Free The Protector's Heart (Wilde Creek Three) by R.E. Butler Page A

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