Christmas Heat

Chapter 3

Haley's little brick house was strung with multicolored Christmas lights outside. In the front yard sat two wire deer covered in white lights. The two conical evergreen trees at each side of the front of the house were well lit, and there was a large fir wreath on the door.

Inside the large living room, across from the fireplace was a six-foot Christmas tree that glowed with lights reflecting every color in the rainbow. An angel perched at the top, a small light in her folded hands, her wings spread, a serene expression on her face.

The fireplace was laid with fresh logs and ready to light, and four stockings dangled, two on each corner of the mantel.

A television screen hung on one wall, a coffee table between it and the couch, and two chairs sat to the side.

It was a large, simple room. It led into a large kitchen and a smaller dining room. There were two bedrooms down a short hall, each with an attached bath, and a cramped attic above.

The house seemed to reflect her. Gently wel-coming, a sense of restrained excitement filling it with all the Christmas decorations. As though someone here truly believed in the Santa nonsense.

Noble stood in the entrance to the kitchen, his eyes narrowed as a female breed, Shiloh Gage, checked Haley's injuries where she sat in the living room. Shiloh was the closest thing they had to a medic outside Sanctuary's labs. But with Dr. Morrey still recovering from the attempt to destroy her with the drugs Brackenmore and Engalls had tried to develop, that left only the council scientist, Amburg, whom Jonas had kidnapped months before, to treat injuries. And Noble knew he would rip Amburg's throat out before he allowed that bastard to touch Haley.

"I think I'm okay." Haley had her head turned as Shiloh treated the narrow gash at her temple.

The once-white blouse Haley had worn was torn and stained with blood. There were scratches on her arm, one of which looked deep. Her hands were red, almost blistered. The dark pants she wore were in the same condition as the blouse. Her bright red hair was mussed around her face, singed in places and darkened with her blood.

"You're fine." Shiloh patted her knee kindly, her round face filled with sympathy as she lifted a piece of gauze and taped it to Haley's temple. "You'll be good as new in a few days."

Shiloh pulled the surgical gloves from her hands and dropped them into the small waste can that sat beside her. Rising, she adjusted her black uniform pants and turned back to Noble.

Dressed in the enforcer uniform, her dark auburn hair secured in a French braid, Shiloh looked more like a playful teenager than a full-grown, fully trained breed enforcer.

"I need to clean up." Haley came to her feet, and Noble barely caught himself before jumping for her.

She swayed a bit, and he had to force himself to remain in place as she moved to the hallway.

"You should rest a bit more, Haley," Shiloh warned her, following her.

Haley held up one hand, waving her back. "No. I have to clean up, Shiloh. Just . . . Just let me clean up."

Her voice was stronger than it had been earlier. The shock was wearing off. He could see the anger flickering in her gaze even before Shiloh had finished.

When the enforcer looked back at him, he nodded toward Haley, indicating that she should follow and cover her until Jonas, Leo, and Dane were finished with the meeting in the kitchen. Noble then joined the others in the kitchen.

The sheriff wasn't exactly pleased with the information he was getting. He didn't like being excluded from the investigation, and if Noble could read the man, and he liked to think he could, then he was guessing Zane Taggart wasn't going to be as easy to control as Jonas was hoping.

"Wyatt, you're pissing me off," Taggart retorted at Jonas's suggestion that the sheriff leave the investigation in their hands. "A friend of mine was just killed, and you want me to just back off?"

"Your friend has just lost one friend," Jonas reminded him. "Let's not add to the count. The further you stay away from this, the safer it will be for her."

There was taut silence as Noble turned back to the meeting taking place at the kitchen table.

Jonas stared at the sheriff coolly, while Leo and Dane watched the confrontation silently. Leo hadn't said much, nor did his expressions show his opinion either way as to how the meeting was going.

"Forget it." Taggart crossed his arms over his chest and stared back at Jonas with steely determination.

"The agreement Buffalo Gap has with Sanctuary requires you to step aside in this investigation," Jonas reminded him.

