Marisa Chenery - Kye's Heart

The gates at the end of Roxie and Beowulf’s long, curving drive swung open and Kye drove his French racing blue Jaguar XKR-S coupe through them. It was the middle of the morning, and his turn to watch over Roxie and her family. Now that her baby was born, the overnight protection duty had stopped. No longer pregnant, Roxie could once again shift, which meant in her half human and half wolf form, she was a force to be reckoned with.

Kye parked in front of the large detached garage, next to Dirk’s car. His brother-in-arms had arrived much earlier, which was his norm. Dirk and Roxie would probably already be holed up in her office doing something Kye didn’t understand on the computer. That was, if Roxie wasn’t busy with her new daughter, Nevaeh.

After getting out of his car, Kye pushed the remote to lock it. He smiled when he thought about Roxie and Beowulf’s baby. Being over a thousand years old, and the majority of that time living with the rest of the Protectors, he hadn’t had much opportunity to be around little ones. Nevaeh was only three months old, and every time he held her, he felt as if he’d break her. But he had to admit, the little squirt was growing on him.

Walking right into the house, Kye decided to check upstairs. He didn’t hear anyone moving around on the lower level. He took the stairs two at a time and headed for Roxie’s office. The only one inside was Dirk, who looked away from the computer he worked on, once he noticed Kye standing just inside the doorway.

“Where is everyone?” he asked.

Dirk turned the steno chair he sat on to face him. “Roxie is in Nevaeh’s room changing her. Beowulf is out in the backyard having his coffee.”

Kye jerked his head in Dirk’s direction. “I see you’re busy doing whatever the hell it is you do on that damn thing. You and Roxie always seem preoccupied with something that involves the computer. Yet you never say what it is you’re working on.”

Dirk smiled. “You’ll find out soon enough. It just took a while to set up and get rolling.”

He shrugged. “Whatever. I’m sure it’s something I won’t understand. I guess I have to look forward to another day of sitting in here with you two, bored out of my fucking head.”

“I don’t think so,” Dirk said with a knowing smile. “Roxie has thought of something else for you to do.”

Kye wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. “And what would that be exactly?”

His brother-in-arms chuckled. “I think it would be better if you go ask Roxie yourself.”

Deciding to do just that, he left the office and walked down the hall to the baby’s room. He found Roxie had just finished changing Nevaeh’s diaper. The task done, she lifted her daughter onto her shoulder and turned in his direction.

“Good, you’re here,” Roxie said.

“Dirk said you had something else you wanted me to do today.”

“I do.”

Roxie closed the distance between them and placed Nevaeh in his arms. Kye automatically stiffened, afraid to move in case he hurt her.

“Ah,” he said hesitantly, “what would that be?”

He glanced down at the baby to find her staring up at him. She had the same ice blue eyes her father had, along with his black hair. What she had of it. Kye thought she was pretty bald. In looks, she took after her mother.

“As of today, you are to be Nevaeh’s sole Protector.”

Kye’s gaze shot to Roxie. “What?”

“Saskia and I discussed it, and we decided you will have the sole responsibility of protecting my daughter.”

“Won’t that be spreading the others kind of thin? There are supposed to be two of us watching over you with each shift.”

“That was another thing Saskia and I talked about. Miles is no longer the threat he once was. He still thinks Jaden is the foretold one. And from what Saskia says, her brother loves his daughter. He won’t make a move against her. He still hasn’t a clue about me really being the one to rule over all the werewolf packs.”

Jaden, the mate to Leif, another of his brothers-in-arms, had pretended to be the foretold one when her father, Miles, had taken Leif as a hostage. Since Miles had never seen Roxie, Jaden had taken her place. Finding out he had a daughter he’d never known existed had caused Miles to have a change of heart about gaining control over the foretold one. He’d wanted to use her as a figurehead to rule the packs himself. Once a Protector and brother-in-arms, it was kind of nice to see Miles step back from the dark side.

“That might be the case now,” Kye said. “But we still need to be careful. Who knows what Miles will do if he ever finds out the truth.”

“We’ll make sure that never happens. Jaden is willing to keep up the charade indefinitely for her father, if need be. I still want you to be Nevaeh’s Protector.”

Kye looked down again at the baby in his arms. “All right, since I really don’t have any choice.” Roxie did rule over the packs, after all. “In a way, I’ll still be here to help protect you as well, since Nevaeh isn’t exactly able to go anywhere without you. The only problem I have with it—is I’ll be on duty all day, and most of the night every day. I’m going to need a break at some point.”

Roxie waved his concerns away with a flick of her hand. “Don’t worry about that. One of the others can spell you out for a bit if it starts to be too much, but you will take on the majority of the task. And you’ll still be here in the house most of the time, but I want you to take Nevaeh out alone.”

Kye gave her a look that said he thought she was crazy. “Ah, Rox, I know nothing at all about babies. You can’t expect me to look after her by myself.”

“I can and do. It will force you to get used to taking care of Nevaeh. And you will be taking care of her. Saskia and I think it’s important that you bond with the baby now, so she’ll feel safe and secure with you.” Roxie cleared her throat. “And it will give me a bit of a break from time to time.”

“So you want me to be a glorified babysitter?”

“Not really. Come on, Kye, it won’t be that bad. I’m not nursing her anymore, since I couldn’t produce enough milk to keep her fed, so she takes a bottle. That’s one hurdle we don’t have to worry about.”

To say he was uneasy about the whole situation was an understatement. What if he messed up? “You’re willing to put your only child in the hands of a man who could forget to feed and change her. Fuck, I don’t even know how to hold her properly.” He stretched out his arms to show her how stiffly he held Nevaeh.

Roxie glared at him. “No swearing in front of my daughter. You got that? I don’t want her first word to be a swear word. And you just need some practice is all. Plus, you don’t have to worry about those other things. Nevaeh will make sure you know when she needs to be changed or is hungry. She has a good set of lungs.” Roxie pushed back his arms and tucked the baby more firmly into the crook of the one she was nestled in, while his hand stayed under her bottom. “There. That’s better. Now put her up on your shoulder. She likes it.”

Feeling like a blundering idiot, Kye somehow managed to get the small person he held up on his shoulder. He winced when Nevaeh grabbed a handful of his hair that just reached the top of his shoulders and gave it a good yank. He then heard sucking noises.

“Is she sucking on my hair?” he asked horrified.

Roxie laughed. “You should see your face. And, yes, she is. You might want to consider pulling it back in a ponytail. Beowulf has gotten in the habit of doing it whenever he’s going to hold her.”