, stepping in and holding it while he picked up several bags and walked ahead of her. She carried her bag to the kitchen and Malachi moved like a ninja, silent and fast, bringing in the other bags and closing the front door quietly.

The kitchen was through the family room, and without the heat, it was cooling quickly. "It's cold enough outside to leave the milk and stuff on the back porch," he said, s.h.i.+fting some things into one sack and unlocking the door at the back of the kitchen that led to the tiny concrete porch. She watched him put the cold things a milk, eggs, packages of deli meat and cheese, and an eight-pack of her favorite strawberry-banana yogurt a onto the back patio and shut and lock the door.

He turned and said, "Take care, Nila."

He made it halfway through the family room before she managed to snap herself out of her stupor and race to him. She put her hand on the front door, not that she could stop him from opening it if he really wanted to.

"How did you know I like that yogurt?" she whispered. She stared up at him, his beautiful blue eyes glinting in the firelight.

He raised a brow. "I pay attention. You have one every day during your break."

She felt her insides tremble in excitement and scowled internally at herself. She was not going to melt into a puddle of goo because he happened to notice something that her ex, who had lived with her, had never once noticed.

She blinked rapidly, unsure where the sudden stinging tears were coming from, and whispered, "I thought I'd make some hot chocolate, if you'd like to join me."

"Marshmallows?" he asked hopefully.

She couldn't help but smile. "Mini and regular."

Malachi knew the roads were getting treacherous. He'd almost gotten stuck twice at the end of her development on the way to bring her groceries. The plows were out in force, but the snow was falling too fast for them to keep up. The news on the radio said that they were headed for a state of emergency in town, and that meant that soon no vehicles would be allowed on the road. But d.a.m.n if he could pa.s.s up hot chocolate made by his mate. With marshmallows.

"Take off your shoes, you'll get my carpets all wet," she said softly, smiling at him before toeing off her own boots, dropping her coat over a chair, and walking back into the kitchen. He glanced at the fireplace and thought it could use some more wood, so after he divested himself of his coat and boots, he added wood to the fire and then looked at the crib. Jack was adorable. He'd seen him at Acksel and Brynn's engagement party, which seemed like an eternity ago. He looked just like Nila, but a slow inhale told him that the young boy was more wolf than human.

He joined Nila in the small kitchen. The tile floor was old but clean, the curtains over the one large window in front of the table were cheerful red gingham, and the scent of beef stew lingered in the air.

He caught the scent of gas as she lit the stove with a match and put a pan of milk on to heat. He sat on a padded kitchen chair and took the opportunity of her distraction to look at her in the glow from the electric candles on the counter. She was wearing dark pink lounge pants decorated with penguins, and a dark top under a thick sweater. Her long hair was tucked back into a braid, and he wanted to undo it and run his fingers through the strands.

"How long has the power been out?" he said in a low voice.

"Since about nine-thirty. This house isn't really insulated well so it cooled down fast, hence the fire."

"All the lights are out on this street, but my sister's house still has power. I texted her before I got out of the SUV."

After she put the cold items in a bag, he put it out on the back porch for her, and then shut and locked the door. He stared down at the two deadbolts, his gut telling him that she'd put them in as a safety measure against her ex.

"I know they won't stop him if he wants to get in, but they'll slow him down," she said, her voice soft and sad.

Mal turned slowly and faced her. Her back was straight with determination, but her eyes were haunted. Once more he found himself struggling not to offer her comfort. His wolf was genuinely aggravated that she was scared and he couldn't help her.

"I can help with the security, if you'd like. I have a security company."

Her head tilted just slightly in curiosity. "I thought you were Brynn's bodyguard."

"That's my pack job. I'm a protector, and that means I protect who the alpha says, and he says Brynn. As a sideline, though, I co-own L&M Security."

"You're the 'M', who is the 'L'?"

"My best friend Lucian."

"Is he a wolf?"

"No, he's human. He's got a...complicated life, and he travels quite extensively, but he does what he can for the company now until his life settles down." Not that Malachi ever expected that to happen. Lucian wasn't planning to retire from his real job anytime soon.

"I don't want to put you out."

He blinked, not sure what she was talking about, and then he realized she meant him helping with her home's security. "It's not a big deal. I saw the security company sign in the flower bed out front, and judging from the system you have in here, it wouldn't take much for me to upgrade it so you'd feel safer."

"Gosh, I don't know what that would feel like." She rubbed her arms.

His heart panged. "I want that for you."

She blinked, tilting her head up until she was looking into his eyes. She stepped closer to him, the sweet wildflower scent of her skin making his mouth water. "Safety?"

He nodded, not daring to open his mouth because he really wasn't sure he wouldn't say something completely idiotic like please be mine forever.

Something splashed loudly and he looked over her head to see that the milk had boiled over. She gasped and lurched toward the stove, lifting the pan as he grabbed a towel and turned off the gas.

She cursed under her breath and carried the pot to the counter, setting it on a hot pad. He sopped up the spilled milk and wrung the towel out in the sink. Within a few minutes, they were sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace drinking hot chocolate, both of their mugs topped with marshmallows.

While they stared into the fire, they talked about everything and nothing, the sort of light conversation that people tend to make when they don't want to talk about the elephant in the room. For Malachi, that particular elephant was wearing a giant flas.h.i.+ng sign that read, 'You're my mate.' From what little he'd learned about Nila's ex, he'd spent the better part of their relations.h.i.+p treating her like property and terrifying her. She didn't need Malachi acting all 'me Tarzan, you Jane.' He really wished that relations.h.i.+ps came with a manual so he could flip to the table of contents and figure out where to start.

Nila put her empty mug on the coffee table and turned to face him. She blinked slowly, fatigue showing on her face, and then her eyes closed and didn't open again, as her breathing evened out.

s.h.i.+t. He should go like right f.u.c.king now. As if on cue, his phone buzzed and a text from Mia read, "I hope you got home safely. They just declared a state of emergency because of the road conditions."

"I'm safe," he texted back.

"Home?"

"None of your beeswax."

"Oh that's mature." She signed off that she loved him, and he replied back the same, sliding his phone onto the table and yawning.

"I'm stuck here, sweetheart," he whispered.

Nila's answer was a sigh, as she snuggled into the cus.h.i.+ons.

Being stuck wasn't such a bad thing after all.