The sheriff snorted at that. "Look, Wyatt, we both know the city council. They're gonna talk out of both sides of their mouths and smile real pretty for both of us. They'll tell you they'll restrain me, they'll tell me they'll cover for me. So let's just cut the shit here and come to an understanding. This is my county, like it or not, hate me or whatever. I'm sheriff, that makes it, and the people living in it, mine. And that includes breeds. I have two of my people dead tonight. From all appearances, it was a professional hit. Your boy was shot in the back of the head at close range. An explosive device large enough to blow a hole in the parking lot and take out the library went off no more than half an hour later. Now you want to tell me what the hell is going on, or do I want to find the answers myself?"

"You want to let this go, Zane." Haley stepped into the kitchen from the washroom.

Damn, he'd forgotten about the door that led from her bathroom and into a small washroom, then the kitchen that he'd found earlier while securing the house. Shiloh was moving through the hall from Haley's bedroom, a scowl on her face.

"Miss McQuire, this meeting can be conducted without you," Jonas told her, his frown fierce as Noble moved towards her.

"Like hell," she told him.

She had changed clothes and washed her face and arms. She was dressed in soft cotton pants resembling pajama bottoms and a long T-shirt. She looked like a kid. A hurt, frightened, angry kid.

"Haley." The sheriff came out of his chair as Noble passed him and shot him a warning glare. "Honey, are you ready to talk to me now?"

Honey? Noble's head jerked around as he barely caught the growl in his throat. What the hell was the sheriff doing calling Haley, "honey"? She wasn't his honey, period.

"I'm obviously in a bit of trouble, Zane." Her lips trembled for a second before she tightened them, seeming to ignore Noble as he moved behind her.

"No shit, little girl." Zane sighed. "Come on, tell me about it, so I can fix it."

"You can't fix this." She shook her head. "I want you to do what Jonas suggests. Let him handle it. I couldn't bear it if I lost you, too."

Noble could feel his jaw tighten at the emotion in her voice, at the statement. As though that damned sheriff was something to her. He wasn't. Noble watched her, he knew her. She wasn't dating anyone. She wasn't sleeping with anyone. She was free. He knew she was because if another man had fucked her recently, he would have smelled the bastard on her.

Noble stared over her head at the other man, his lip twitching as he fought to hold back a silent snarl.

"Haley." Sheriff Taggart shook his head. "You know I'm not going to do that. And what's going to happen when your brothers find out about this? Your daddy? The McQuires are going to descend on Buffalo Gap like a Scottish hunting party, sweetie, and they'll likely bring reinforcements. Do we really want that to happen? They'll talk to me first. If I have answers, they might listen and stay home."

It was a bribe, and a warning. Noble heard it, but he didn't appreciate it. He could feel the worry rising inside her now. She needed rest. She needed to put some distance between her and the events of the night, to allow her to deal with the loss she had suffered.

"The boys are still in California," she said. "And Daddy flew to France last night to help broker a deal with the airlines. I have a few days before I have to deal with them."

"And then?" Zane asked.

"And then, perhaps Mr. Wyatt will have the answers you need. But I can't give them to you right now, Zane. Right now, they aren't my answers to give."

"But it's your life to give?" Zane suddenly snapped, despite Noble's warning growl at the tone of his voice. "Son of a bitch, Haley, you were nearly killed. Don't tell me they aren't your answers to give."

"Son of a bitch, Zane." She was in his face, anger pouring from her. "I've already lost one friend tonight. Do you think I need nightmares of losing another?" She pushed against his shoulders, as broad as they were, even despite the height he had on her. "Go home. I can't deal with you."

"I'll call your daddy myself," he bit out furiously at that point.

"And risk his life? Or my brothers'? I don't think you will, Zane. But you will leave this alone for now. And so will you." She swung around to Noble. "Get the hell out of my house and out of my life. I don't need you here."

