Chapter 153 - MAYA’S FIRST WEEK

That first day was truly hard for me. The first twenty-four hours of my daughter's life in this world was like a personal torture for me. I had learned that I couldn't feed her like almost every other shifter on the planet could. And, on top of that, she was sensitive to most of the formula brands out there.

To sit there and watch my baby be sick over and over again, it was heart wrenching. All I could do was try again and again to feed her and hoped that she could keep it down. Now, thankfully, we've gotten to where she is able to eat, and it's all been going well.

I will never forget those first few hours though, the panic that was setting in for everyone. Deek and Kyle panicked while the others went to get formula for Maya, and then all of them panicking when the formula made her sick, that was never going to leave my mind. Ever.

I was already fiercely protective of my baby. I wanted to be the one to hold her and do everything for her. The problem was, I hadn't spent time around babies so I didn't know what to do. So, for that very reason, I was relying on Kyle, EZ, Laremy (oddly enough), Laurell and Bechard, and of course Deek. Bastian and Lucian were there quite often as well, along with CeCe who came over with Lucian. Between that army of helpers, I was slowly learning how to take care of my daughter.

I was also jealous of the fact that Kyle seemed to know what to do. That hadn't made sense to me, but he told me that he had some younger cousins who he helped to care for back when he was a teenager. He had learned to change diapers, hold the baby properly, and feed them. He had even been present when a few of his relatives had given birth which was why he had known what to do.

"It's alright, Jacy." He tried to sooth me. "You're doing just fine. Stop worrying about it." Those were his words whenever I brought up the fact that he knew how to take care of Maya better than I did. "Just relax and let us help. You will have plenty of time to do it all later." He was meaning when I was supposedly 'fully recovered', and I would be doing more stuff around the house. Did they not know that I was already fully healed? What else was I supposed to heal? I mean, I'm a shifter for crying out loud, I didn't need to take weeks to recover. I was physically fully healed the day after she was born. There wasn't even any residual pain.

The help continued though, all week long. I didn't mind all that much. I was quite tired still, especially since I usually forbid Kyle from getting up at night, and I took care of Maya during that time all by myself. It was usually the only time that I actually got to be alone with her.

At night, I would often sit with her in the living room in the rocking chair that Kyle bought for us to use with her. I would have a dim light on, and I'd just stare at her face until I was too tired to stay awake anymore. Sometimes I never got too tired, and I would watch her all night long.

I liked looking at that cute little face of hers. The shape of her nose was similar to mine. And the adorable little pout in her lips I have been told is there on me as well. Maya had also been born with a full head of hair. It wasn't very long but it was super soft, wavy, and pitch black just like Kyle's. And when her eyes were open, and she was trying to look around, I could see the colors in her eyes. There was still that grayish tint to them like more babies have when they're born, or at least that's what Deek told me. However, I could still see Maya's true eye color coming through. She was going to have Kyle's eyes as well as his hair. They were already an orange color.

I had to wonder whether she was going to be a feline like Kyle or a wolf like me. We wouldn't know until she was older and developed her own distinct scent. And given that she was half wolf and half feline, she might smell like both her entire life. We might not know what her animal is until she shifts when she is older.

"Jacy, you stayed up all night again?" Kyle asked me as he came out to the living room just after six in the morning.

"What are you doing up so early?" I asked him with surprise in my voice.

"I noticed you were gone. Why didn't you come back to bed?" He asked me as he sat down on the couch next to the rocking chair.

"I knew that she needed to be fed twice through the night. I thought it would be best to just stay out here." I shrugged my shoulders and gave him a blank look.

"You need to sleep, Jacy."

"I will, later."

"Hahh." He sighed as he got to his feet and started to walk toward the kitchen. "I'm making breakfast, then, you're taking a nap."

[KYLE'S POV]

Jacy had been doing the same a lot this week. She would wake up with Maya in the middle of the night, and then she would stay up all night long. She loved the baby so much that I knew that she just wanted to spend as much time with her as she could. Almost every day for the last week, there have been a lot of people here to help out. I think she had been a little overwhelmed by them all.

I was going to have to tell some of them to lighten up and not all come over at once,  even if they were all people close to us in one way or another. We needed to be a family together, just the three of us.

I was planning on doing just that, but after breakfast, when I forced Jacy to lay down and take a nap, I got a call from Baxter.

"Hey Boss." He greeted me, letting me know that essentially he was calling to tell me that there was a problem.

"What's up Bax?" I asked him as I laid Maya in the bassinet. She had just fallen back to sleep after eating so I was going to go wash the bottle while I talked to Baxter.

"I've noticed something that I want to tell you about. Can I come over to talk about this in person?"

"Does it need to be in person?" I wondered.

"I know that you have a vampire in your circle, and I want to talk to him as well. Could you call him to your place so we can talk about all of this together?"

"Yeah, sure, no problem. I will have Laremy come over as soon as he can. What time can you be here?" I had a feeling he wanted this to be expedited.

"I'll be there within the hour." Figures.

"OK, see you then."

When I called up Laremy, he said he would head over after a shower. He did just that, bringing Bastian and EZ with him as well. I figured that would happen. I was really good at reading the people around me.

Within the next half an hour Baxter arrived, way ahead of schedule. He was there before the others and had rushed inside. I myself had gone to get dressed so that I wasn't still wearing just a pair of lounge pants when they all got to the house.

I have to admit, the first thing that Baxter did was fawn over Maya and that made me smile. He hadn't had the chance to meet her yet.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were here just to meet the baby." I joked with him.

"No, but I am glad to meet her. She's beautiful, Boss. And I can tell that you're a happy dad. I'm actually jealous of you. I want a mate and a family of my own."

"I know, Bax, I know." I clapped a hand onto his shoulder and was about to offer him more words of comfort when the doorbell rang again.

The sound of the bell started to wake Maya up, but I needed to let the others in. Why they didn't just use EZ's key, I didn't know.

"Hey, do me a favor and hold her while I get the door." I saw the excitement on Baxter's face when he heard that.

"Yeah, no problem." He grinned at me as he reached for the baby. I could tell that he truly was waiting for the day that he got a family of his own.