“I know what you mean. I wish they had some as well. Out of all the species I like the most, wolves come in at a close second to big cats.”
Kye marked that as an invisible point for him. If Michaela already liked wolves, she should really like him in his wolf form. He was slightly bigger than his wild cousins, but other than that he was basically the same. The greatest hurdle he figured he’d have to get over would be getting her to accept the fact he could shape-shift into one.
He glanced over at the TV and saw the end credits of the movie scrolling on the screen. A quick look showed it was only ten o’clock. It was still on the early side, but if Michaela had to start work in the morning, it would be better if he left to let her get some sleep. At least, one of them should. He knew he’d be lucky to get a few hours of solid shuteye. Until he claimed her, every time he slept, he’d have erotic dreams about her, ones that would leave him aching even more.
He brushed his lips across hers. “I should go. You have to work in the morning and I have to be at Roxie’s around ten.”
“Well, if you insist.” Michaela stood when he did. “I’ll keep my eye out for you and Nevaeh tomorrow.”
She walked with him to the apartment entrance. Kye really didn’t want to leave, but he knew it was for the best. He’d already pushed his luck enough for one night. He pulled Michaela into his arms and kissed her, reveling in the feel of her against him. Once their embrace verged on the edge of blazing out of control, he released her and opened the door.
“See you tomorrow, Michaela.”
Without looking back, Kye walked out and shut it between him and the woman who would soon become his heart.
Kye arrived at the mansion in Marin County where he and his fellow Protectors and their mates lived together, and parked his car in the large detached garage for the night. Much to his surprise, it looked as if the rest of his “family” were at home already, which wasn’t typical. It was too early for no one to be guarding Roxie. Beowulf, who owned a nightclub called Wulf’s Den, wouldn’t be home yet. He usually stayed a couple of hours at the club, but returned to the house before he and Roxie felt separation anxiety.
Walking into the large foyer, Kye closed the mansion door behind him and headed to the living room where he heard voices coming from. He stepped inside and saw Saskia and her mate, Eli, talking with Leif and his mate, Jaden. They fell silent after they saw him.
“Hey, what’s up?” he asked. “I couldn’t help noticing everyone is home. Shouldn’t someone be with Roxie?”
Saskia shook her head. “Beowulf didn’t go to the club tonight, so Roxie sent Roan, Ansley, Jager and Daylen home a couple of hours ago.”
“Oh. Is anything else happening? All of you looked pretty serious about something when I came in.”
Leif was the one who answered. “We’re discussing Miles.”
“Has he found out something he shouldn’t?”
“No, nothing like that.” Leif looked over at Jaden before he turned back to Kye, and said, “He, ah, wants to share some of the duties of guarding the foretold one, since Jaden is his daughter.”
“Shit,” Kye said. “After all he’s done in the past, and the not so distant one at that, Miles can’t expect us to just accept him back with open arms. He walked away from being a Protector.” Even though he balked at the idea, his sister-in-arms had the ultimate say on the matter, since she was the leader of the Protectors, after all.
Saskia sighed. “Leif and the others feel the same way as you do, but Jaden and I are leaning toward allowing him to take on some of it in a small capacity. If we don’t, it could backfire on us. All we need is for him to become suspicious and he might do some digging where we don’t want him to.”
“Okay, say you do let Miles watch over Jaden, where exactly would he be doing it? So far, she’s only been with him in public places. Are you going to want him here in the mansion?”
“Since Jaden has come into his life, Miles hasn’t done anything to harm her,” Saskia said. “It’s been months. I know you don’t want to hear it, but I think knowing he has a daughter has changed him.”
Leif snorted loudly. “You know how I feel about that bullshit. Once an asshole, always an asshole.” He then grunted when his mate dug her elbow into his stomach.
“That asshole also happens to be my father. Your father-in-law. I don’t see him as the evil lone wolf as you do.”
“Of course you don’t. You only want to see the good in him, because of what he is to you.”
The way Jaden scowled at Leif, it didn’t take much deducing to figure out Leif had just waved a red flag in front of his mate’s face.
“Oh, you’ve done it now, Leif,” Eli said with a laugh. “You’d better do some ass kissing right quick.”
As if he just noticed the furious look on Jaden’s face, Leif gave her a sheepish smile. “Now, babe, you know I really didn’t mean anything by that. It’s just that it will be kind of hard for you to be unbiased when it comes to your father.”
Jaden’s eyes seemed to shoot daggers at Leif. “What do you want me to do? Change the blood that runs in my veins? Well, I can’t, any more than you can. And I’m sorry for wanting to see the good in my dad, a man who wasn’t part of my life when I was growing up. I know perfectly well what he’s done, and what he did to you, but I still love him. I just hope your biased opinions don’t make you think any less of our baby.”
“Baby?” Leif echoed, looking for all the world as if his brain had suddenly stopped functioning.
Jaden pushed off the couch to stand and glared down at her mate. “Yes, Leif, a baby. I’d thought to tell you later while we were alone. Surprise, you’re going to be a father.”
With that said, she turned and stomped out of the room. Leif still looked completely stunned before he shot to his feet and went after Jaden. Saskia, Eli and Kye stared at each other. Kye had a feeling he wore the same surprised expression the other two did.
“Did Jaden just say she was pregnant?” Eli asked.
“Yes,” Saskia said. Then a large smile spread across her face. “I’m going to be a great aunt.”
“Ah, hell. That means I’ll be a great uncle,” her mate said. “I’m still having a hard time getting my head around the fact I have a niece who is only six years younger than I am.”
Saskia leaned in and gave Eli a quick kiss on the lips. “Hon, in another few hundred years, that won’t mean anything. Believe me.” She then laughed. “Being pregnant would also explain why Jaden was so quick to fly off the handle. Hormones can be a bitch. And I just love the fact Leif has gone from chasing anything in a skirt to finding his mate, and now, he’s a soon-to-be father.”
Kye thought over what his sister-in-arms said and couldn’t hold back his laughter as well. Eli soon joined in. It looked as if fate were getting back at Leif for fighting the mating urge tooth and nail after he’d first met Jaden. The poor bugger was still adjusting to being a claimed male.
Once his laughter died, Kye said, “I guess I’m going to call it a night. I’ll be up in my room watching TV if you need me.”
“Not so fast,” Saskia said.
Kye had turned to leave, but changed direction at his sister-in-arms’ words. He had a feeling he knew what she was going to say to him. “What?”
“Dirk and Roxie told all of us the good news about you finding your mate. How are you managing?”
“I have a grip on it. Are you thinking of pulling me off rotation?” The mating urge being such a distraction, Saskia had told the others they wouldn’t be any use as Protectors until they had claimed their mates and had been told to take some downtime.