Kye's Heart (3 page)

“Seven will be fine,” she said. “I guess I should take you to the gift shop for a new t-shirt, then get back to work.”

He nodded. “I’ve monopolized your time enough already. I don’t want to get you in trouble. I could always go there by myself.”

“It’s okay. I don’t think they’ll look too kindly on you going inside without a shirt on, anyway. Plus, it’s part of my job to help the visitors at the zoo.”

Kye shoved his dirty t-shirt into the diaper bag, then picked it up and the baby sling. He followed her out of the office. Once they arrived at the gift shop, he gave her some money for a new shirt and waited outside with the baby while she bought it. When she returned, she held Nevaeh only long enough for Kye to put on the black t-shirt that had the name of the zoo stenciled across it, in large gold lettering.

“I should get back to work,” Michaela said. “I’ll see you tonight.”

He looked as if he wanted to kiss her again, but she took a step back before she became too tempted to let him. Outside where anybody could see them, it wasn’t exactly the place to let herself get carried away. Being caught kissing one of the visitors to the zoo was more than likely a surefire way to lose her job, or at the very least be reprimanded. She liked doing what she did. Even though some people wouldn’t think cleaning cages and looking after animals was a dream job, it was hers. And as she’d told Kye, she loved working with the big cats.

Kye nodded. “And I should finish looking at some of the exhibits, then get Nevaeh home. Though I think I’ll be returning very soon, since I’ve now found something here I like.” He gave her a heated look, which set her heart pounding once more. “I’ll be at your place at seven sharp.”

Michaela watched Kye walk away. He now had the baby safely tucked in the sling across his chest. There was something about a man that large carrying such a small infant she found even more attractive. With a sigh, she turned and headed to her next task. She just hoped the hours wouldn’t drag on before she was able to see Kye again.

* * *

Kye spent another half hour looking at the animals. Nevaeh, now fed and changed, peacefully slept in the carrier. As he wandered, his thoughts kept going back to Michaela. He’d found his mate. And to think she worked at a zoo. The fact she was an animal keeper gave him high hopes she’d have an easier time of accepting him as a werewolf. She was used to being around wild animals, and had even said she loved the big cats. Well, his wolf wasn’t nearly as large as those beasts, and nowhere near as unpredictable, since he retained human thought in that form.

He took a deep breath and was still able to smell Michaela’s scent on his skin. The mating urge continued to ride him hard and would do so until he finally claimed her as his. Fully making love to her would cause their souls to join, cementing the mating bond between them. After that happened, they wouldn’t be able to stand being apart. One hour away would feel as if a month had gone by, and their minds would play tricks on them, making them think something bad had happened to the other. And once they came together again, depending on how long the separation was, it usually ended with explosive sex, the best way to reaffirm the bond. Having never been mated before, Kye had no such experience with any of it, but having watched his brothers-in-arms as well as his sister-in-arms go through their matings, he knew what to expect.

Before he left the zoo, Kye debated on whether or not to see if he could find Michaela one last time. But in the end, he decided not to torture himself. And it wasn’t as if he wouldn’t be seeing her later. When he did, then he could indulge in his need to touch and taste her. He might not be able to make love to her fully, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t strip her naked and make her come. Oral sex would more than likely ramp up his mating urge. Still, it was a price he was more than willing to pay.

After getting Nevaeh strapped into her car seat, Kye drove to Roxie and Beowulf’s place. The baby just started to fuss as he parked in front of the garage. He quickly got out and pushed his seat forward to gain access to the back. As he took Nevaeh out, he made a mental note to sell his two-door car and buy a four-door, once he had a baby of his own. That thought sort of brought him up short. The idea of him having kids had really never come up before now. But now that he’d met his mate, the chances were good that they were an eventuality.

Kye headed toward the house with Nevaeh. He shook his head. He was getting a little ahead of himself. Having Michaela accept him as her mate wasn’t exactly a foregone conclusion. He knew she was the one meant for him, his mating urge wouldn’t have kicked in otherwise, but she didn’t know he was hers. And her being a mortal, he’d have to tread carefully to win her over.

Once inside, Kye found Dirk in the kitchen with his head stuck in the fridge. That was one thing Kye loved about Roxie—she kept a well-stocked refrigerator and allowed them to eat whatever they wanted.

“Hey, Dirk,” he said as he put Nevaeh, still inside her car seat, on the kitchen table. “Is Roxie upstairs?” The baby fussed, slowly working herself into a cry. Kye unstrapped her and picked her up. She settled and stared at him with her big blue eyes.

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.

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.

Now with only five minutes left, Michaela gave her living room one final inspection. After coming home from work, she’d done a quick cleaning job of dusting and vacuuming before taking a shower. It still looked respectable. Her apartment wasn’t large, by any means, but she didn’t want anything bigger. She thought it was just the right size for her.

With a deep breath, she sat on the couch. She had some beers cooling in the fridge, and if Kye wanted anything to snack on, there were some frozen finger-type foods in the freezer she could throw in the oven. As for entertainment, there were a few good movies on The Movie Channel she hadn’t seen yet.

At two minutes to seven, her telephone rang. Since she could use it to buzz people into the building, Michaela felt butterflies in her stomach as she answered it. “Hello?”

“Hi, Michaela. It’s Kye. I’m here.”

“I’ll let you in. I’m on the sixth floor in apartment 610.” She punched in the code to let Kye through, then hung up.

A few minutes later, a knock sounded on her door. Michaela wiped her sweaty palms down her jean-clad thighs before crossing over to it. It was stupid that she was so nervous, but she knew it mostly stemmed from her not wanting to blow it with Kye. She’d never had a chance to date a man as good-looking as him, and doubted she’d ever get to again if things didn’t work out between them.