Page 41 of The Protector’s Heart

Damien smirked. “I see the marks you left on her neck. I’ll be sure to cut them off slowly when she’s kneeling at my feet tonight.”

Malachi recognized that he was baiting him into making the first move, but he was too well trained to do that. He’d just beat him a little harder for the threat. His wolf growled, stretching and rolling under his skin, and wanting to harm the male who had hurt their mate for so long.

It was time to end her suffering.

* * *

Nila watched as Malachi and Damien stared at each other. Only a few feet separated them, but they were so different. Malachi was strong and self-possessed. He looked like he could stand there in his dry fit shirt and loose jeans all night. Damien looked like he was about to twitch out of his skin. The sneer he’d directed at her almost nightly during their time together was plastered to his face, but there was no real bravado behind it. She’d known he was violent and had first-hand experience with it, but aside from hearing the odd bit of gossip in town about pack fights, she hadn’t ever seen him fight with another male. Maybe he only liked to beat up women.

Her gaze strayed to Isaiah, who looked both aggravated and bored. It probably killed him to see his son fighting over her, since he hadn’t considered her worthy of even having his last name. She wondered if Damien’s mom had been beaten by Isaiah, too, and that’s where Damien learned the behavior. Were all the mated she-wolves in their pack mistreated, with the alpha’s blessing?

Malachi raised his hands, curling them into fists just a second before Damien bellowed and threw himself forward. They clashed, and she cringed as they fought hard. Damien’s fists flew with blinding speed, but Malachi was faster. Damien’s fists never seemed to really touch Malachi, but Malachi’s fists, on the other hand, always landed where they were supposed to. Damien’s head snapped back as Malachi’s punch landed on his chin. Damien grunted, spitting blood on the ground and snarling as he came back with both hands swinging. Malachi kicked him, his booted foot catching Damien in the stomach and shoving him back several feet.

Damien howled and she saw fangs in his mouth. His hands lengthened and his body bulked slightly as he took on part of his wolf shift. She’d only seen it once, when he’d taken her to his parents’ home on the night of a full moon and left her inside while he went out to carouse. Someone had wanted the female he was talking to, and he’d shifted slightly and mauled the male. She’d been terrified, and so had the female, who screamed and begged for help as Damien dragged her into the woods.

“Son of a bitch,” Acksel growled. “No wonder he said no complete shifting.”

Her heart jumped into her throat. She didn’t know a lot about wolves, but she knew that they were stronger than humans, even in half-form. She wanted to run out and put herself between Malachi and Damien, but she knew she couldn’t interfere. Malachi would win. The other option meant her life was over.

* * *

Sneaky son of a bitch, Malachi thought as he watched Damien partially shift. In his book, that was cheating. You either fought as a man or a wolf. This wasn’t some street fight with no rules, this was a sanctioned mate challenge. Damien was no honorable male. Not that he’d ever thought he was in the first place. Anyone who tormented and hurt a female was a total scumbag.

One clawed hand swung out at him and Malachi dodged it, aiming for Damien’s stomach with his fist, enjoying the grunt of pain as he hit his target. Claws grasped his shoulders, but Malachi twisted loose as Damien’s frustration grew. Damien lurched forward, and Malachi jerked to the side as the male rushed past him. The world spun suddenly as Malachi was jerked off his feet by a clawed hand gripping his ankle. He hit the ground hard enough to knock the breath from his lungs. He was dazed, but he knew he couldn’t lay there until he got his bearings. Rolling abruptly, he missed being stomped on by just a fraction.

Damien leaped at him and Malachi wasn’t fast enough to avoid being caught under him. The other male snapped his teeth, fangs glinting, and Malachi palmed Damien’s chin and pushed against him, knowing that if he got his jaws around his neck, things could go bad in a heartbeat.

Damien grasped Malachi’s rib cage and squeezed. The claws broke through his skin and Malachi grunted at the pain, feeling his blood begin to run down his sides and soak his shirt. The pressure was intense; he felt something crack on his right side, and grunted.

He saw something in Damien’s eyes then—a menacing promise of what would happen to Nila if he ever got his hands on her again. The corners of his mouth curled up over his fangs, and he snapped and lunged again. Malachi snarled in rage, smashing his palm into Damien’s chin and grabbing his exposed throat with his other hand. As quickly as he’d been pinned, Malachi turned the tables on the male, flipping him over and squeezing his windpipe. Malachi wanted to dig clawed fingers into his throat and kill him. Squeeze hard until his fingertips met through the blood and meat of his neck, and make sure that he never breathed the same air as Nila again. But this wasn’t a fight to the death.

Malachi ignored the claws as they raked down his sides, focusing on the deepening red of Damien’s face as he struggled to breathe. He grew weaker with each moment. Malachi could hear his heart pounding, and his movements turned from attacking to defending as he used his last bit of consciousness to try to push Malachi away.

“She’s mine. I claim her and Jack as my own. Touch them and die.”

Anger sparked in Damien’s eyes for a brief moment; then he went limp, and his eyes lost focus and closed. Malachi was still tempted to kill him. His wolf wanted the male dead.

Acksel and Isaiah came to stand before him as he slowly released his hold on the male’s neck and stood up. He didn’t want to show any weakness, so he clenched his teeth together and ignored the lightheadedness that the blood loss caused him.

Isaiah knelt and touched his fingers to Damien’s throat. He glanced up with a grimace. “He lives. By the rules of the mate-challenge, the human female is yours to do with as you will.”

Acksel pulled a manila envelope from inside his jacket and said, “The papers.”

Isaiah nodded at a young male, who darted forward and took them from Acksel. “I’ll ensure they’re signed and delivered on Friday, to the human’s place of business.”

Malachi nodded and turned toward Nila, who was standing between Dade and Sam, tears streaming down her face.

She stumbled forward and closed the distance to him, but she didn’t touch anything but his forearm. “Let’s get you to a hospital,” she whispered.

“We’ll go to Doc’s,” Dade said, joining them.

She bit her lip. “If you’re sure?”

Malachi was grateful when Dade answered for him. “It’s for the best.”

The pain that Malachi had been ignoring was starting to overwhelm him, and it wouldn’t look good if he passed out leaving the fight.

Sam opened the passenger door. Nila climbed in first, and Malachi flopped onto the seat next to her. In minutes they were on their way. Nila turned to face him and reached for him, her fingers hovering over his cheek. “I want to touch you but I can’t see enough in the dark to know where,” she whispered thickly.

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