Malachi thought Brynn was acting weird as he drove her to work the next morning. She was grinning from ear to ear, but refused to say why. In fact, she hadn't said a word the whole drive.

"What is up with you? Did you secretly kill Acksel in his sleep for snoring? I know you said you were going to do that once."

"No." She drawled the word out and then giggled.

"Brynn," he sighed, "spit it out or stop giggling, you're making me batty."

"I can't, Mal. But I had a great phone call last night and...it's going to be a good day, I promise. In fact, I think I'll stay in for lunch and you should find something to do with yourself. Get some fresh air."

She giggled again and then coughed, trying to hide it.

He groaned. Mia and Brynn had spent the better part of their younger years driving him nuts, and Brynn apparently hadn't grown out of it. Then again, neither had Mia.

He escorted Brynn into the office and then went to the room that housed the security system to review the overnight recordings. He paused when he entered the room and Nila was standing next to the chair.

He blinked in surprise.

"Good morning," she said softly.

He noticed that her hair was down today. Usually she had it up and out of the way while she worked. He liked seeing her hair down.

"Hi, Nila."

She cleared her throat and her cheeks pinked. "I was wondering if you wanted to go to lunch with me today?"

Clarity washed through him. Brynn knew about this. It's why she was acting like such a loon.

"I'd love to."

"Really?" She looked genuinely surprised.

"Of course. Do you want me to make a reservation at Luna's?"

"Brynn already did." She paused and said, "You're not mad, are you? That I talked to Brynn about this?"

He smiled and closed the distance between them. He wanted to hug her, but he settled for just standing close to her. "Not at all."

"She said that you aren't going to be coming here anymore, and I thought this might be my last chance."

"Last chance?"

"To take you to lunch."

"You can see me anytime you want. I'm not going to be sitting at the reception desk all day long anymore, but I will be driving her back and forth to work, and taking her out for lunch when she wants to leave. I could..." he paused, very certain he was about to cross a line with her, push too hard and drive her away.

"Could what?" She edged closer, tilting her head back to gaze up at him.

"I could drive you, too."

"I don't understand."

"I could pick you and Jack up, take him to daycare, and then drive you to work with Brynn. If you wanted." d.a.m.n, he wanted her to say yes.

Something flickered in her eyes, and he thought for a moment that it was jealousy. She wasn't jealous of Brynn, was she? Maybe it wasn't too far-fetched for her to be, considering how much time Malachi spent carting her around town. His mind flickered back to the conversation he'd had with Acksel earlier in the week about what would happen when he finally got Nila to agree to be his mate. Acksel said they'd work it out, but unless someone else stepped in as her personal protector, then Malachi was stuck. Nila would have to share his time with Brynn, while Malachi drove her around.

"I'm sorry," he said, without thinking.

"Sorry for what?" Her head tilted, her hair sliding over her shoulder. He reached out and caressed a lock, finding it warm and silky.

"I'm sorry that my pack job means I have to be Brynn's guard."

"Don't be sorry for being a male that your alpha trusts. Besides, this is just lunch, Malachi Slattery. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, okay?" She smirked at him, and he tweaked her chin with his finger and thumb.

"Okay. What time?"

"11:30." Her smirk slid into a full-blown smile and his wolf grinned like a fool in return.

She left him in the computer room, and he sat down heavily on the chair in front of the desk, amazed that things were looking up for him with his sweet mate.

Malachi was nervous and watched the clock constantly. Brynn called him a nutcase for being so twitchy, but he could tell she thought it was a good thing.

Before he got ready to leave for lunch, Brynn said, "Just remember that with us humans, the mate stuff can feel foreign and sound kind of crazy. Humans just meet someone they're attracted to and fall in love, there isn't some other furry person in our brains telling us that we've found 'the one.'"

"You said you were drawn to Acksel." he pointed out.

