The Alpha's Lifeline

~Bonus Chapter~

Rylan woke up and heard Skye crying softly from the monitor. Adeline was still asleep beside him.

He swung his legs out of bed and padded into her room. As soon as he opened the door her crying quietened. She turned her head and looked up at her daddy, walking over to her slowly.

"Morning, Princess." He kissed the top of her head and lifted her into his arms. "No more tears, Skye. You don't need to cry, baby girl. Here, let's wipe your eyes and get you some breakfast."

She sat back in his arms and used her sleeves to wipe her eyes.

"You're a big girl now. You don't need to cry to wake daddy up, Princess." He lifted her and carried her down into the kitchen. He held her in one arm and made some warm milk in one of her many pink Sippy cups.

She was 3 now, but still loved to have warm milk in the mornings, and sometimes in the evenings. It cheered her up. It also made Adeline feel better. She didn't like to see her baby grow up too quickly.

Rylan made breakfast with one hand and Skye with the other. He kissed her head now and then, making sure she was comfortable.

Adeline walked into the room leaned on the bar.

"Brody has offered to babysit," Rylan told her. "We both need to be at this meeting today."

"No," Adeline said instantly, putting Skye up the table. "I said no. Not after last time."

"Uncle Brody!" Skye squealed, shuffling in her chair.

"No, sweetie. You can go with other boys and girls in the playgroup for a few hours."

Her face dropped and she looked to Rylan, her lip quivering.

"Daddy!" She started to cry, and he walked over, kissing her head.

"He's not that bad, Addie. Please, beautiful." He walked over to Adeline and kissed her cheek softly, working his way down her jaw and up to her lips.

"DADDY!" Skye screamed, knocking her milk off of the table and kicking around.

"Skye. No." Adeline pulled away regretfully and walked over to her, cleaning up the milk and making her calm down gently.

"Please, Beautiful. She loves being with him, he'll be fine with her."

"The last time he looked after her the house was destroyed and the kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off. Skye was all bruised up."

"They played roughly, he would never mistreat her on purpose, Beautiful. He apologized so many times, he didn't mean to... They were just having fun."

"Bruising up my child." She pointed out.

"Our child." Rylan corrected her and gave Skye some toast.

"How long do we have until we need to leave...?" She asked.

"About an hour. Brody will bath her and get her ready, and when we're back from the meeting we can all have lunch, and then she can have a nap. No big deal." He explained slowly.

After 59 minutes of persuasion, Adeline agreed and Brody knocked on the door, being let in by Rylan. Skye ran to the door turning her head sideways and smiling instantly when she saw Brody.

"UNCLE BRODY." She squealed latching herself onto his leg as he stepped inside the house.

"Right we've got to go." Adeline slipped on her heels and Rylan offered her his hand to assist her getting up. "Skye. Be a good girl for Brody and make sure you tell him if you need anything. Okay? I and mummy will be home soon and then we can have lunch before nap time." He explained picking her up and cuddling her.