Dirk closed the fridge and turned toward him. “Yeah, but Beowulf is with her, if you know what I mean.”
Kye rolled his eyes. “Have they been going at it the entire time I was gone?”
“No,” Dirk said with a laugh. “For a while, Roxie slept, and Beowulf and I hung out. It wasn’t until he decided to see if she were awake. When he didn’t come back downstairs, I figured they were making good use of their time alone together.”
That was the thing about mated couples, most of the time they could be found all over each other. It had never really bothered Kye in the past, but now that he’d met Michaela, it just made him long for her more. He wanted to be the one locked inside his bedroom making love to his mate.
“I guess this is what Roxie meant about getting ‘a break,’” he said a bit grumpily.
Dirk seemed to be giving him a closer look. “You look a little strained. Didn’t the trip to the zoo with Nevaeh go well? I have to say, you appear more comfortable holding the baby.”
Kye looked down at Nevaeh and stuck out his index finger for her to clutch. She smiled, and he felt her burrow a little deeper inside his heart. Keeping his gaze on her, he answered Dirk. “It was great.”
“Great? Really? I figured you’d be bored as hell.”
He looked at his brother-in-arms and grinned. “It would seem I should have made this trip to the zoo a long time ago. I found something there that will have me going back more than likely every day.”
Dirk shook his head and chuckled. “Crap, you found your mate.”
“Yes.” Kye patted the baby’s diapered behind. “And I have Nevaeh to thank for that. If she hadn’t fussed and cried, my soon-to-be mate wouldn’t have taken pity on me and come to help get Nevaeh settled.”
“Maybe I should take her out for a walk sometime and see if I’ll stumble across mine as well,” said Dirk. He went to reach for the baby, but Kye jerked out of reach.
“Keep your paws to yourself, Dirk. Nevaeh is my little good luck charm. Go get your own.”
“Look, Beowulf,” Roxie said as she and her mate walked into the room. “Our daughter already has men fighting over her. I told you she’d be a heartbreaker.”
Beowulf shook his head. “Not if I have anything to do with it.”
“I thought you two were otherwise occupied,” Kye said.
“We were.” Roxie gave Beowulf a smile before she turned back to Kye. “But I heard you down here and I wanted to get Nevaeh. So what’s this about my daughter being your good luck charm?”
Kye cringed inwardly. Once he told Roxie about finding his mate, he knew what would come next. She had “rules” that she wanted each of them to follow while they tried to win over their mortal mates. So far, all of his brothers-in-arms, except Dirk, had broken what Roxie considered the “big one”—telling a mate what they were before claiming her as his own.
“Well,” he said slowly, “I guess I got something out of the zoo, after all.”
“Like what? That you need to be locked away with the rest of the wild animals?”
Kye scowled. “Do you know you drive me up the fucking wall sometimes?”
Roxie took Nevaeh out of his arms. “Watch your language. Baby ears in the room. Gee, Kye, can’t you take a joke?”
“I’m not exactly in the mood to be made fun of. I have other things on my mind.” He paused for a second. “Like getting myself mated.”
Roxie let out a little shriek, then threw her free arm around his neck and hugged him. Nevaeh whimpered at being wedged between them. “Oh, Kye, this is fantastic news.”
Beowulf stepped over to them and took the baby from his mate’s arms. “I’ll hold her until you’ve settled down a bit, Rox. And since she feels and smells as if she’s wet, I’ll go upstairs and change her.”
Roxie waved Beowulf off before she linked an arm through Kye’s, and led him out of the room. “Let’s sit in the living room for our little chat.”
He rolled his eyes. “Roxie, I already know about your stupid rules. You don’t need to tell me.”
Inside the room, she pushed him onto the couch before she settled next to him. “Too bad for you. You’re still going to hear them, anyway. Rule number one: do not take mate claiming advice from Beowulf.
“I never said I would, did I?”
“Still, don’t bother. His ideas contradict my rules.”
“Whatever,” Kye said with an exasperated sigh.
“Rule number two and the final one: you will not claim your mate until you’ve told her what you are, and what being mated to a werewolf entails. So far, no one has taken this one to heart. Here’s your chance to come up better than the rest of your brothers-in-arms.”
“I don’t think any of us can forget that one, Rox. And I’ll do my best to not break it.”
She shook her head. “Not good enough. You’ll do better than try, do you understand me? You just have to have better control over yourself and the mating urge.”
Kye looked at her as if to say she were crazy. Ever since meeting Michaela, he’d walked around with a hard-on, or at least been semi-hard. Desire and need for her were like living, breathing things deep inside him. The instinct to claim his mate demanded he act on it, but he had it under control for now. That wouldn’t remain the case, though. As each day went by and he didn’t make Michaela his, the mating urge would only get worse, making it harder and harder on him.
“Rox, you have no idea what it’s like to be ridden by a mating urge. This isn’t just something I can tell myself I have to ignore. And I’m sure it will only get worse after I go out with Michaela tonight.”
She sighed. “Just do your best, okay? So your mate’s name is Michaela. Does she work at the zoo, or was she just visiting, like you?”
Kye was relieved Roxie had let the subject of her rules drop. “She works there. She’s an animal keeper.” He saw Rox try to hold back a laugh, but she ended up failing. “What’s so damn funny about what Michaela does?”
It took a few seconds for Roxie to get herself quieted down. “I just thought with her line of work, she’ll be able to manage you in your wolf form quite well. It shouldn’t be a problem for her to chain your ass up in the backyard if you piss her off.”
He scowled, something he tended to do a lot around Roxie. “I doubt she’ll be doing any such thing. As far as I know, chaining up werewolves in their wolf form in a backyard as if they were dogs is only something you do as a punishment.”
“And I must say it’s quite effective.”
“As long as I’m not on the receiving end of it, I’m not going to say too much about it, one way or the other. Now that you’ve given me your rules, I’m going back to the kitchen and grab something to eat. And to give you the heads up, I have to pick Michaela up at seven, so I’ll be leaving shortly after Nevaeh goes to bed.”
“That won’t be a problem. I don’t expect you to stay here overnight. Beowulf and I are quite capable of watching over her then.”
“Good. Now I’ll go satisfy the one hunger I can.”
Kye stood and headed for the kitchen. He could put an end to the hankering he had for food, but the one he had for Michaela wouldn’t quite so easily be remedied.
Chapter Three
She was nervous. Michaela looked at the clock for the hundredth time, at least. It still didn’t show it was any closer to seven than when she’d looked at it five seconds before. According to it, Kye would arrive in the next ten minutes.
Michaela had spent the rest of her day at the zoo reminiscing about her time with Kye, and especially about the kiss they’d shared. It caused her to have more than one daydream about what it would be like to sleep with him. If he made love half as good as he kissed, she’d be one happy and satisfied woman. She hadn’t made up her mind about how far she wanted things to go tonight, but she was willing to go along with all the options.