I have never been a fan of house cats but the wife and I got a kitten from a friend back when we first married that we kept inside. He was jet black and not a white hair on his body, I named him the "Ace of Spades" since that is my favorite suit in deck of cards. He was naturally mean as kitten and lucky for us we had four years to calm him down before we had kids.
He was so protective of the kids that when people came over we had to lock him up in the guest bedroom to keep him from attacking. He literally jumped straight up from the floor one time and bit my mother in law on the forearm before she could even take a seat on the couch. But he was gentle as could be with the kids.
He ended up dying when he was 17 years old and we never replaced him.
I told the wife and kids that we could never find another cat as loyal and protective as him and wouldn't be fair to new cat to have to live up to his legend status. It has worked thus far.