Page 35 of The Protector’s Heart

“Of course. You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.” He smiled, but she didn’t smile back.

Kissing her forehead, he hugged her and said, “I need to go, they’re waiting for me. I’ll be back before the day is over, and if there’s a problem, you can find Devin and Hayden outside.”

He left her in the breakroom, took a few minutes to scan the security footage from the night before, and then he left. He was anxious to get to Dorlan and get the situation settled.

When Malachi stopped in front of Acksel’s home and programmed the GPS to head to Dorlan, he was aware of two other vehicles pulling next to him. He glanced up and saw Sam and two protectors in one SUV, and Dade’s truck with Hollis in the passenger seat. Acksel walked down the sidewalk, opened the passenger door of Malachi’s SUV and sat down.

“Nila said that there’s a gas station on the edge of Dorlan that’s run by one of the pack members,” Malachi said.

“We’ll stop there first and ask for a meeting with Isaiah,” Acksel said.

Malachi nodded, put the SUV into gear and pulled away from the curb. The drive to Dorlan took over an hour, and Acksel and Malachi talked about the pack and Nila’s situation. Acksel was not the most compassionate male on the planet, but he didn’t approve of females being abused in any form, and believed that it was an alpha’s responsibility to ensure that everyone within the pack was safe. That included the mates and pups, whether they were entirely wolf or not. Isaiah’s pack was all-wolf, the way that the Wilde Creek pack had been not too long ago.

Acksel’s sister Eveny had been about to choose to leave the pack in order to be with her human mate, Luke, which was something that would have resulted in her banishment from the pack. She would never have been allowed to set foot in Wilde Creek again, under penalty of death, just because she loved a human. Malachi had never given much thought to what would happen if he were in a similar situation. If it weren’t for Acksel changing pack law for Brynn so that she, and any other mates who were human or other forms of shifters, were welcomed into the pack, Malachi would be taking banishment for Nila, and he wouldn’t have hesitated. Some other packs didn’t care what sort of mates their people took, but most had wolf-only laws. He was glad that Wilde Creek wasn’t one of them, but it wouldn’t have mattered in the long run. Nila was his, and he’d do anything to make her his and keep her safe.

Acksel grunted, and Malachi glanced over to see him reading the divorce papers that Nila had given to Malachi. “I wonder if Damien didn’t sign the papers because there’s also this little thing here that says he waives parental rights to Jack.” Acksel made a motion to one section of the papers.

“I wondered that myself. But if he really cared for his pup, he wouldn’t be terrorizing Nila and withholding support. According to her, when they were together she had to beg him to give her money for diapers and clothes for him. When she left, she had nothing at all, and if it weren’t for Diane she’d have wound up on the street. I think that if he actually wanted Jack, he wouldn’t just be terrorizing Nila but would be demanding that Jack be returned to him.”

“He might see Jack as a means to an end. If he keeps his parental rights, than Nila will never be free of him. Sever that link, along with the divorce, and she can be free.”

That was what Malachi wanted for her. He wanted her to be free of her past so she could make her own choices. When he asked her to be his mate officially, he didn’t want anything in the way of their happiness. He wanted to mark her and marry her as soon as she was ready and willing to be his.

“Brynn will skin you alive if you get married before we do.”

Malachi chuckled. “Get out of my head.”

* * *

Dorlan Auto was just about the filthiest place Malachi had ever set foot in, and that included a fraternity bathroom after a party. They waited for the owner of the shop to bring word back from his alpha. The male reminded Malachi of a rat, with a sharp nose and beady eyes.

“Alpha Isaiah is meeting you at the park outside town. It’s neutral territory,” the male said after thirty minutes. He handed Sam a slip of paper with an address scrawled on it.

“Thank you for your hospitality,” Acksel said.

As they walked out of the shop and to the vehicles, Sam said, “I feel like I need to take about a hundred showers. That place was disgusting.”

“Me, too.” Acksel said, his nose wrinkling in disgust.

Sam led the way and Malachi and Dade followed, heading out of Dorlan and to a neutral-ground park. The ‘park’ as it turned out, was a grassy field with a rusted swing set and some picnic tables that looked as if they were about thirty years old. As they walked into the park, they found a small group of males next to one of the decrepit picnic tables. One male sat at the table, and the four other males with him stood in a row behind him.

“Welcome to Dorlan,” the male who sat at the table said. “My name is Isaiah Caruthers.”

Acksel extended his hand and introduced himself as he sat down. He tried to hide his grimace, but Malachi saw it. “Thank you for meeting with us.”

Isaiah was a thin male, but the sort of thinness that came from a life of hard living. He was graying and unkempt, his long hair pulled back in a ponytail and his beard long enough, and dirty-looking enough, to make Malachi want to spray him down with Lysol.

“I understand you wish to speak to me about my son, Damien.”

Acksel folded his hands on the table top, and although he appeared relaxed, Malachi knew that he wasn’t. “One of my pack members has entered into a relationship with Nila Caruthers. She is technically married to your son, and has been separated from him for nine months. I would ask you to see that he signs the divorce papers and releases Nila.”

Isaiah stared at Acksel in silence for a long moment and then said, “I don’t see what my son’s affairs have to do with me. Does your pack come to you with such inconsequential things?” The distaste was clear in Isaiah’s voice.

Acksel’s head tilted just slightly. “Your son is attacking the mate of one of my pack members. As alpha, I take issue with that.”

Isaiah’s brow lifted. “She’s human.”

Malachi bit back a vicious snarl.

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