"Sure. He's s.e.xy, and I've known him forever, but where he knew I was his mate, I doubted that the stuff between us was real. It's difficult to be in a relationship with someone who's so positive you're meant to be together when one of you is just feeling things out. If you go all caveman on her, you're going to scare her away. Her ex treated her like property. If you start spouting off that 'mine' c.r.a.p that Acksel does with me, then she might think you're more like her ex than you really are. She deserves to be treated like a queen, and I know you're the right male for the job."

"She really called you about me last night?"

"Oh yeah," Brynn said, grinning. "She was very curious about you and whether it was okay if you went with her to lunch. I said it was fine. I am your boss, right?"

He smirked. "Yes, Alpha."

She laughed. "I love being the boss. Have fun and be yourself. She already likes you, she's still just wrestling with her past."

Nila walked down the hallway at that moment, carrying Malachi's coat. He was touched that she'd grabbed it for him. "Ready?" she asked, hopefully.

"Do you want me to drive?"

"If you'd like."

"I would."

They said goodbye to Brynn. Malachi offered his arm to Nila and she took it, leaning on him as they walked down the steps and out to the SUV. The parking lot was mostly slush and salt, but he still wanted her to be safe. He unlocked the pa.s.senger door and helped her in, and then he came around to the driver's door and got in. As he turned on the engine, his phone buzzed.

He pulled it from his pocket and glanced at the screen. His company was calling.

He mouthed sorry to Nila and answered the phone.

"Slattery here."

"Good morning, sir. This is Vivi Parker at the communications center. I have an alert that the windows are being broken at 128 Forrest Road. It's flagged that we should call you first and then the police."

"Call the police. I'm on my way. Did you say that windows are being broken, as in multiple ones?"

"Yes, sir. The windows are being broken one after another, very systematically."

"d.a.m.n it. Call me back if any other alarms are triggered."

He tossed his phone into the cup holder between the seats with an aggravated snarl. "I need to take you back inside. Something is going on at your house."

"Take me with you."

"No, it could be dangerous."

She clenched her teeth and defiance lit her eyes. "If you leave me here I'm just going to drive myself."

"d.a.m.n it, you're stubborn." He put the vehicle into gear and pulled out of the parking s.p.a.ce. "You're to stay in the car and do exactly as I say, got it?"

"Yes."

He grabbed his phone and called Sam, the head of the protectors, quickly explaining the situation and asking him to send any available protectors to Nila's house. When he ended the call, he knew that he was potentially driving his mate into a dangerous situation, but he hoped like h.e.l.l that whoever was breaking her windows was gone by the time they got there. If Malachi got a hold of whoever it was, he was going to lose it, and he didn't want her to see the dangerous side of his wolf.

Nila's phone buzzed as Malachi drove to her home. She pulled it from her purse, glanced at the screen, and then froze.

"No security system will keep us apart," read the text from an unknown number. She had replaced her cell every time Damien figured out her number. She didn't know how he was doing it, because the only places that ever had her number were the daycare and work, and the only people she willingly gave it to were Diane and Brynn.

"It's Damien," she said.

"What?" Malachi asked, his voice tight with anger.

"He just texted me. He's the one who's breaking my windows." It had been easy enough to overhear the conversation with Malachi and the security company. Someone was breaking all her windows. Dread pooled in her stomach. She hadn't wanted to believe it was Damien, but the text proved it.

"How the h.e.l.l does he have your cell number? I thought you told Brynn that you didn't give it out to anyone."

"I don't." She deleted the text and then called the daycare to check on Jack. Everything was fine with him and no one had seen anyone suspicious hanging around. Breathing a sigh of relief, she dropped the phone into her purse and leaned back against the seat.

"If you're not giving the number out, then he clearly knows someone who can get him the information. Maybe a private investigator or a crooked cop."

Malachi turned a corner sharply. Two police cars and several other vehicles were parked on the street in front of her house, and men were milling around in the yard. Since Malachi didn't say anything about the non-police people in her yard, she a.s.sumed they were protectors.

He pulled the SUV to a stop at the curb and turned to her. "I'm going to check things out. Stay put and lock the doors when I get out."

