Page 27 of Baby and the Beast

Cyrus’s heart was pounding so hard in his chest it hurt. He’d hoped…prayed, that this nightmare wasn’t going to happen. He let himself be marched to Kyle’s rooms almost in a daze. He hadn’t even thought it was possible for a mar-wolf to go into heat, and he’d woken up in the truck feeling like his body didn’t belong to him. Not that he’d ever talked to anyone about it obviously, but getting to the grand old age of twenty-nine with not so much as a flicker had just confirmed his suspicions.

And Kyle had bitten him. What did that mean?

He heard Kyle slam the door of the room they’d just walked into and registered it almost absently as some small kitchen. He was pushed none too gently against the countertop and Kyle rounded on him, snarling. He knew his alpha’s wolf was very close to the surface, and he almost welcomed the pain. Would it be quick? He arched his neck in as much acceptance as submission and simply waited to die.

“Did you know?”

Cyrus opened eyes he hadn’t realized he had closed and looked at Kyle. Almost laughed at the naïve way he had wished in the car that he could somehow make a home for himself in the pack. That he might be forgiven this terrible deception.

“Yes,” he whispered. He was done lying. “I’m a mar-wolf.” There, he said it. And fear made him close his eyes again even as he tilted his head exposing his neck some more.Please make it quick.He was done. He had been so foolish to think there was any way out of this. He wouldn’t cry. He wouldn’t.

The scent of his alpha’s bitter anger diminished slightly and cautiously he opened his eyes. Kyle had stepped away, turned his back, but Cyrus could still see his trembling muscles, see his fists clench, and could imagine the hatred. He was used to that though. That was almost familiar.

“And was it planned?”

Cyrus blinked slowly. “I didn’t know you were coming.” Was that what he meant?

“No,” Kyle spat out, turning to face him. “I mean the scheme. How many other alpha’s have you tried to con?”

Cyrus blanched. A full body shiver seemed to pass through him. He could deny it, but what was the point? Kyle’s hatred, his anger physically hurt. Why didn’t he kill him? Why couldn’t he just get it over with?

The door opened and Kyle turned, growling. Cyrus gazed in amazement as Marnie came into the room and straight up to him. She tutted in exasperation, then placed herself in between Cyrus and Kyle. The thought that Marnie could be any defense—would want to be any defense—almost made him laugh.

“What are you doing?” Kyle ground out, obviously as equally shocked.

“Saving your ass,” Marnie replied bluntly. “I’ve sent them all away. Alpha, you have a few hours to think on how to sortyourself out of this mess, and you,” she turned to Cyrus, “you are going to let me take you somewhere to lie down.”

A pained noise burst from Cyrus’s throat, almost a sob, but he wasn’t sure. He sagged against the five-foot-nothing woman who seemed to have the strength of a wall. Petted, directed and too numb to do anything except put one foot in front of another, Cyrus let Marnie lead him upstairs to a different bedroom. He had spent most of the car journey asleep, but he welcomed the thought of hiding from Kyle’s condemning gaze. He let himself be tucked up in bed and a warm hand smoothed out his pain. He hadn’t felt a gentle touch like that in an awful long time, and miraculously it soothed him enough to drift off.

When he jerked awake it took him a second to work out what had woken him. It was dark and he tried to figure out how long he had slept. He heard the crying the second time and he shot up. It sounded like a child was being murdered. He rushed to follow the noise and headed for the open door three doors away from his and skidded to a surprised halt. Kyle stood rocking a baby who was screaming like her life was over and there was another slightly older girl clinging to Kyle’s legs but crying just as hard.

Cyrus met Kyle’s exhausted expression and immediately bent down to the girl who was clutching a plush red dragon with her free arm. “Wow! Is that a real dragon?” Cyrus asked in an awed voice.

The little girl looked at her toy, then Cyrus, and stuttered out a half sob.

“Does he breathe fire?” Cyrus continued and knelt down so he was at her eye height. She took another breath, looked at her toy, then back at him again and nodded.

“You’re so lucky to have a dragon to keep you safe,” Cyrus continued, pitching his voice lower, but making sure she could hear him over the crying from the other child. She sniffed and Cyrus looked at the dragon. “Hi, Mr. Dragon. My name’s Cyrus.”

She sniffed again and Cyrus reached up for the box of tissues on the dresser, pulled down a few and tried to pass them over. Instead of taking them she simply leaned forward. “Blow,” he said automatically, which she did noisily and with some relish.

“He’s not a boy.”

Cyrus wanted to smile at the indignation she put into the words. “I’m going to go get a bottle,” Kyle said over the noise. “She hasn’t needed one in a while at night but—” The rest of Kyle’s words were drowned out by the fresh wave of tears. Cyrus sat back and patted his knee invitingly.

“What’s her name? Does she like to have stories read to her?”

“Stories” must have been the magic word because the dragon and her mommy moved so quickly onto Cyrus’s lap she could easily have flown. He was sitting next to a pile of books, so he picked the top one. It was about a fairy and the little girl wrinkled her nose. The sounds of crying diminished as Kyle took the baby with him to the kitchen.

“Wolfie doesn’t like fairies.”

Cyrus didn’t ask why a dragon would be called Wolfie because it must have made sense to the dragon’s mommy. “What’s your name?”

“Chloe.” She sniffed and reached for a book half buried under the bed. It was—not surprisingly—about a baby dragon that couldn’t breathe fire and the other dragons made fun of him because of it. It was actually pretty good. It was so good in factthat Chloe demanded it be read three times. By the time the dragon had saved the day the last time, Chloe was fast asleep.

The other little one was back in her crib, asleep, and Cyrus was very well aware of his alpha leaning casually against the door frame listening to him finish the dragon saga. Kyle bent down when Cyrus stopped reading and gently lifted Chloe, taking her to the small bed in the corner. His hands brushed Cyrus’s legs as he lifted the little cutie, but he gave no sign of any reaction. Cyrus’s own heart seemed to be trying to beat its last. Kyle tucked her in as he scrambled inelegantly to his feet, then Kyle set the monitor, tucking some sort of speaker into his pocket and headed for the door. Did he follow him? He walked out slowly, ready to disappear at the slightest signal. Cyrus followed him all the way out to the end of the hallway until Kyle paused and turned.

“Chloe and Aiva are my nieces. Darren’s mate was an omega and died just after Aiva was born around nine months ago. My uncle would never let even the non-shifting omegas get outside medical help. Something went wrong and they couldn’t stop the bleeding. They only just managed to save Aiva.”

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