"Probably because you were considering the box," she muttered. She ignored the amusement in the breeds across from her.
They were an interesting lot. The three in the driver's area and the three sitting across from them. They were hard-eyed, tough, and strong. Long hair, numerous scars, and all of them looked like men who could fight their way through an army single-handedly.
And they had all put their lives on the line for her. It was a terrifying thought. It was the reason she had promised herself that whatever Noble needed her to do, she would do. Because it was apparent he wasn't going to leave. Nor would he let her leave. That didn't mean she had to like it. And it didn't mean she had to accept the very sensual invitation he extended each time their eyes met.
"A box was never under consideration," he finally admitted. "We'll find out who is behind the bombing soon. We know the why of it, we just have to identify the who. Once we've done that, you'll be safe. And once you've testified at the hearing against Brackenmore and Engalls next month, then they'll no longer have a reason to want you dead. They'll be too busy trying to save their own skins." She didn't know if she agreed with him on that one. It seemed to her that the hatred Brackenmore and Engalls would feel toward her would be reason enough to kill her. Thankfully for the breeds, she wasn't the only proof they had against the pair.
"Jonas has arrived at the house," Mordecai Savant, the Coyote breed enforcer who had arrived at Sanctuary six months before, told Noble as he glanced at the handheld PDA he pulled from the heavy uniform pocket at his thigh. "It's clear. No signs of unwanted visitors. The lions have canvassed the area, and everything's clear."
"The lions?" She glanced at Noble again. "You have lions at my house?"
"The natural lions can sense things we don't," he told her. "If they hesitate, then we know there's a problem. They're our best first defense."
"Proceed in," Mordecai told him. "Jonas is waiting in the kitchen." Haley had to bite her tongue to keep from commenting on that one. No doubt he had sniffed out her stash of cookies agairi. She was going to have to bake more before long. Breeds could find the cookies faster than her brothers could.
"Is he eating all the cookies?" Blade Travers could never, in anyone's imagination, look boyish. But the anxiety in his eyes reminded her of just that. A kid's concern that he wouldn't get his share.
"If there are cookies around, then Jonas is going to find them," the breed simply known as Crayven snorted from the front seat. "And I bet Mercury, Lawe, and Rule are taking more than their share, too."
Yes, she was going to be making more cookies soon, she thought as she heard Noble sigh, almost with longing beside her.
"I know how to bake more," she finally gritted out between clenched teeth. And why she was that insane, she couldn't imagine.
"You would bake us more?" Mordecai's eyes narrowed on her, as though he suspected her of lying. She was definitely going to have to add to that grocery list.
"I always bake at Christmas." And it seemed this year, she was going to be baking a hell of a lot more than she imagined.
Breeds. Why hadn't anyone warned her it wasn't just their sharp teeth, biting words, or flare for killing that she needed to watch out for? Someone should have warned her to watch out for their craving for sweets as well.
She wondered if it went to their hips as fast as it did to hers.
She glanced at each one, then grimaced. She couldn't get that lucky.
Chapter 5
Hours later, Haley was baking cookies out of sheer desperation. Chocolate chip cookies, chocolate oatmeal cookies, and chocolate drop sugar cookies.
Haley baked to feel good, to think, and to hide. Tonight she was hiding. Uriel. She'd heard that name before, she'd read that name before. One of the names associated with a god of death. The Grim Reaper. The taker of life. In this case an assassin. According to Jonas, the assassin was suspected to be a breed still under the control of the Genetics Council that had created him.
The explosion had all his signatures, but the really telling mark was the so-far-untraceable e-mail sent to Jonas at his Bureau of Breed Affairs e-mail address. It stated that he really didn't want to kill more breeds to get to her, but he would if he had to. And it was signed, Uriel.
She had a professional assassin out to kill her. So what was she doing? She was baking. The moment Jonas had given Noble the information the demeanor of the breeds guarding her had changed. The six under Noble's command turned hard and cold.
Mordecai had demanded Jonas have his pet released from Sanctuary. So, a full-grown, malevolent-eyed natural coyote was now on her property. Great. Just what she needed.
Weren't they supposed to be impossible to tame?
Noble had changed as well, and that change made her more nervous than the others. The look he had given her had held a promise, a dark, almost forbidden promise, that shook her to her core. As he and Jonas retreated to the living room to discuss security, Haley retreated to the kitchen to bake. And to try to forget that look she had seen in Noble's eyes. The one that promised her he had given her enough space, and that soon, he would be crowding in even closer.
"Jonas is leaving, Haley." Noble stepped into the kitchen, his black gaze hooded as he flicked over the last sheet of cookies she was pulling from the oven.
Haley nodded slowly. "Fine."
She turned and faced Jonas as he moved into the kitchen.
"We'll have this taken care of soon," Jonas promised her. "We have several leads. Uriel was careless this time. Uriel has been erratic in the past few years anyway, so the successes could barely be counted because of it."
"But someone still ended up dead, right?" she pointed out.