~

 

“Mummy, where’s Malachi this morning?” Stacey asked from the back seat of the car as they drove through town towards her school.

“He can’t be with us all the time, Stacey. Maybe you’ll see him later,” Donna offered back.

She felt the loss of Malachi’s presence as well. The man hadn’t gone far away. His truck had been parked behind the bushes at the far end of the property, and she’d done her best to make sure Stacey was occupied so that she didn’t spot it as they left the cabin.

Now, every time Donna’s eyes went to the rearview mirror, she could see Malachi’s truck behind them. He wasn’t close, but he wasn’t far either.

“I wish he could. I like Malachi,” Stacey pouted and folded her arms across her chest just to make sure that her mother understood.

“Well, Malachi’s house…”

“That’s where he goes to sleep – maybe, if we made a bed at our house for him to sleep, then he wouldn’t need to leave at all,” Stacey offered back, and Donna’s cheeks grew red at the indecent thoughts that flashed through her mind.

“Maybe we don’t have the room,” Donna offered back. She’d like to get her daughter off the subject of Malachi, but it was proving difficult.

“You have a big bed,” Stacey pouted and added a frown to her repertoire.

Donna didn’t even want to go there.

“Oh look, school,” Donna said. She’d never been so glad to see something in her life before.

“We can talk about it later, young lady,” Stacey informed her.

There were times when having your own words thrown back in your face was just precious. That wasn’t one of those times.

 

~

~

~

 

Malachi dutifully followed Donna all the way home. He’d missed not saying good morning to her, and he’d really missed not saying it to Stacey. So had his bear.

Mine…

Malachi wasn’t sure if the bear completely understood what was going on. The beast was pining for his mate and their daughter, and he couldn’t blame it.

Malachi noted the black truck on Donna’s driveway before they were even halfway down the track road. With a growl and a grunt of annoyance, he pulled his truck around Donna’s car, the wheels of his truck skirting over the grassland as he went, but he was determined to get there before her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noted that Donna turned her head to look at him as he drove by. He didn’t know if she’d spotted her father’s truck yet, or not, but she had neither sped up nor slowed down and getting around her was easy.

Malachi headed straight for the truck. There was a moment where he wanted to ram the damn thing head on, and if the man hadn’t of been Donna’s father, then he might just have done it.

Malachi noted that Donna’s car hadn’t even reached the back end of his truck by the time that he was parked and out of his vehicle. He headed straight toward her father.

Just the sight of the man as he opened the driver’s door and climbed out was enough to send Malachi’s blood pressure soaring.

His beast roared within him. Both man and beast had the urge to rip the man’s head off and hand it back to him before his body hit the ground.

Malachi concentrated on one thing, and that was keeping his beast in its cage. The animal roared and clawed to be set free, but Malachi knew that could not happen.

“Well, you keep turning up like a bad smell,” James offered as his opening rally.

Malachi had to wonder if the man was trying to make his beast burst from within him. That would give him the upper hand — something to be used against Malachi if needed — well, he wasn’t going to give the man the satisfaction.

“You’re trespassing,” Malachi growled. If the man wanted to know what his beast was like, then he wasn’t about to hold back on letting him hear it.

“This isn’t your land — I checked,” James offered back with a smug look that Malachi would like to smack right off of his face.

“You’re still trespassing,” Donna called as she slammed the door of the car a little too hard and stalked toward the men in her life.

One man, she wanted there — the other she wanted as far away from her as possible.

“Time’s up — make your decision,” James expanded his hands as if he held her fate between them.

“I…” Donna got no further as Malachi shot a look back at her over his shoulder.

She hesitated in her stride, caught off-guard by the sadness within his eyes.

“Donna…” Malachi started, but the mobile in his back pocket snapped his brain into a completely different direction.

Hope surged within him — he just hoped the devil had come through.

Malachi could hardly bear to look at the text message on the screen.

One word; done.

“What real hold do you think you have on your daughter?” Malachi demanded as he tossed the mobile away from him and folded his arms across his chest.

“What business is it of yours?” James demanded. He didn’t like it when people stuck their nose in his business — and his daughter was his business.

“He’s my mate,” Donna announced, completely taking Malachi by surprise. To say the words was one thing — but the tone of her voice was something completely different.

Malachi tossed a look back at her over his shoulder. Her chin was raised up in defiance, and her eyes were blazing with anger at her father.

Donna drew level with Malachi, stopped, placed her hands on her hips, and challenged her father some more.

“Your mate?” The low chuckle of disbelief and that rolled through James annoyed Malachi, but he was able to ignore it as he looked at his brave and beautiful mate standing beside him.

“I know that love doesn’t register on your radar,” Donna offered her father a scathing look. “It’s all about the cold hard cash with you. Well, you know what? I choose love over money.”

Malachi didn’t think that his heart could get any bigger. It had already expanded enough to take in his mate and Stacey, but it still felt as if it swelled within his chest.

“Love does not put food on the table, a roof over your head, and an education for Stacey, now does it?” James tossed back.

“Sometimes it does,” Malachi offered back.

“So, this is your future? A dreamer?” James demanded of his daughter.

“Better to be a dreamer than a cold-hearted bastard, don’t you think?” Donna tossed back and enjoyed every second of the look on her father’s face.

“Fine. Don’t come crying to me when all this stupidity turns to ashes around you.” James turned back towards his truck, but Malachi wasn’t done.

“You’ll be getting a call soon,” Malachi growled and caught the man’s attention as he turned back to look at him. “That lumbar that you need to fulfill your company’s contracts seem to have been directed somewhere else — I think to one of your competitors.”

“What are you talking about?” Now he had the man’s attention.

“Contracts have been ripped up. Shipments have been canceled, diverted, and I think you’ll find that nobody else will do business with you or your subsidiaries any time in the near future.” Malachi informed him.

James didn’t understand. His mind raced, and his pulse followed as he tried to figure out what the hell the shifter was talking about.

“You can’t…” James started, but Malachi cut him off.

“My clan owns two-quarters of the companies that you deal with — another quarter of your business agreements are with other clans that we work with. I think you’ll find that we can.”

James top lip twitched with anger. The man’s eyes held nothing but hate.

“You’ll ruin me…”

“Like you tried to ruin Donna’s business? Which, by the way, you’re going to sell that company to me at a reasonable price.”

“I…” James couldn’t seem to think fast enough.

He’d had the upper hand, and he thought he’d won — but now the rug had been pulled out from beneath his feet.

“As I said — you’re trespassing. Leave.” Malachi growled.