Page 21 of The Protector’s Heart

“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.

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