Silence filled the kitchen. Noble was aware of Jonas, Leo, and Dane coming warily to their feet. Tension spiked hard and fast, thick enough to cut with a knife as her gray-blue eyes pierced his.

Noble smiled at the demand, the angry exclamation. He was aware that it wasn't a pretty smile. He didn't do smiles well, unless they were the sort that came seconds before killing.

"You must have mistaken me for someone who obeys your orders," he told het softly. "Sorry about your luck there, sweetheart, but it's not happening. You're stuck with me, whether you want to be or not."

Haley stared back at him furiously before swinging around to Jonas.

"He's your enforcer." She shoved a trembling finger in his direction. "I don't want him in my home, period. Get him out of here."

Jonas dragged his hand over his face, muttered something about women and heat that made absolutely no sense whatsoever before staring back at her.

"It's not that simple, Miss McQuire."

"Don't you 'Miss McQuire' me," she snapped back at him, ignoring Noble as well as Zane. "This is your mess, now you can fix it. And you can fix it without him being here."

She couldn't bear the thought of something happening to Noble. For one blinding minute tonight, she had felt the overwhelming pain of believing he was dead, because of her. She knew what that would have meant—a sorrow so bleak, so deep that she had almost sunk beneath the waves of pain.

"Well, looks like you're being thrown out in the cold too, lover boy." Zane's laughter was mocking. "We can share a beer and discuss her stubbornness, then we can get to the best way to protect her," he suggested.

"Stop being a smart-ass, Zane," she ordered him roughly, her eyes still on Jonas. "I helped you," she reminded Jonas. "You know I did. You owe me."

"Yes, ma'am, I owe you." He nodded. "But I don't owe you the chance to die. And Noble won't walk away from this. He has his team, and he knows what the hell he's doing. He's your best protection."

"And the breed that died tonight," she yelled back at him. "Did he know what he was doing? Did you have an untrained man watching me, Jonas? Did you send a boy to do a man's job?" She knew better. "I knew him. Jason Lincoln. Do you know why he chose that name? Do you know he picked the name Lincoln because of a president who died before any of us was ever born? Did you know he liked comics? That he was flirting with one of the college girls who comes to the library?" Tears were filling her eyes. "Did you know that he wanted a Christmas present?" she whispered painfully. "I bought him a Christmas present." She wrapped her arms around herself and turned away from all of them.

Lifting her hand, she covered her lips and shook her head.

"Patricia has a grandson. He was coming for Christmas. Now he'll be coming to bury his grandmother." She wanted to scream with the rage filling her. "I have to see two friends buried because of me." She turned back to all of them. "I won't see any more. I won't bury more friends. Now get the hell out of my house. All of you."

She stalked out of the kitchen, knowing none of them would pay any attention to her, and that only made her madder. The helplessness that rose inside her was like a tide of red, bleak fury. Whoever wanted her dead knew what the hell they were doing. They knew how to get to her. How to hurt her friends, how to make her suffer.

That bomb that killed Patricia would have killed her if she had gotten into that truck herself. Patricia always parked right beside Haley because she didn't like walking to her car alone in the dark. And Jason. She shook her head as she slammed her bedroom door and locked it.

Jason Lincoln. And he had chosen that name because he'd admired all he knew about Abraham Lincoln.

Jason has asked her once if she saw breeds as mankind. Haley had told him she saw them as the best of what man could accomplish, and the best of humanity. His brown eyes had lit with pleasure as he nodded, took his books, and left the library.

And now, she would never see him again. His shy smile would never touch her heart again, just as Patricia's laughter would never again fill her day.

She couldn't bear the thought of never hearing Zane give her another smart-ass comment, or of Noble never reading another carpentry book, or never reading another book of "mistakes" as he always called them. Because history was filled with mistakes, had been his reasoning. And he wanted to learn from them.

She sat down on her bed and stared around the neat, pretty room. The canopied bed, with its thick, heavy curtains that she could draw around her when it was really cold. The bedroom set, which had been given to her by her father's parents. The writing desk across the room, which her mother's parents had given her. Bridges to the past, just as her precious books had been.