"Okay."

His eyes narrowed and he reached out and laid his hand on her neck. His thumb rubbed her throat and she raised a brow at him. "What?"

"I'm making sure you're not in shock."

She smiled in spite of how nuts the situation was. "I'm okay."

"You're being calm."

She shrugged. "He could have done a lot more than break the windows. Clearly he was having someone watch the house who reported about you being here. I'm glad that it was just the windows."

He frowned, his thumb rubbing against her throat lightly, and said, "I'll be back in a few minutes."

When he shut the door, she pressed the lock b.u.t.ton, rea.s.sured by the clicking sound of every door being locked. He stared at her through the side window for a long moment, and she wondered what he was thinking. Was he wondering if he was nuts for getting involved with her? She was beginning to think anyone was nuts to be around her.

She watched as Malachi first spoke to the police, and then made his way around the house, apparently using his phone to take pictures of the damage. From the street, she could see the two windows at the front of the house were completely broken out. It wasn't like someone had just lobbed a rock through them - both windows were entirely gone, the jagged remains glinting in the afternoon sunlight.

s.h.i.t, the house was going to be a mess.

With a deep sigh, she laid her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. When she'd made the decision to leave Damien, she'd known that he was unstable. At the very least he acted like a child whose favorite toy had been taken away. She thought he got pleasure from her fear, knowing that he terrified her. He wasn't as muscular as Malachi, having more of a lean, wiry build, but he was still powerfully strong, thanks to his wolf shifter genes.

She opened her eyes and watched Malachi speak to the other men. Even though she couldn't hear what they were saying, she could tell that the men respected him. They weren't afraid of him, that he might lash out unexpectedly just for the fun of it the way that Damien did. No, these men - these wolf shifters - respected Malachi because he was worthy of respect and deserved it.

Twenty minutes pa.s.sed before Malachi came to her side of the SUV and she unlocked the door. He opened it and a blast of cold air whipped into the interior, making her shiver immediately.

"Come on, sweetheart." He offered her his hand and she took it without a second thought. He pulled her gently from the interior of the SUV and guided her up the front walk. She gave him the house key and he unlocked it and ushered her inside, cautioning her to be careful of the gla.s.s. She gasped as she looked around. Bricks had been tossed through the windows, and littered the floor and furniture. Everything looked broken, as if the bricks had been thrown with more purpose than simply breaking the gla.s.s. Looking through the open door of Jack's bedroom, she saw that the crib was destroyed.

She didn't even realize she was crying until Malachi embraced her, bringing her into his warmth and holding her close.

"Shh," he crooned softly. "It's going to be okay."

She ducked her head against his chest and fisted his shirt in her hands. "How can you be sure?"

"Because I know I'm not going to let anything happen to you or Jack."

"Malachi?" She said his name, and a fine tremble wove through her body.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

She lifted her head and stared into his eyes. "Why are you here with me?"

Brynn had told her that Malachi believed Nila was his mate, that his wolf and his human side were in agreement that she was the woman meant for them. Diane had been right in saying that Damien had never treated her like anything but property. When he said that Nila belonged to him, he didn't mean he wanted to take care of her forever, he just meant he was keeping her, whether she liked it or not.

Malachi lifted his hand and stroked the curve of her cheek. "You're my mate, Nila. I want you to be my mate, not because I'm making some kind of Neanderthal claim to you, but because you're constantly in my thoughts and I can't live without you. I want you to be my mate because you want me to be yours, because you can't live without me, either."

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Closing it again, she leaned her head against his chest and sighed. She was buoyed by his words. He'd been in her thoughts since the day they met. She'd been fighting the connection between them, but here, in his arms, the last thing she wanted to do was fight.

A throat cleared and she lifted her head from his chest and looked at a handsome man with short, dark hair.

Malachi said, "Nila, this is Jeremiah, part of my pack. He's going to stay here and make sure that the windows are replaced and everything gets cleaned up."