Page 29 of The Protector’s Heart

“Hey yourself,” he said as she opened the door wide and stepped aside. She greeted Adam as he followed behind Mal with more boxes. Malachi directed him to put the boxes in whatever room they were labeled with.

“Ready to unpack some more things, sweetheart?” he called over his shoulder as he carried the box into the kitchen and set it down on the counter.

“Yep.”

She put Jack in the highchair that was next to the kitchen table, placed a few toys on the tray, and joined Malachi at the counter. He hugged her and she rested her cheek on his chest with a sigh.

“Is everything okay?”

“You did all that security stuff for me at the house and now it’s all wasted time and money.”

He tipped her chin until she looked at him. “None of it was wasted time or money; it helped to keep you safe. And besides, this morning I removed all the hardware, and can use it on another job.”

“Oh, I guess that’s okay then.” Her eyes glittered as she smiled at him, and he lowered his head to kiss her. Their lips met for just a bare moment before Jack banged a plastic toy on the tray and broke the mood.

They smiled at each other and she left his arms. He immediately felt the loss of her warmth. It had taken a while for her to warm up to him. The first few weeks that he’d known her, he wasn’t sure she would ever give him the time of day, but now she was living in his home and trusted him with her and Jack’s safety. It was a heady feeling, but the weight of the situation still sat heavily on his shoulders. She was technically married, although he supposed humans would consider them ‘separated,’ since they were no longer living together. The strangest thing to him was that she bore no marks on her neck. A wolf who would marry a woman but not mark her must really have a screw loose. Malachi would have marked her immediately. A marriage could be dissolved by divorce, but the markings that bound a couple together in a mating lasted forever. Once Mal’s wolf had scented Nila as his mate, he had wanted no one else, and could think of nothing but marking her and keeping her forever.

His gums tingled as he thought about marking her lovely, untouched neck, but he shoved the thought away. For now they were taking things slow physically, and that meant the fangs needed to stay where they were.

By the time his SUV and Adam’s truck were emptied, and Jeremiah had called to say Nila’s former home was empty, clean, and the keys returned to the landlord, Nila and Jack had become permanent fixtures in his home. He hoped like hell that she would want to stay with him forever. While they’d eaten dinner, taking turns encouraging Jack to eat the cut up hot dogs and cooked carrots that he seemed to love so much, Mal found himself falling in love with her. He’d cared about her from the beginning, from the moment he’d laid eyes on her in the storage room, but it had been a superficial affection based on his wolf’s instincts. But now, after getting to know her over the last few weeks and seeing her strength and warmth, he’d come to covet her smiles and admire her courage.

He very badly wanted to take her to bed and make love to her for a few days straight to get their relationship started off right, but he knew that wouldn’t happen. Slow meant no serious touching, even though his fingers itched to see how soft her skin was, and his mouth watered at the thought of tasting more than her sweet kisses.

* * *

Nila dried Jack off after his bath, rubbing a towel through his tawny hair and dressing him in a pair of footy jammies. She found herself thinking often of Malachi, who was cleaning the kitchen up after their meal.

“Ready for bed, Jack?” she whispered as she sat down in the rocking chair from her old house, which Malachi had set in the corner of Jack’s bedroom. And it definitely was Jack’s bedroom. She could see that Malachi had made the room up for Jack. The walls were freshly painted and the carpeting was new, and it had been empty of furniture, as if he were waiting for them. The new crib Malachi bought looked wonderful in the room next to his dresser and the rocking chair.

“Mama,” Jack said as he snuggled closer, his face pressing into her neck. His breath skirted across her skin and the sweet smell of him made her heart ache. She rocked slowly, humming a children’s song about teddy bears and picnics, but in her mind she always switched them to baby wolves.

She hummed and listened to him drift off to sleep, letting her mind slip to thoughts of the male in the kitchen. She didn’t know what it meant to be a true mate to a wolf. Damien had made sure that she was totally clueless about pack dealings, and had led her to believe that their marriage meant something. She could see now that it had been a way to control her. Pregnant after a few months of dating, she had felt he was an honorable guy because he proposed right away. She didn’t want to be a single mom, so she said yes, trusting that he would take care of her and Jack. By the time she was ready to give birth, Damien had become verbally abusive, seeming to enjoy making her cry. He wasn’t even there when Jack was born, and sent his mom to pick her and Jack up from the hospital. She should have left him right then, but she’d persevered, thinking being a father would make him a better husband. All it really did, though, was make him feel trapped. The verbal barbs he slung at her were slowly replaced with physical abuse. The first time she tried to leave, he told her he would kill Jack, so she’d stayed. She only confided in Diane, who helped her leave when Jack was one. Damien found her right away. He tried to drag her back home and threatened to kill both her and Jack, but Diane called the police and Damien disappeared. She’d never been truly free of him, and she still wasn’t, not as long as their marriage was intact.

She stood slowly with Jack in her arms, her sleepy sweetie softly snoring as she moved to the crib and lowered him gently. She tucked his favorite stuffed wolf against his side, blew him a kiss, and left the room, closing the door behind her.

She could hear the sound of a fire crackling, and smelled burning wood as she walked down the hallway to the family room. Malachi was sitting on the couch facing the fireplace, one arm slung over the back. He seemed to be staring into the fire. She walked around the couch and his gaze snapped to hers.

“Is Jack all tucked in?”

“Yeah.”

“I know you don’t drink wine, so I poured you a glass of Pepsi,” he said, leaning forward and lifting a wine glass for her. She took it and sat down next to him.

“In a wine glass?”

“I’m all about class, baby.”

He lifted his glass to her and she said, “What should we toast to?”

“How about perfect days?” She raised a brow and he added, “Today was perfect. It deserves to be toasted.”

“Was it perfect? Adam gouged your wall when he carried the rocker in, and I may have broken a coffee mug when I was putting my dishes away.”

“Gouges can be fixed with spackle, and I already know you broke a coffee mug.” He wiggled his brows and she laughed.

“To perfect days,” she said, touching the rim of her glass to his.

“Perfect.”

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