The thought of dying filled her with terror. The thought of Noble dying, especially for her, filled her with cold, bleak agony.

She couldn't bear it. He would have to leave. She would make certain they all left. The breeds didn't have enough power to invade her home, or her life, without her permission. If they weren't out of her house by dawn, she would call the state police. She would pack her bags and leave town. And then she would figure out exactly what it was going to take to survive.

Because dying wasn't in her plans. At least not for a while. Living was. And there had to be a way to live without risking everyone she loved.

Noble stared at the closed washroom door and silently opened it a crack to make certain Haley wasn't there. Motioning to Shiloh, he sent her inside to watch for the fiery little librarian before he turned back to the others.

"Well, that was interesting," Dane commented as he turned to Noble. "She does do orders quite well. Too bad she wasn't born a breed."

He smiled, a mocking little smile at odds with the cold fury in his brown eyes.

"Contact the state police," Noble warned Jonas. "Inform them we have a situation here. I want Haley placed under the Bureau's 'persons of interest' mandates."

Persons of interest, meaning anyone, breed or human who might have information pertaining to or involving an open breed case under investigation.

"That's pushing it," Jonas pointed out. "If she gets a lawyer, she could beat it within forty-eight hours."

"Then let's not tell her that," Zane warned them before Noble could speak up. "Listen up, boys, let me tell you a little something about Haley. She's more stubborn than those mountains out there, and she's sure as hell got more fire in her than that explosion that nearly killed her tonight. You're not going to bully her as easily as you think you can."

"I have no intentions of bullying her," Noble ground out. "I'll protect her. With your help."

"Noble," Jonas's voice was warning.

"Do you believe you're going to keep him out of it?" Noble stared back at him coolly. "You're not. And you're not going to keep him from trying to protect her. Let's at least use him wisely."

Man or breed, sometimes one had to go with gut instinct. Gut instinct warned him that Zane Taggart would walk through fire for someone he cared for, and for whatever reason, he cared for Haley.

"Smart boy." Zane's smile was hard.

"Jonas will give you details, you will stay out of the perimeter he lays out to you. This house is fairly sheltered. No neighbors too close, no reason for them to be on her property. Anyone moving within her property line is fair game. Do we understand each other?"

Gut instinct and trust were two different things. The sheriff might get information, but he wouldn't be aware of the security protocols Noble intended to set up.

Haley's home sat at the end of a block. She owned a little over an acre, the boundary of which was fenced and thick with trees. Across the street were several clear lots, the street that ran by the side of the house was an occupied lot, enclosed by a privacy fence. Behind her property were more homes, closer together.

Protecting her might not be easy, but at least here he would know the breeds who should be in place. In Sanctuary, at the moment, there were too many suspects and not enough space to ensure no breed but those he trusted were within sight of her.

"We'll have the information we need on this soon, Noble," Jonas promised, his voice hard now.

And they would. Noble knew that the number of people with the information of the witness who had overheard that meeting was small. One of them told someone, or had personally done the killing. Either way, they would be found. '

"You have two weeks," Noble warned him. "After that, she disappears." He stared back at Jonas, knowing the director understood exactly what Noble was telling him.

"That won't be enough time," Jonas growled.

"It's all the time you have." Noble shrugged before turning to the sheriff. "As of tonight, call before you arrive here. Call before your deputies arrive here. Don't try to surprise me, Sheriff Taggart, and don't try to piss me off. I get mean when I'm pissed off. And trust me, you don't want to see that side of me."

The sheriff's gaze locked with his for long moments before the other man cursed and scowled. He got the message. He wasn't just dealing with a breed, he was dealing with one that didn't mind killing someone for stupidity. If the sheriff was stupid enough to try to blindside him, then he would die. Nothing mattered at this point but protecting Haley. No matter from whom he had to protect her.